Vatican News

Why Newman loved Beethoven but not Pugin

unearthly beauty by guy nicholls, gracewing, 352pp, £25/$31 having waited so long for this event, it is almost a shock to see the title “st ...

A Protestant novelist's case for Catholicism

an enduring paradox of american literature is that a protestant author, willa cather (1873–1947) wrote novels with catholic themes that have...

The hats that speak

as a boy, i was fascinated by the kippah a jewish friend wore upon his head. i did not understand it. why did he wear it? i never asked. but...

The moral theory that failed – but is now back in fashion

you don’t have to be a catholic theologian, journalist or even that much of a church-watcher to understand that there has been a battle afoo...

Liberty and religion are drifting apart

when alexis de tocqueville visited america in the 1830s, he was struck by how radically it differed from france. in his home country, the pa...

Matthew Schmitz

After Tafida, will courts finally listen to parents?

it must have come as quite a shock to the doctors in the tafida raqeeb case that a court was finally prepared to ignore their conviction tha...

Don't try to sugarcoat St John Henry

the canonisation of john henry newman was a glorious affair and, for this writer – the chaplain for newman house at queen’s university in ki...

Fr Raymond de Souza

'We have prayed for this': The day Rome rejoiced with Newman's converts

on the day of john henry newman’s funeral on august 19, 1890, more than 15,000 people took to the streets of birmingham to pay homage to him...

Diary: St Peter's has become a cathedral of selfie-dom

i wasn’t able to attend the prayer vigil in the basilica di santa maria maggiore before the canonisation of john henry newman in rome as our...

Quotes of the week

"we see so much ambiguity … it would seem many would promote it as a new mark of the catholic church: one, holy, catholic, apostolic and amb...