Viewpoint

At a time of enduring national crisis, often emerging from public leadership built on straw, something hopeful happened last Friday: There was a recalibration of depth into and across the foundations and mission of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. Let me explain. Over the years I have enjoyed working alongside a number of Bishops: As a teenager Bishop Anthony Emery of Portsmouth inspi... Read More

A concept of National Security that denies action to combat climate change, demands drastic cuts in international aid, and rejects all but narrow national interest, marked the first months of Donald Trump second Presidency. The publication of the 'National Security Strategy of the United States of America', November 2025, formalised this as US foreign policy. For many Europeans, it is a shocking a... Read More

Most democracies sign up to promoting religious freedom abroad. Trump wants to go in guns-blazing. Others feel uncomfortable raising the question of Christian persecution. Why should Christians get privileged attention amongst the many victims of human rights violations and discrimination? Are they disproportionately victims of violence? In Nigeria the question is particularly contentious. Its pop... Read More

As the Pope travelled back to the Vatican from Lebanon, the President of Bosnia was arriving in the UK to mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Agreement. Dayton marked the final close of the wars of independence in former Yugoslavia and especially a conflict where Bosnian Muslims had been neglected by the West leaving them open to persecution and, indeed, genocide at the hands of... Read More

Britain's markets need the Christian 'big reveal' that began this week with Advent. Without the coming of the Christ-child, most town-centres would be boarded up. The emotional push and pull of Christmas sustains a prodigious expenditure on gifts and food that buffers shops and stores from the consequences of low 'footfall' during the rest of the year. As a prompt to start the buying, the American... Read More

Much has been made of Pope Leo's time in Peru and his closeness to the late Pope Francis from Argentina. Being first American Pope has been no less newsworthy. But his impact on the USA is proving more important than his outreach to Latin America. He has deplored the cruelty of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and expects the US bishops unitedly to follow his lead championing the human... Read More

A couple of months ago, I was turning a corner to enter the temporary church beside Salford Cathedral when I came across two parishioners from a previous Mass discussing 'Critical Race Theory'. I was amazed and taken aback. It's not something I've ever heard discussed at the back of a church, even though the parish where I work has parishioners from over 50 different nations, several of those bein... Read More

Remembrance Sunday is a time for looking back, with reflection on action and prayers for peace in the future. "Somebody should visit John's grave". A vivid childhood memory is hearing my granny urging that a family member pay respects at her brother's grave in France. It was 1969 and John had been dead for 51 years, but she often reminisced of how he was killed on 15 October 1918. He had been serv... Read More

In a world riven by conflicts in which religious identity plays a significant part interfaith dialogue is not an abstract idea. Pope Leo in a speech to representatives of world religions and members of the diplomatic corps, Walking Together in Hope, celebrated the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate signed near the end of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. Subtitled 'Declaration on Relations with N... Read More

'To give a voice to love' - Media and Information Literacy week At the beginning of October a young American sister wearing a habit posted a short video on twitter (X) giving some excellent helpful suggestions of how to pray the rosary. Amid the many replies of thanks was this one who identified him/herself as a 'trad' user tweeting, 'Good to promote the rosary, but your sleeves should be below t... Read More

One of the anomalies of English Catholicism is that Catholics working for social justice have in the past been made to feel they are oddities, peripheral to the main life of the Church, worship, sacraments, and prayer, a troublesome add-on, sometimes vaguely threatening. Yet the St Vincent de Paul Society active in every parish and the red boxes of the Pontifical Mission Societies (MISSIO today) i... Read More

Hope and joy are wonderful gifts. The hostage crisis ends, the endless bombing and killing in Gaza stop. You would not think that Gaza had seen two previous ceasefires with exchanges of prisoners and captives and a brief flow of humanitarian aid. Palestinians have bitter grief and unimaginable suffering to digest: both genocide and a new form of Middle East apartheid. The road to their future has... Read More

As Donald Trump stood beside Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and announced a 20-point plan to "end" the war in Gaza, there were no Palestinians in the room. If Hamas fail to agree to the plan then the genocide continues. This is not peace. It is "colonialism" rebranded. It echoes what Dietrich Bonhoeffer once called "cheap grace", a grace that demands nothing, changes nothing, costs nothing. To... Read More

Powerful forces are dismantling democracy in America. President Trump's murdered ally and influential supporter, Charlie Kirk, was given a five hour funeral ceremony in a packed Phoenix stadium on 21 September. It was both spectacular and unprecedented. Oration after oration, from the President, Vice-President and key leaders at high levels of the administration, fused Christian Nationalism with t... Read More