After my post yesterday which mentioned among other things my regret that while in Madrid on 24-25 March I couldn t follow the Courtyard of the Gentiles event at Notre Dame in Paris a friend who lives in the French capital and went to one of the sessions has written me a damning description of th

There will be two major differences between the global interfaith prayer for peace which Pope Benedict has called for in Assisi on 27 October and the two previous ones called by Pope John Paul II in 1986 and 2002 nbsp The first is that the representatives of the different faiths will not actuall

MADRID I have spent the week helping in the world launch of Roland Joffe s new film There Be Dragons which was premiered here on Wednesday night and goes on general release in 300 Spanish cinemas today Some 100 000 tickets have been pre-sold meaning you can t get a ticket this weekend -- somet

Displaying crucifixes in Italy s public schools does not violate anyone s religious freedom the European court in Strasburg ruled today in a judgement that will please the country s government and public opinion nbsp Ruling that there was no evidence that a crucifix hung in a classroom would inf

A final judgement is to be issued tomorrow by the European Court of Human Rights ECHR in a long-running case which could have long-term consequences for the relationship between faith and secularism in Europe nbsp Lautsi and others v Italy dates back to 2002 when the parent of a child in a publi

Last week I wrote here about the Vatican refusing to renew the post of Lesley-Anne Knight secretary-general of Caritas Internationalis the outrage it has caused in the organization and what it might mean The piece is summarized in this week s Signs of the Times nbsp Since then 1 Caritas spok

The Christian member of the Pakistan government killed by Islamic fanatics on Wednesday gave an interview last year which shows he had received threats and knew he was likely to die Shahbaz Bhatti who was Minister of Minorities opposed Pakistan s notorious blasphemy law condemned by Pope Benedic

It would have been surprising if Pope Benedict had resurrected the age-old antisemitic accusation that the Jews as a people were responsible for Jesus death But in part two of Jesus of Nazareth out next week he provides some interesting further scriptural and theological justification for debunk

The publishers of the second part of Pope Benedict XVI s book Jesus of Nazareth entitled Holy Week from the entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection have allowed certain extracts to be published in advance of the book s 10 March publication date The following is taken from the last part of Cha

What changes are coming to Caritas Internationalis the Church rsquo s vast global charity There are many things still unclear about why Lesley-Anne Knight pictured CI rsquo s British secretary-general has been unexpectedly prevented from applying to renew her term But one thing is in no doubt