In a defeat for both the Catholic Church and the government just over half of the voters of the Mediterranean island of Malta pop 412 000 voted Saturday to allow divorce Malta is the last European country -- and one of the few left in the world -- where divorce is illegal The Prime Minister L

LONDON I am told that the last three speakers here have been the Pope Her Majesty the Queen and Nelson Mandela President Obama began his speech at Westminster Hall which is either a very high bar or the beginning of a very funny joke President Obama is the first ever US President to addres

As anticipated the General Assembly of Caritas Internationalis under way in Rome this week has turned out to be a defining moment in the organisation s 60-year-old history as one leading Vatican official after another has sought to tie it more closely to the Holy See and the Church s mission ad ge

Commentators on both sides of the Irish Sea are unanimous in declaring the Queen s four-day visit to Ireland which ended this afternoon an extraordinary triumph one that opened hearts and shifted attitudes laying ghosts to rest and opening up a new era of friendship for both nations Three of th

There is something rather retro and quaint about the 10-day gathering of 17 Catholic and Anglican bishops and theologians which begins at a monastery in northern Italy today Bose is a community of both men and women made up of both Anglicans and Catholics founded in the 1970s when there was talk

It s usually pretty hard to get excited about Queen Elizabeth II visiting other countries The four-day visit she began today however is different Ireland shares a language a border and an awful lot of history with the UK yet this was the first visit by a British monarch in more than 100 years

The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith CDF has written to the world s 5 000 Catholic bishops asking them to introduce clear and coordinated procedures for dealing with clerical sex abuse allegations and laying out the principles which should govern them Cardinal William

We print here the full text of a Circular Letter dated 3 May and released today which has been sent to all bishops by Cardinal William Levada prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith laying out the considerations governing local bishops conference guidelines on the handling of

A lead news story in many European dailies today concerns the outrage in Belgium over the early release of the ex-wife of a notorious child killer Michelle Martin 51 pictured here at her trial was an accomplice to Marc Dutroux Europe s most notorious serial murderer and paedophile and arrested

The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is very annoying He says the thing that really ought not to be said at the moment when nobody wants to hear it and says it what is more with gentle force causing people to stop in their tracks and reconsider It is a very unpopular thing to do esp