I suppose everyone has their own Paris, and “everyone” includes Curzio Malaparte. He would have liked nothing more than to be considered the bad boy of 20th-century Italian letters, though there were many who were far worse than him. Performance was in Malaparte’s nature, never more so than in his delicious writings. Even his name

In his 14 years at Westminster Cathedral, Canon Christopher Tuckwell became a fixture of the Catholic world, his booming voice and sturdy presence bringing consolation to many. From afar his solidity could give the false impression of someone in danger of being boring, but Canon Tuckwell was anything but. A master of the raised eyebrow,

The history of Catholics in South Africa dates from the colony’s earliest days. Founded by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, it was intended as a mere market garden to replenish shipping along the routes to the Orient. But the lush habitation, in which almost any plant you like grows more quickly and for

For England to become truly English, we ourselves must become what God wants us to be

Few things in the realms of the human psyche can prove quite so traumatising as the loss of a high status once enjoyed. The history of Argentina offers a perfect example to counter the naïve yet stubbornly persistent myth of continual progress. But the “decline into silence and doubt” (as lyricist Tim Rice put it

With a popularity rating of 59 per cent and his right-wing Lega movement’s poll figures now double the vote it took in last year’s general election, Italian interior minister Matteo Sal­vini is the man of the moment. The selfie-obsessed politician has made ample use of social media to bypass established media channels, cutting out the

Christian democracy helped create order in post-war Europe, but has largely surrendered to liberalism. It’s time for a rethink

Near La Sapienza in Rome – the modern campus of an old university – there is a church dedicated to an English philosopher, statesman and martyr: San Tommaso Moro. Don Andrea Celli is the priest of the parish, and La Sapienza’s proximity has encouraged him to adopt university students from across the Eternal City, as

The former Archbishop of Canterbury is being used as a willing pawn in an ugly power play

The government could be about to ditch its commitment to scrap the faith schools admissions cap

Catholics make up an increasing proportion of Conservative voters and supporters, as well as activists like myself. During the general election campaign I was proud to stand behind the Prime Minister in the hall of a Catholic state school in London and recognise some familiar faces around me. Had fewer Catholics voted Tory in June,

Caritas Anchor House grabbed the headlines last year when, after an epic struggle with HMRC, it forced the taxman to give up its quest to force a more than £1 million bill on the VAT-exempt charity. “I didn’t think the word ‘hostel’ made our residents feel at home,” CEO Keith Fernett explains, “so I took