The exterior of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona is a bit loopy, but the interior is so awe-inspiring that it could win over future generations to Christianity. I went to Barcelona by chance. My brother’s wife and daughters had been delighted by this elegant city in northern Spain and especially by the basilica of the Read more
In Western Europe, politics and the media are still dominated by the liberal mentality that prevailed among European intellectual elites for most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and gave rise to various versions of the “theory of secularisation.” Some of those theories assumed, in the light of the changing role of the major Christian Read more
A top Vatican official at the United Nations has linked the recruitment of young people by Islamist terror groups with Europe having failed its young. The Holy See permanent observer at the UN office in Geneva, Archbishop Silvio Tomasi, said Europe needs to ask itself some hard questions. “Europe should ask itself why it has Read more
Traditional theories of secularization maintain that religious decline led to the deterioration of the family. Not so, argues Mary Eberstadt in her new book How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization (Templeton Press, 2013). Eberstadt is a leading cultural critic and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center Read more
British-American historian Walter Laqueur experienced the demise of the old Europe and the rise of the new. In a SPIEGEL interview, he shares his gloomy forecast for a European Union gripped by debt crisis. SPIEGEL: Mr. Laqueur, you experienced Europe and the Europeans in the best and the worst of times. Historical hot spots and Read more
The European relationship between religion, law and politics is a strange creature. Religious influence over political life is weaker in Europe than in almost any other part of the world. To adapt the phrase first used by Alastair Campbell when he was spokesman for the British prime minister Tony Blair, politicians in Europe generally ‘don’t Read more
Intolerance and discrimination against Christians is increasing across the European continent, a conference of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe has been told. “In Europe, we have identified 14 laws that are likely to negatively affect the religious liberty of Christians in 15 countries,” said Massimo Introvigne, of the Italian foreign affairs ministry. Read more
Last September, Il Partito Democratico, the Italian Democratic Party, asked me to talk about politics and the internet at its summer school in Cortona. Political summer schools are usually pleasant — Cortona is a medieval Tuscan hill town with excellent restaurants — and unexciting. Academics and public intellectuals give talks organised loosely around a theme; Read more
The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has launched a sharply-worded attack on campaigns against the Catholic Church in Europe and the United States, comparing them to pogroms against Jews. In an interview with the daily Die Welt, Archbishop Gerhard Müller said attacks intended to discredit the Church are launched on Read more
Pope Benedict XVI sent a clear signal about the universality of the Catholic Church when he created six new cardinals on November 24. For the first time in decades, all of the new cardinals came from countries outside Europe. “I want to highlight in particular the fact that the Church is the Church of all Read more