The Catholic Church

Book review of Holy Bones, Holy Dust: How Relics Shaped the History of Medieval Europe by Charles Freeman and Walsingham: Pilgrims and Pilgrimage by Michael Rear

Thanks to Pope Benedict XVI, the Catholic Church is making a vibrant  and intellectually rigorous contribution to modern society

Scholasticism was philosophy’s attempt to apply reason to Church doctrine. But while the medievals were constrained by a notion of overriding divine authority, we should not underestimate the theistic dimension of Western thought today

The much-maligned King of the Jews’s shortcomings should not overshadow his political and cultural accomplishments

‘I would ordinarily side with the atheists and secularists against the Pope. This time, I couldn’t’

New books on the great Italian reveal him to have been wiser than many modern scientists

The great Cardinal demanded to be laid to rest surrounded by the holiest of his close companions

The great Cardinal demanded to be laid to rest surrounded by the holiest of his close companions

‘What Machiavellian moves lie behind the removal of three hard-working and much-loved clerics from the Birmingham Oratory just before the Pope’s visit?’