Catholic Church

Whose legacy will last longer?

Benedict XVI favoured a slow, step-by-step approach to reform, while Francis prefers sweeping initiatives that advance quickly

Fr Raymond de Souza

Fighting fire with fire

ISIS has brought terror to Iraq's Christian community. Now there's a military fightback – but could it make things even worse?

From paranoia to metanoia

sometimes we’re a mystery to ourselves, or perhaps more accurately, sometimes we don’t realise how much paranoia we carry within ourselves. ...

Fr Ronald Rolheiser

A victory for our schools

no one could blame the national secular society for feeling a little smug when it received an assurance last year that the government had no...

The Catholic Herald

The big story of the past seven days

✣   leaked letter restarts ‘amoris wars’ what happened? the debate over amoris laetitia has reopened after a letter written by pope fra...

The best of the Catholic blogosphere

✣   highlights from the week online jobless in the curia the vatican has been re-organised, with six of its departments now compressed ...

President urges churchmen to protect Poles

polish president andrzej duda has asked church leaders in england to help protect polish migrants from xenophobic violence and abuse. he wro...

Francis fulfils wish of teenager with cancer

pope francis administered the sacrament of confirmation to a teenage cancer patient last week. francis confirmed 16-year-old giuseppe chiolo...

Vatican-appointed bishop arrested in China

chinese authorities have arrested the coadjutor bishop of wenzhou, reportedly to stop him taking over the diocese after the death of bishop ...

Francis is better at decisions, says Benedict

benedict xvi has said that, although he does not see himself “as a failure”, governance was not his “forte” as pope. in a book-length interv...