Holy See

The big story of the past seven days

✣   pope commemorates martin luther what happened? pope francis joined lutheran leaders for a commemoration of reformation day in swede...

The best of the Catholic blogosphere

✣   highlights from the week online if god is dead in britain, explain this is god dead in britain? to listen the archbishop of canterb...

Home Secretary attends Vatican talks

cardinal nichols and pope francis have joined police chiefs and politicians, including home secretary amber rudd, at a conference on modern ...

A yes to cremation – but don’t keep the ashes

the vatican’s doctrinal watchdog has set out new guidelines for catholics who want to be cremated, saying their remains must be stored in a ...

The battle over St John Paul’s legacy

on the face of it, the closure of melbourne’s john paul ii institute does not seem especially earth-shaking news. true, the institution has ...

The smearing of Stepinac

four boxes of documents in the croatian state archives in zagreb are what remain of the so-called “dossier stepinac”, the udba (yugoslav sec...

Mary Kenny: From rhythm to algorithm

more than 50 years ago, the vatican, led by pope paul vi – a thoughtful and conscientious man – deliberated over the newly invented contrace...

Comments of the Week

i’m dismayed by the vatican’s edict on ashes sir – although i am not as educated in the ways of the church as some of your contributors clea...

The Catholic Herald

A Renaissance painter for the age of ISIS

for a caravaggio nut like me, it’s been a good month. a trip to malta, taking my son to visit his grandmother, presented an opportunity to p...

The most revealing book yet on Benedict XVI

last testament by benedict xvi, with peter seewald, bloomsbury, £16.99 the drill instructor surveyed the new recruits. he was expected to tu...