If football clubs had a feast day—which in the case of saints is usually fixed by the date of their death and heavenly resurrection—Manchester United’s would be on February 6, the day on which in 1958 almost an entire golden generation of young football players perished in the Munich plane crash.

Yesterday the editorial staff of The Southern Cross was debating whether to give coverage to the Vatican’s reaction to the Benetton “Unhate” ad that depicts Pope Benedict planting a kiss on the lips of Sheikh Ahmad el-Tayeb, president of al-Azhar University in Cairo, who this year suspended dialogue with the Vatican. In the event, we [...]

In an article written for Catholic News Service in Washington, GÜNTHER SIMMERMACHER looks at the life of Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Last month the Vatican hosted something quite new: the International Catholic Film Festival, which was held Rome from May 12-21. The festival placed a particular spotlight on the priesthood.

In September, God willing, I’ll be going on my fifth pilgrimage to the Holy Land, this time with Bishop Zithulele Mvemve of Klerksdorp. Five times might sound like a fair bit, but I’ve met people who have gone to the Holy Land as pilgrims dozens of times; some have even notched up undefeated centuries. For [...]

Nothing can confuse communication as much as words. One can choose them as carefully as possible, shooting for pin-point accuracy in its application and investing subtle nuances in its usage — and there will be those who will not only misunderstand a delicately wrought phrase, but denounce the writer for it.

Blasphemy: we know the definition — profaning the sacred — but there seems to be little consensus about when exactly the sacred is profaned. Take the new Irish blasphemy law which came into effect on January 1. It defines blasphemy as the publication of matter that “is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters [...]

The singer Billy Joel once observed that “life is a series of hellos and goodbyes”. You meet people, become friendly, then lose contact because of relocation, change of employment, perhaps a disagreement, or just boredom.

Archbishop Denis Hurley would have approved of a pilgrimage to Robben Island in his honour taking on a profoundly ecumenical form.