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Clifford LongleyReleased on the eve of the G8 Summit, the Pope’s encyclical calls for a new world financial order guided by ethics, with a concern for humanity and a focus on justice. It emphatically unites the Church’s roles of spreading the Gospel with working for social justice Free
From the editor’s desk
| Towards a more humane world Free Benedict XVI's new social encyclical will take an honoured place in the series of such documents dating back to Rerum Novarum in 1891. Caritas in Veritate will be instantly scanned for what it has to say about contemporary concerns, such as the ... | China's intolerant ways |
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Features
 More than the material worldElena CurtiLife today is often considered to have little space for religion. But many people do seem to yearn for meaning in their life, and claim to be spiritual. At a conference last week, a number of speakers hinted at a revival of interest in Christian mystical writers, including St Ignatius and his Spiritual Exercises... |  For the good of allBenedict XVIIn his third encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (‘Charity in Truth’), published this week, Pope Benedict has turned his attention to Catholic social teaching and economic justice, calling for a more people-centred ethic. In these edited extracts we highlight the main strands of his teaching... |
Not from nothingNicholas LashA remarkable Indian painting currently on display in London depicts the before and after of the moment when spirit and matter originally came into being. If it is read in the context of Christian or Jewish Creation doctrines, says a leading theologian, it has parallels with the book of Genesis...
| Still a servantLawrence CrossThe notion that priests are fundamentally different spiritual beings from the rest of humanity was encouraged by Pope Benedict XVI as he opened the year for the priesthood. But this idea is controversial and potentially damaging to the progress of Catholic-Orthodox dialogue...
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Pull out all the stopsAidan RossiterConfirmation should be an awe-inspiring celebration of parish life. If this is to be achieved, the formal aspects of the liturgy are crucial, and it is important to explore ways of involving the entire community to make the event both serious and vibrant ...
| Transforming mysteryDaniel McCarthyThe working of salvation unfolds over our whole lifetime, writes Daniel McCarthy. The eucharistic gifts play a central, pivotal role in this process, since by bringing to the faithful God’s self-gift they show them how they can give themselves, too...
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 Giving to God, lending to Caesar Chris BlackhurstStephen Green, HSBC’s group chairman, confounds expectations of what the person at the helm of the world’s largest bank might be like. Chris Blackhurst finds him driven by spiritual and literary as well as financial muses... |  You can blog, but you cannot hideConor GeartyThe law has still to catch up with some of the worst excesses of internet blogs but the outcome of one recent case suggests they have no legal right to conceal their identities behind a mask of anonymity... |
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Columnists
 David Blair‘Afghanistan has never been governed successfully throughout its modern history’  Christopher Howse‘Are children better off with their bowl of Coco Pops than out on the crime-infested streets?’
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Books and arts
Freezing out the enemy Free
The Great Cold War: a journey through the hall of mirrors
Gordon S. Barrass
For more than 40 years, the struggle between Soviet Communism and the West dominated the international agenda worldwide, casting the shadow of nuclear destruction over us all ... |
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Can the Church support abuse victims on its own terms?
Elena Curti
The clear message that emerged from the symposium on child sexual abuse held in Rome from ... Is the Church too slow in recognising that academies are the future for Catholic schools?
Christopher Lamb
According to the chairman of governors at the Cardinal Vaughan School, west London, one ... Goodwin the scapegoat
Elena Curti
There was an old Sixties TV series, Branded, about a disgraced soldier that always began ...
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