LEICESTER, United Kingdom – A crucifix that once belonged to a priest executed after England’s notorious Gunpowder Plot is currently on display in the country’s oldest still operating convent, located in the northern city of York. Father Edward Oldcorne was friends with Robert Catesby, the instigator of the 1605 plot hatched by a group of

Catholic school representatives in the United Kingdom have rejected the conclusions of a report which claims that Catholic primary schools serve fewer students with disabilities or special needs than public schools. Dr Tammy Campbell of the London School of Economics said in a report faith schools from the Catholic and Anglican Churches in England gave

For millions of Catholics around the world who find comfort in the traditional Latin Mass, the fights of the rectory and professional Catholic class have once again struck them at home.

The London investment is equivalent to the Vatican’s annual budget, and the idea of a few laymen and a couple of prelates sinking it into a dubious deal, without proper oversight and checks and balances is, well, laughable.

This is the first known instance of the Vatican using official diplomatic channels to oppose legislation in Italy; although given that it was publicized through a leak to the press and not an official statement, it is possible it has happened before. It is an odd time for the Holy See to brandish such a weapon. The world is observing Pride Month, and Italy is set to host a series of Pride parades this weekend, which organizers now say will protest the Vatican action. In addition, the Catholic Church in Italy has usually fared poorly when opposing Italian laws.

"I don't expect members of panel shows or even Church Times columnists to be experts on Catholic Church law," writes Charles Collins. "But let’s face it, most of those who are upset with the Catholic Church for allowing Johnson to marry his girlfriend (and mother of his child) are more upset with the prime minister’s policies than his - or the Church’s - morals."

Despite its novelty – 50 years is nothing in Church time – the Synod, too, can fall into the same “functionalism” against which Pope Francis warned the Dicastery for Communication earlier this week.

It is important for the Vatican to have a Commission for the Protection of Minors. Whatever one thinks of the Center’s upgrade, it remains important that the Church have other named institutions for child protection.

The events in Ireland and Quebec are easily explained away as the Church just getting caught up in laws that are aimed at the general population. But another factor is at work: Ireland and Quebec are both flexing their muscles as post-Catholic societies.

For years, people have complained about the dumbing down of doctrine in religious education courses, but this takes the cake: Catholics literally enraged because an atheist describes Catholic teaching fairly accurately.

The idea that everything can be attributed to financial motivations is a bit of an oversimplification, to be sure, but money can present incentives that act on us -- consciously and unconsciously -- and that does does tend to make "Follow the money" a maxim worth some consideration.

Synodality has become the buzzword of the present pontificate – Pope Francis has used the Synod of Bishops as the chief tool of pushing his agenda – only, what does "synodality" mean?