On 13 June 2013, Pope Francis granted an interview to Israel’s Channel 2 TV at Santa Marta, the Vatican guesthouse where he lives. That interview made history; it was the first time that a TV crew entered Santa Marta to interview the pope. What is not known, however, is that immediately afterwards Francis asked to Read more
Many ancient cities have vanished. We read about them in history books without giving much thought to how the world could have been different had they stayed with us. In this instance, the subject is Bethlehem, a city that is vanishing in front of our eyes. Does it matter? This is the question I have Read more
Lulu Mitshabu tells us to close our eyes. ‘Imagine your brothers, sisters, your mothers, your nieces, your nephews, your children, everybody that makes you smile, the good time you’re having,’ she says. ‘Open your eyes. The time that you took closing your eyes and thinking of your people, imagine now everybody you thought of disappeared Read more
Student Tyler Dixon is used to being asked about women’s place on the marae. Her pakeha friends ask if the traditional role of women in the powhiri is sexist. “I just try to explain that females have their own type of mana. Traditionally Maori really revered their women, and looked after their women, and I Read more
Israel is where you can encounter the physical reality of religion. In one short trip, I prayed at the spot where Jesus was born, stood at the foot of the mountain where he fed the 5,000 and touched the rock into which his cross was planted. To all those atheists who say “Jesus wasn’t even Read more
‘Mary Untier of Knots, pray for us’ would be a strange-sounding invocation in the Litany to Our Lady to which we are so accustomed. In fact, devotion to the Blessed Virgin under this title has been common in parts of Germany for centuries. Recently, however, the world’s attention was drawn to it when Vatican Radio Read more
It’s tough to picture the future if you’re a New Zealander under 30. Your first home has never been more out of reach, if you want to live in one of the main centres – not that we have much of a choice, because high rates of unemployment and thousands of dollars of student debt Read more
When she was 13 years old in 1960, Marie Collins underwent treatment for a bone infection in a Dublin hospital. In the privacy of a ward cubicle, she was raped by the hospital chaplain, Father Paul McGennis. She did not report the priest until 1995, some 35 years later. When she went public, she says, Read more
Wisdom is high on the list of personal qualities we prize. Yet even though most of us recognise that being wise is entirely different from other markers of success — such as being rich or famous or even a genius — wisdom is a difficult quality to define. Do we truly understand what it takes Read more
During his first Angelus address, Pope Francis recommended a work of theology that “has done me so much good” because it “says that mercy changes everything; it changes the world by making it less cold and more fair.” That book is Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life by Cardinal Read more