Posts By Date - Catholic Herald

September 30, 2023

Sir Anthony Kenny: Why the Acts of the Apostles is my favourite book of the Bible

September 30, 2023

Among the narrative books of the New Testament, the Acts of the Apostles stands out as containing material claiming to be an eye-witness record of the events it reports. Many passages in the story of St Paul’s missionary journeys begin with the pronoun “we” and thus claim to be personal memories. The author of the

Dividing opinion: The Sound of Freedom is well-meaning but problematic

September 30, 2023

An uncomfortable watch, Sound of Freedom is based on the life of paedophile hunter and former CIA and Homeland Security agent Tim Ballard and details the realities of child sex trafficking in and around the US. Since its release, the film has become a flashpoint for cultural quarrels. Sound of Freedom opens with Roberto, a

Poirot, but not as we know him: A Haunting in Venice, reviewed by Julia Hamilton

September 30, 2023

Christie as a horror movie doesn’t work, says Julia Hamilton. A Haunting in Venice is the third in a trilogy of films produced and acted in by Kenneth Branagh as the celebrated and beloved detective Hercule Poirot. Every generation has its own Poirot – my favourite of all time is David Suchet, who simply is

Divine cameos at the Venice Film Festival

September 30, 2023

Frank Mannion seeks out God at an excellent 80th edition of the festival. The Catholic Church has long played a leading role at the Venice Film Festival. Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, the papal travelogue In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis and Abel Ferrara’s Padre Pio all premiered on the Lido, as

The Decomposition of Man: Identity, Technocracy, and the Church, by James Kalb

September 30, 2023

Recovering our sanity. The Decomposition of Man: Identity, Technocracy, and the Church James Kalb Angelico Press, £17, 228 pages I am sitting outside a coffee shop on the main street of Lander, Wyoming. A brown sparrow alights near my table, joining the already various pedestrian traffic: tanned climbers emerge from their bumper-stickered Subaru; a couple

Nuncio to Washington on ‘noisy’ US Catholics: ‘Who are they? If the Pope says something, listen to him’

September 30, 2023

ROME – Pope Francis’s representative to the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, who is made a cardinal today, Saturday, has said that American conservative papal critics “are very, very noisy, they are a network of blogs, and they all talk together, but in reality, they represent just a small group.” “Who are they?” he asked.

Pope Francis to new cardinals on future of Church: ‘Mutual listening is essential’

September 30, 2023

ROME – Pope Francis told the 21 new cardinals he created on Saturday, who come from all over the world, that their diversity is a gift which must contribute to a unified “symphony” of various but united voices capable of credible evangelization. Speaking to those gathered in St Peter’s Square for the consistory on 30

Abuse survivors demand resignation of ‘totally inappropriate’ Fernández

September 30, 2023

ROME – On Friday the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA) advocacy groups issued a joint statement calling on Pope Francis to remove Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández as head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), and to rescind his elevation as cardinal, over past

‘Distressing’: no more Traditional Masses at High Altar of Westminster Cathedral

September 30, 2023

The Latin Mass Society has been informed that the Traditional Latin Mass may no longer be celebrated at the High Altar of Westminster Cathedral, as is has been twice a year since 1972. With a break for Covid, there have therefore been about 100 such Masses over fifty years. The next one would have been