Church
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: It’s time for the common cup to return to communion
The Bull of Oman Sir: There was one significant omission in the cast of characters mentioned by Charles Moore in…
Bring back communion wine
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…
Why I’m paying my daughter to go to church
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…
The challenges of being an England supporter in 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
The silencing of indoor singing is senseless
‘Spiritual but not religious’: the rise of consumerism in church
The problems with ‘Spiritual but not Religious’
In America, politics has become a form of religion
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…
What should you charge for a virtual conference?
From time to time, every industry must adapt to some inconvenient technological advance. Suddenly, some part of what you offer…
Will Coronavirus hasten the demise of religion - or herald its revival?
Whenever Christianity seems all but exhausted, it bursts into life once more
Letters: Why coronavirus is so hard to investigate
Corona mysteries Sir: John Lee highlights the issue of dying of seasonal flu vs dying of coronavirus when assessing attributable…
The psychological and economic dangers of enforced idleness
‘Lourdes shrine closes healing pools as precaution against coronavirus,’ says a discouraging headline in the Catholic Herald. Jesus ‘made the…
Dear Mary: How can I foil a notorious place-swapper at my daughter’s wedding?
Q. I am arranging the seating plan for my daughter’s wedding and have a problem with one of her guests…
How I found salvation in a church in Torquay
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…
Our churches aren’t perfect, but if we lose them we will all be worse off
After hearing about the massacre in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, I went to church, happily sang the word God…
The holy pedigree of cats
It is claimed that the prophet Muhammad loved cats. His favourite was called Muezza and he would do without his…
