Weeds among the wheat

Pope Benedict speaks frankly and passionately about his horror at the extent of clerical sex abuse. In this extract from Peter Seewald’s book Light of the World, he gives his reaction to the child abuse scandal, his views about its causes and how the Church is dealing with it ...

---

Epistles according to Dorothy
Robert Ellsberg
Tuesday sees the thirtieth anniversary of the death of ‘Christian anarchist’ Dorothy Day, who lived the radical social message of the Gospel and whose cause for canonisation is currently open. A newly published selection of her letters shines unexpected light on her life...

---

In his righteous presence
Stratford Caldecott

---

Sign of delight
Daniel O'Leary
A small, neglected church in a country town is easily ignored when so much else is going on around. But it tells a powerful story that is amplified in this season of Advent when over the next four weeks the story of the humanising of God is revealed in all its profound beauty...

---

Two comings of Christ
Daniel McCarthy
Thanksgiving is at the heart of the Eucharistic Prayer ever since our Lord reinterpreted the Jewish custom of giving thanks over bread, writes Daniel McCarthy. This new series considers our motives for giving thanks as elaborated here in the first Preface of Advent...

---

Aliens sighted
Guy Consolmagno

---

Tablet Traveller

Christopher Howse

‘The church was filled with crowds of a pious but distracting demeanour’

Clifford Longley

‘Isn’t it the Catholic Church that is making homosexuality an affliction, not God?

Church in the World

News from Britain and Ireland

More home news

Trailblazers Free 
Pathfinders: the golden age of Arabic science
Jim Al-Khalili
I sometimes wonder whether our fears about Iran’s nuclear programme aren’t compounded by a half-conscious assumption that science isn’t a “natural” enterprise ...

Huge change must follow the Pope's condom comments

So the Pope's remarks about HIV and condoms do not just apply to male prostitutes - we now know he was referring to men and women when he told journalist Peter Seewald that using ...

Benedict's revision gives hope to those involved in the reality of tackling HIV/Aids

When Pope Benedict called cardinals from all over the world to Rome to meet for talks at the weekend and the appointment of new "red hats", nobody would have foreseen that this gathering ...

An open letter to Anglicans

Deeply regrettable things are taking place in the Anglican community that also affect the Catholic Church. Pope Benedict XVI is offering Anglican ...

The Pope's recent comments on use of condoms contain at least the admission that condoms are effective. After his first statement on his way to Africa, there were several statements ...

Some years ago I was with an ecumenical group visiting a Catholic HIV/Aids centre in South Africa. The manager gave an introductory talk and the inevitable question came up "What ...