May 27, 2016 - Catholic Herald

In Peter’s faltering journey to sainthood there is surely hope for us all

May 05, 2024

Among the many wonderful paradoxes of Catholic faith, practice and history is that now-canonised saints did not always act so saintly. From St Monica’s purported alcoholism to St Athanasius’s irascibility to St Jerome’s chronic ill-temper, the tradition is replete with examples of inconstancy. It is perhaps not an accident that the earliest example of this

The DRC’s attack on Cardinal Ambongo may well only boost his stock

May 05, 2024

ROME – In the old days, monarchs and emperors who governed the great Catholic powers of the day claimed what they rather fancifully described as a jus exclusivae, or “right of exclusion,” in papal elections, meaning the power to exercise a veto over a particular candidate. The last time this right of exclusion was invoked was

What was Peter saying as the Holy Spirit descended?

May 05, 2024

“As Peter reached the house Cornelius went out to meet him, knelt at his feet and prostrated himself. But Peter helped him up. ‘Stand up,’ he said ‘I am only a man after all!’ Then Peter addressed them: ‘The truth I have now come to realise’ he said ‘is that God does not have favourites, but

The beautiful scent of a newborn: Learning to live with the chaos of three small children

May 04, 2024

“Why does he smell so good?” my eldest daughter, Ophelia, asked. She and her sister had just arrived at the hospital to meet their new baby brother. Only a few hours earlier, as the girls were eating their breakfast of pancakes and chocolate spread, they had watched me tear through the kitchen and into the

Happily ever after? Secular modernity’s irrational discomfort with boy meets girl

May 04, 2024

Last month, the British Museum briefly found itself in hot water on Twitter/X. Some feminists took exception to a jokey post they’d made suggesting that their new exhibition about the Roman army, which Ben Stephens reviewed for the Herald in the March edition, was a good place to come for single girls looking to meet

Congolese Catholics rally round as Cardinal Ambongo accused of ‘sedition’ in DRC

May 04, 2024

YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon – After a prosecutor in the Democratic Republic of Congo announced an investigation of Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo of Kinshasa on charges of sedition, both clergy and laity in the country’s capital have rallied to his defence, calling the probe “shameful” and pledging their loyalty. “We openly reaffirm, in the clearest possible terms, our

A tale of two cities: Wandering through London, from a pagan temple to the Brompton Oratory

May 04, 2024

I took myself off on a jaunt through London last month, following a favourite route through two cities (the other being Westminster) which takes in plenty of interesting old things for those with eyes to see. I started at the Mithraeum, a pagan temple dedicated to the cult of Mithras, deep under the Bloomberg building

Whoever defends God is defending Man

May 03, 2024

Last July I took my kids on the train to the Royal Society summer science exhibition which coincided with that year’s Pride march. On the way we passed by a number of men in leather butt-less chaps, some had whips, a few had gimp masks, others wore hotpants, men and women held up signs saying

MPs to vote on abortion amendments on May 15, Parliament told

May 03, 2024

MPs will have the opportunity to change the UK’s abortion law on May 15, it was announced in Parliament yesterday. Amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill in include two to tighten up the law and two to decriminalise abortion. Under the 1967 Abortion Act, the procedure is permitted in certain circumstances up to 24 weeks

Our anti-Christian culture is turning democracy into a busted flush

May 03, 2024

Democracy is ill. It is under pressure from all sides. From suspicions of voter fraud, to frustration with a moribund two party system, there is an increasing sense that there is no point in voting. Only too aware of that, Cardinal Vincent Nichols published a video on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, this

UK bishops unite to lament humanitarian crisis in Sudan

May 03, 2024

Christian leaders have said the conflict in Sudan has “no winners” as the war in the African nation creates “one of the greatest humanitarian catastrophes of our time”. More than 8.5 million Sudanese have been forced to flee their homes in Sudan since the war between rival militaries erupted in April 2023, according to the

Staff become Catholics after new programme in schools

May 02, 2024

An innovative evangelisation programme in the Archdiocese of Southwark has led to four staff members in Catholic schools being received into the Catholic Church. The project, called “Come and see”, was designed to invite non-Catholic staff in schools to join a Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) programme, where they are supported within school

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