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Today Pope Benedict XVI is visiting Lourdes, to mark the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous. An academic who initially felt uncomfortable about visiting the shrine here writes about its extraordinary power Free

Latest News

Senior cardinal vows ‘never again' over abuse tragedy at sombre vigil

Rebel demands are ‘basis for dialogue' says Schönborn

Egan regrets abuse apology

'Meaning of marriage forgotten'

Churches told to aid freeze victims

From the editor’s desk

The mind of God Free

Stephen Hawking's bestseller, A Brief History of Time, concludes with the passage that made the book famous. If a complete theory of subatomic physics were ever reached, he wrote, people would then be able "to take part in the discussion of ...

A humane immigration policy

Texts in full

The Church's moral obligation to victims of clerical sexual abuse
Speeches from this week's conference in Rome

This week in Rome bishops and religious superiors met at the first Vatican-backed symposium devoted to forging a global response to the crisis of clerical sexual abuse that has disgraced ...

Archbishop voices 'shame and sorrow' after priest's abuse trial
Longley to visit parishes 'damaged' by Walsh

Today, Tuesday 7 February, Bede Walsh, who served as a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, has been convicted by a jury, following a 10-day trial at Stoke-on-Trent ...

Features

Faith’s sure foundationsPeter Stanford Catholics suffering grievously for their beliefs are recalled in an exhibition currently showing at the first Catholic church to be built in Liverpool after the Reformation. There are relics of saints, monarchs and priests, and the first wave of the city’s Irish immigrants...	Humbled yet exaltedDaniel McCarthy The people of Israel were healed when Moses lifted up the brazen serpent and they gazed on it. Similarly, as Daniel McCarthy explains, when Christ was raised on the Cross he drew sinners to himself. This Sunday’s prayer recognises that through Christ’s offering of himself we are sanctified...
Turbulent priestsShaun Middleton With numbers dwindling, the National Conference of Priests appears to be in spiritual retreat, if not terminal decline. But, argues a former NCP officer, now is the time to grapple with such ecclesial hot potatoes as celibacy, sexuality, ministry and justice...	Freedom behind barsJames Parker There is no material incentive for inmates of an American prison to undertake the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius, but those taking part testify to their transformative power to liberate the mind and soul, and let their imaginations soar without hindrance...

Jails: why more isn’t betterPaul Cavadino The prison system of England and Wales is seriously overcrowded. Now it wants to put even more people behind bars despite research showing that creating more prison places just creates more criminals. Only effective rehabilitation can bring the numbers down...	A model for missionClare Ward The training and setting up of Parish Evangelisation Teams is the focus of this year's Home Mission Sunday, which we celebrate on 21 September, a day of prayer for the spread of the Gospel in England and Wales...
Soothing the credit crunchN. O'Phile

Columnists

Clifford Longley

‘The selfishness that drives the economic system is about to run out of road’

Christopher Howse

‘Many take the name Cern to be a place, a charming village, perhaps’

Books and arts

The limits of factual morality Free
The Secular Conscience: why belief belongs in public life
Austin Dacey

In this philosophically intelligent but sociologically naive book the American philosopher Austin Dacey argues against the expulsion of belief, whether or not religious, from the ...

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