Catholic Church

Kraków is a magical city - especially now the stag parties have gone elsewhere

by some sort of miracle kraków, which was poland’s capital city in the middle ages, is immaculately preserved. the nazis’ tanks and bombs ig...

Heretic of the week: Michael Servetus

michael servetus (1509-1553) was a spanish theologian, scientist and scholar, who had a talent for meeting the rich and famous, and an ultim...

Charles Coulombe

Prize crossword 0589

cryptic across 3 with student getting kicked out, the moral blow upset nathanael, maybe, said john (11) 7 certain churches require pretty go...

Easter: a season for singing and dancing

the sacred triduum is behind us, with its shadows, deprivation and purifying lamentation. renewed, we now enter a liturgical season of light...

Fr John Zuhlsdorf

Wren brought Rome to London – without ever going there

sir christopher wren by paul rabbitts shire publications, 96pp, £9.99/$14 displaying a typically victorian aversion to the classicising aest...

The Nobel laureate who brought the Gospel to his atheist readers

we should not be surprised if a major catholic writer reflects on the great mysteries of his faith. françois mauriac (1885-1970) was awarded...

Francis Phillips

Actually, modern churches can be beautiful

100 churches in 100 years by the twentieth century society batsford, 208pp, £25/$35 the late alice thomas ellis, contributor to this magazin...

Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith

Letters & emails

no excuses for shunning the persecuted sir – john o’sullivan (cover story, april 5) refers to de facto discrimination by some governments ag...

The Catholic Herald

Bunnies, hats and parades: How Easter became a secular festival

the onset of easter – like that of christmas – always brings out a rush of nostalgia in me. but unlike the celebratory customs surrounding t...

Charles Coulombe

What would the Passion sound like? Listen to Liszt's answer

it is in the approach to easter that our church’s musical life becomes richer than at any other time in the liturgical calendar. as jens f l...

David Oldroyd-Bolt