The polls tell us that immigration continues to head the list of issues of most concern to the British public. What this means is less clear. There is anxiety about community relations and failure to integrate, particularly with reference to Muslims who were, or whose families were, initially from Pakistan. There is the more recent influx from Eastern Europe following the enlargement of the European Union. But there are also substantial populations in Britain’s largest cities of Nigerians, Somalis and other African nationalities, alongside well-established communities ori­ginally from the Caribbean (who are now second-generation British born and bred). Indeed, the groups broadly referred to as immigrant are so diverse that almost any generalisation about them is true to some degree. And in addition, there are refugees and asylum seekers from less peaceful parts of the world, many of whom have no papers and work illegally for low wages.

This complexity and diversity makes it misleading, if not dangerous, to play the numbers game. That has not prevented a group of politicians and churchmen, led by Lord Carey, a ­former Archbishop of Canterbury, from expressing opposition to the prospect of the United Kingdom’s population reaching 70 million in 20 years’ time. It is known that recent immigrants have a higher birth rate, although it tends to settle down to the national average after a while. Nevertheless, what is behind this campaign is a perception that Britain is gradually diluting its distinctive national character, vaguely referred to as “Christian” but also with an unspoken implication of “white”.

These issues are by no means unique to Britain. The Archbishop of Prague, Cardinal Vlk, has recently warned that immigration and the high Muslim birth rate could lead to Islam filling the vacant space in European culture caused by the flight from Christianity. Rioting between Italians and immigrant ­workers from ...

Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to advance Pius XII to the next stage of the canonisation process has brought criticism from within the Jewish community in Britain and elsewhere. Elevation to the status of “venerable” follows recognition of Pius’ “heroic virtues”, an unfortunate expression in the circumstances because the wartime Pope’s heroism – or lack of it – in ...

The crisis surrounding the sexual abuse of children by priests has been used, particularly in the United States, to raise a hue and cry against homosexuality among the clergy. The fault, in other words, was too much tolerance. This illiberal scapegoating has enabled some conservative church leaders to divert attention from deeper structural and cultural problems that led not just to the abuse itself but to the scandal ...

The first decade of the new century was marked at its beginning and its end by world-changing ­catastrophes, the sort of events that can make talk of Christian hope sound like pious escapism. The four-fold attacks of 11 September 2001, known collectively from the American dating as “9/11”, were a startling demonstration that international jihadism – organised terrorism aimed at overthrowing Western ...

Bernard Longley’s enthronement as Archbishop of Birmingham in St Chad’s Cathedral in that city on Tuesday, marks the start of a liturgical year that could prove momentous. His appointment, coming so soon after that of Archbishop Vincent Nichols to Westminster, marks the arrival at the top of what might be called the Vatican II generation – men whose formation years were entirely spent after the council. ...