The street children of Manila have been failed by their families and rejected by society – but when Pope Francis paid a visit, they became overnight stars When Pope Francis met Cardinal Luis Tagle to prepare for his trip to the Philippines in January he was given a very large postbag. It contained 1,000 letters

Friday November 20 I have spent much of the night thinking about death and damnation. At Mass last Sunday Father wondered how many of those slaughtered in Paris were prepared for death. It is a very Catholic concern, and one I share. When friends and colleagues die, I am quite capable of wondering whether those

The friends of Francis are urging him to take a revolutionary step after the synod. But there are good reasons why he might reject their advice In my last column I argued that it would be foolish to ignore the signs that Pope Francis has been giving for almost two years concerning the admission of

My project to regenerate deprived areas of County Durham, which will cost up to £100 million, has taught me what it really means to serve others JONATHAN RUFFER It is almost five years to the day that I approached the Church Commissioners to acquire the set of paintings by Francisco de Zurbarán held at Auckland

BELGIUM is a country that should be dear to all of us, historically. The “rape of Belgium” moved many hearts to pity at the start of the First World War, and many Belgian refugees were accommodated in Britain after it was occupied by Germany. A hundred thousand places of shelter were offered to fleeing Belgian refugees

From Manila to Mexico City Catholic priests are leading a new and sometimes spectacular crusade against demonic possession

Don’t try to pigeonhole the synod fathers You won’t be able to understand what happens at next month’s gathering if you insist on labelling everyone either a liberal or conservative Preparing for next month’s synod has been a most challenging experience given the existing demands on my time and attention of the everyday duties and

Why Rome is looking East By strengthening the synod of bishops Pope Francis hopes to boost the chances of unity between Catholics and Orthodox Christians Until quite recently, to most of us, the word “synod” probably meant the governing body of the Church of England. Catholics spoke of the councils, worldwide (“ecumenical”) or local, which

The Instrumentum Laboris, or working paper, for next month’s synod has all the hallmarks of the product of a committee. It is also tiresomely moralistic in tone. Apart from an occasional nod in the direction of Africa and Asia, the text mostly reflects the cultural and social situation of the Church in the Western world.

Vatican reporters need a rat-like cunning If you want to join the ‘Vat Pack’ you must endure long periods of news starvation but be ready to pounce when a world-shaking story breaks We were in the Sistine Chapel for a preview of new systems to protect the world’s most famous ceiling. I and others, including

Lutyens’s pick ’n’ mix Church architecture in the early 20th century threw away the rulebook and drew from a mishmash of sources St Jude’s, Hampstead Garden Suburb And so, after 1,000 years, we come to the end of our whistlestop guide to British churches. Funnily enough, St Jude’s, Hampstead Garden Suburb – built by the

It is a source of great fascination to me that almost every value that was commonly upheld in my youth has been overturned – and many values once deplored are now upheld. (David Frost was considered an absolute shocker for mentioning the word “contraception” in a television broadcast in the 1960s, as a new biography