There are two things I try to do on a daily basis, whether in the height of summer or the depth of winter: go for a daily swim and go to daily Mass. As a Member of Parliament based in Westminster, I am blessed to be very well served by the swimming club in the

The young people hoping to become adults this year are facing some serious road blocks. Last week, a 30 minute documentary aired on BBC Panorama called Has Covid Stolen My Future? The programme interviewed young people and graduates across the country who can find no work or who have had paid traineeships taken away. Unemployment

Bo Bonner makes his Chapter House debut with a timely meditation on hard-nosed hopefulness in a dismal year. It was a different time I suppose. Before all things teenaged were “very online” as the young folks say, it was possible to convince yourself you were “cool” for a full host of reasons and as long

A government-backed advertisement campaign encouraging people to consider careers in cyber security has been removed after angry backlash. The advertisement pictured a ballerina alongside the caption: “Fatima’s Next Job Could be in Cyber (she just doesn’t know it yet)”. The campaign, released by government programme CyberFirst, was criticised for undermining the Arts. The advertisement came

3,000 students across the country are in forced isolation, threatened with fines and arrest if they try to leave their halls of accommodation- even those who have been tested for Covid and found to be negative. At MMU (Manchester Metropolitan University), 1,700 students have been told to quarantine for a fortnight – their halls patrolled

Where would you go? The world that I would love to visit is The Holy Land. St Jerome said “five gospels record the life of Jesus. Four you will find in the books and one you will find in the land they called Holy. Read the fifth gospel and the world of the four will

Learning from the children of Fatima Last week a couple of acquaintances, a brother and sister, were found to be Covid-19 positive, although fortunately asymptomatic thus far. Faced with the sudden possibility of death, people often have a change of outlook, re-evaluate their lives in the light of a realisation of their mortality. My thoughts

It’s tempting, at least to the molecular biologists amongst us, to admire the cunning of this particularly slippery virus. It seems to exude evil in every perfectly tiny detail. Yet while it’s killing people, it’s not doing so intentionally. Its sole evolved purpose is to transmit itself between unsuspecting bats: even in a purely Darwinian

Pope Francis is to end his live-streamed Masses next week as Italy re-opens churches.

The Diocese of Buffalo is to end all financial support from priests with proven abuse allegations

"The culture wars are real," Cardinal Pell has said in his first major interview after leaving prison.

Priests need our help this Easter SIR – Can I point out that our parish priests are going to have to do without their Easter collection this year, which for some of them makes up a substantial part of their annual income? It would be nice if readers could perhaps organise local collections in their

The coronavirus crisis is delaying the reception of thousands of people into the Catholic Church. Pope Francis has prayed for the conversion of those who exploit the needy during the pandemic. Yang Xiangwen reports that Chinese authorities are shutting down Catholic schools in Heibei province. Fr Raymond de Souza says acquittal was the only reasonable

Comment & Features Saints and the plague: two heroes of a past pandemic – John Morrill Editorial: An unexpected blessing – The Catholic Herald Letter to subscribers: Why we’re becoming a monthly magazine – Dan Hitchens Diary: Self-isolation is nothing new for this horse owner – Melissa Kite Pope Francis’s signature moment – Fr Raymond

“When evening had come” (Mk 4:35). The Gospel passage we have just heard begins like this.

The Catholic Herald is looking for a commissioning editor: someone who knows what makes a good article, and can work with writers to bring the best out of them. The role is full-time and involves working closely with the team here. So – once coronavirus recedes – you’d have to be able to come into

Dan Hitchens has been appointed as the next editor of the Catholic Herald, succeeding Luke Coppen who will step down at the end of March. Hitchens, 31, joined the magazine as deputy editor in 2016. Commenting on his appointment, he said: “It’s an honour and an exciting challenge. During Luke Coppen’s brilliant editorship, both Catholics