The Tablet - International Catholic weekly newspaper

CURRENT ISSUE

SPECIAL REPORTS

Blessed John Paul II

The Tablet Lectures

The UK Papal Visit

Newman beatified

SPIRITUALITY

What’s Catholicism

Glossary

Spirituality

The Pope, the Church and the visit – what Britons really think Exclusive

Elena Curti

Pope Benedict XVI is a more familiar face to Britons than the Archbishop of Canterbury, yet beyond the Catholic Church the public seems still to awaken to his state visit. That is just one finding of a poll conducted exclusively for The Tablet with two weeks to go before the Pope arrives Free

Latest News

‘Disappointment’ over women bishops change

Religious liberty fight goes public

Georgetown defends Sebelius invite

Orthodox denounces Western Church

Christian Aid targets big business

From the editor’s desk

Everything to play for Free

Attempts to manipulate public opinion to give the Pope a hard time when he visits Britain later this month appear to have fallen flat. The Ipsos MORI poll conducted for The Tablet shows only limited awareness of the visit at least at this stage, but ...

A mission that forgot history

Texts in full

Secularism - good or bad?
Archbishop Nichols and Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor take opposing views

The two most senior clerics in England and Wales set out on the same day contrasting visions of the threats posed to Christianity by secularism.

In a lecture at ...

Clare Short: ‘Church gave me best of values that have continued into my political and adult life'
Former Labour minister offers candid and fond reflection on her Catholic upbringing

I've chosen as my theme the link between a Catholic childhood and radical politics. I fear this may be slightly self-indulgent and autobiographical but there are some points ...

Features

It’s up to Pretoria to change HarareGreg Shepherd Britain and the EU may impose sanctions but their effect is minimal on Robert Mugabe’s regime in Zimbabwe while South Africa sits on its hands. With reports suggesting Mugabe is seriously ill, now is the moment for some clear regional leadership from South Africa to mend its broken neighbour ...	The Green PopeCatherine Pepinster Benedict XVI’s concern for the environment has flowered morally through his concern for the effects of climate change on the poor, and theologically through ideas of stewardship. But it originates in his theories about beauty that also influence his thinking on liturgy...
‘Truth will out’Edward Daly The former Bishop of Derry rejects claims made last week after publication of the report by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland that his school contemporary, the late Fr James Chesney, was part of an IRA gang that murdered nine people in Claudy in 1972...	Keeping watch togetherJeremy Davies Many Catholics will not be able to attend the events planned for the papal visit this month. Instead, parishes could organise their own events, bringing Benedict via the big screen into their churches and halls and inviting all the local community to come and celebrate...

Apologias for other great livesFrank M. Turner Attention has naturally focused on the life and works of John Henry Newman as his beatification approaches. But it leaves the resounding contributions of the other great Victorian Catholic clerics Wiseman and Manning in danger of being obscured...	Symbols more powerful than wordsJohn Hall When Benedict XVI comes to Britain, a landmark event will be his participation in ecumenical Evensong at Westminster Abbey. Here, the abbey’s dean argues that the visit has the makings of an event of major historical and symbolic significance...
‘I was sick and you took care of me’Vivian Boland In the latest of our series of meditations on the call to Christian service in Matthew 25:35-39, in spiritual preparation for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Britain, a Dominican theologian reflects on help and friendship...	Getting resultsDaniel McCarthy OSB The faithful perceive the divine gift at work in them producing an effect which is themselves changed by the service they offer to God and neighbour and by their communion in the mystery they become, writes Daniel McCarthy...
‘I am worried that your message will be dismissed’Shaun Middleton In his five-minute audience, parish priest Shaun Middleton would appeal to the Pope to use clear, simple language to minimise the risk of being misunderstood...	Now and for ever moreDaniel O'Leary The special graces that permeate childhood may appear lost to adults, but it is possible to believe that children glimpse a foretaste of the joys of heaven...
Natural nurturingRose Prince

Columnists

Clifford Longley

‘Tatchell has come in for criticism from his own side for not being extremist enough’

Christopher Howse

Would Mr Obama worship a different God if he were a Muslim?

Books and arts

Brilliance dispelling the dark Free
Caravaggio: a life sacred and profane
Andrew Graham-Dixon

It is almost impossible to overpraise this book. It is the life of an artist who had always been “an outsider, a troublemaker, a difficult and dangerous man”, and I finished ...

^ Back to top