(COMMENTARY) The “trial of the century” of Cardinal George Pell - the Vatican’s “number 3” man and head of its finances - on sexual abuse charges has been passed by a Melbourne Magistrate to the Victoria County Court for adjudication. Magistrate Belinda Wallington found sufficient evidence to justify a trial for the 76-year old former archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney, who has been placed on leave by Pope Francis to respond to the charges.
Read More(COMMENTARY) In part two of her look at the UK Government’s new integration strategy, Dr. Jenny Taylor examines how the ground is set in Britain for a showdown between the secular state’s need to govern its disparate peoples but without a religion to bind it together. Religio means ‘to bind’ but in the UK, despite historical precedent, the majority do not believe and the religions that there are have their own versions of transcendent accountability.
Read More(COMMENTARY) The British Government’s Green Paper, published on March 14, outlines a strategy that signifies a 180-degree U-turn in the direction of nearly 70 years of public policy since the Second World War. The final report of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Social Integration’s own inquiry into the integration of immigrants (2017) declared last year that ‘multiculturalism ... is defunct’.
Read MoreGuy Consolmagno has a profound love for studying space, reading and watching science-fiction as well as Jesus and the Gospels. As director of the Vatican Observatory, he is embraced by both the scientific and the religious communities, and is in the business of shattering myths about the compatibility between science and religion.
Read More(OPINION) Hours before Palm Sunday and the start of Holy Week, Lt. Col. Beltrame died in a sacrificial act that caused mourning across France. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia said Beltrame was a civil servant doing his job and a "man who deliberately shaped and disciplined his own life to place the well-being of others before his own."
Read MoreAn Anglican priest is to be honored by the Queen for his public service. Fr Francis Gardom, 84, founded a charity to provide products to poor schoolgirls in Kenya who would otherwise miss school. His work has been brought to the attention of the Queen who will bestow on him the traditional gift of ‘Maundy money’ reserved for distinguished service by pensioners.
Read MoreThe March 4 vote in Italy swept to victory a wave of populist candidates – including Matteo Salvini of the Lega party – who campaigned heavily against immigration. As Italians, like many across Europe, become more agnostic, their politics morph. Political observers say a new generation of a more secular electorate have started to differentiate between religious obligations and political desires.
Read More(COMMENTARY) The Russian media scene presents a sobering picture for those who hold to theories of the inevitable progress of mankind. Though the collapse of the Soviet Union ushered in a decade of a press freedoms in Russia under Boris Yeltsin, with Vladimir Putin the situation has tightened. The state does not pervade all aspects of intellectual life. But where its interests are concerned - dissent is not tolerated.
Read More(COMMENTARY) As Christians enter the season of Lent, the church's mission is as paramount as ever – to spread the Gospel and inform parishioners, through news stories and commentary, about the politics and culture around us. The mainstream press is not the least interested in such a mission – so it has largely become the role of the religious-based press – and the communication tools of the 21st century – to fill the void.
Read More(Commentary) Our review of the U.S. press coverage of claims that Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, the president of the Deutsche Bischofskonferenz (DBK), had given his permission to clergy to bless same-sex unions has sparked rigorous debate on social media. George Conger responds with his perspective on what is causing the discord.
Read MoreAn Interview With Claire Foster-Gilbert
Read More(COMMENTARY) “German Cardinal Endorses Homosexual Heresy” states the headline of a Sunday story in the Daily Caller. It is a wonderful headline crafted to drive readers to the religion section of the well-respected online political news portal. But is it true?
Read MoreA Muslim religious group has 21 days to appeal a decision to have their illegal mosque near the UK’s Olympic village demolished, despite twenty years of non-compliance.
Read MoreA heated debate continues in Sweden after a church chose to use a gender neutral pronoun when describing Jesus in an advertisement for a Christmas worship service.
Read More(OPINION) For an article to break free from the pack of mind-numbing junk that overwhelms journalism, the writer must have technical facility but also a sense of the background to the subject. Knowing why the story matters moves it beyond being merely amusing.
Read More(OPINION) The cynicism so many readers have towards the mainstream media arises in part from the worldview articulated by Richard Pryor -- "Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?” from his 1982 film “Live on the Sunset Strip”.
Read MoreThe radicalization of young men among Europe’s growing Muslim population and a fervent groundswell of opposition against Israel by many on the political Left are two of the central reasons behind the sharp rise in anti-Semitism across the continent.
Read MoreThere is hardly a more telling moment to epitomise the state of journalism in the Czech Republic than a short TV clip from a recent meeting of two presidents: Miloš Zeman, Czech head of state and his Russian counterpart - Vladimir Putin. “And here are more journalists?” asked Mr. Zeman in Russian at the press conference. "There are too many journalists. They should be liquidated.“
Read MorePope Francis elected the first ever Nordic Cardinal earlier this year. Some say Sweden´s gender equality and liberal attitude to immigration might have influenced the Pope´s decision.
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