Church
In defence of Thames Water
Perhaps the greatest honour ever paid to Queen Victoria was to have a sewage-pumping engine named after her. Both she…
How to save our churches
Easter is being celebrated by millions of families across our country. It’s one of those moments when we should come…
How Pope Francis kept the faith
As timing goes, a pope simply can’t do better than to die just after Easter Sunday. The moral of the…
The Francis effect
Pope Francis was a man of remarkable complexity who cultivated an image of utmost simplicity. He began the moment he…
World leaders pay tribute to Pope Francis
Pope Francis has died aged 88. At 7.35 a.m., the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had ‘returned to the house…
Francis and the Vatican reckoning
Modern popes, for better or for worse, tend to be defined in soundbites. John Paul II’s clarion call of ‘Be…
What The Spectator taught Benjamin Franklin
Christmas came early this year. No, I’m not moaning about the carols that my local café started piping at the…
My rules for church readings
It is that time of year when people in churches across the land have to face the difficult question of…
Letters
The Bull of Oman Sir: There was one significant omission in the cast of characters mentioned by Charles Moore in…
Grapes of wrath
Don’t deny me my communion wine
The churches must stay open
Hooray for Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who used the one day of the year when his pronouncements are amplified by the…
In good faith
Why I’m bribing my daughter to get confirmed
The Church of England is missing a trick on climate change
Justin Welby urges us, echoing Deuteronomy, to ‘choose life’, so that our children may live. It is an apt use…
Letter from Italy
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna My fiery Italian wife Carla is not just a passionate patriot but also a devout Catholic, and…
Let hymn in
The silencing of indoor singing is senseless
Believe it or not
The problems with ‘Spiritual but not Religious’
Diary
When I finally head back to church this weekend, after a year of Covid-avoidance, it is going to feel a…
A woke church is doomed to fail
My church attendance leaves something to be desired and I can’t cite Bible verses for every occasion. Yet for as…
Full stream ahead
From time to time, every industry must adapt to some inconvenient technological advance. Suddenly, some part of what you offer…
Risen again
Whenever Christianity seems all but exhausted, it bursts into life once more
Letters
Corona mysteries Sir: John Lee highlights the issue of dying of seasonal flu vs dying of coronavirus when assessing attributable…
The Spectator’s Notes
‘Lourdes shrine closes healing pools as precaution against coronavirus,’ says a discouraging headline in the Catholic Herald. Jesus ‘made the…
Dear Mary
Q. I am arranging the seating plan for my daughter’s wedding and have a problem with one of her guests…
Low life
Last Tuesday a Mistral wind blowing across the Bay of Angels jerked the plane all over the shop as it…
The touching traces of the past in church visitors’ books
I am memorialised twice in my village church. Not in some premature lapidary way, but in the visitors’ book. The…
