On 4th October, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis published an apostolic exhortation, Laudate Deum (Praise God). This is a summary of that document.
Read more >>Laudate Deum – a summary
Category: Politics
From comfort zone to low-emission zone
We are at the end of the Season of Creation, a special period of prayer and reflection which the Catholic Church observes from 1st September to 4th October each year. This year the Holy Father will publish a new letter on care for creation on Wednesday 4th October, following his 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’.
Read more >>Unpicking stereotypes about diversity
The modern mantra of “equality, diversity and inclusion” (EDI) is proclaimed with alacrity in the corporate and education worlds. This is an important agenda, if understood correctly, but the phrase is often used to close down rather than open up discussions.
Read more >>Child euthanasia – the next stop on the slippery slope
Talk to Oxford University Students by Lord Alton of Liverpool
I want you to imagine Marie. It is 2025 and Marie is a 15-year-old Canadian girl. Three months ago, her relationship with her first boyfriend ended and she remains heartbroken. Life doesn’t seem worth living anymore. Her self-esteem has plummeted. She feels less popular, less attractive and less talented than most of her friends at school. And, in her state of distress, she reasons the rest of her life will be worthless and miserable. Not uncommon for girls her age, Marie has been ill with anorexia in recent years. Her recent circumstances have led her to relapse. So, her parents take her to the local psychiatric hospital to see a doctor.
Read more >>When your mother’s not your mother: the problems of normalising surrogacy
For most couples, the desire to have children is deeply imbedded in their relationship. After all, human beings are made for love and children are a real expression of love. So, when couples discover that they cannot have children this can be devastating. On the other hand, some couples, notably same sex couples, enter their union knowing from the outset that having their own children together is impossible, yet they still yearn to be parents, as do some single people who are not in any relationship. ‘Welcoming’ a child via a surrogate mother seems to provide the answer. Influential celebrities who use surrogate mothers have become role models for surrogacy and hold out this as an option for all. However, the desire to be a mother or father does not justify any right to have a child. Children have the right to be born in their own real families with their own mother and father.
Read more >>Politics as life-long engagement
I remember the scene clearly: it was just after midnight and the house lights were switched on in the auditorium of the Teatro Argentina in Rome. Moving from stage lighting to the lighting of the whole house was meant to affirm the role of the audience in the dawning of a democratic process in Eumenides, the third play in Aeschylus’ The Oresteia cycle, as a vote is cast on Orestes’ charge. Is he guilty or innocent? Athena, then, declares the theatre to be a court crowded with people. Sadly, while the lights revealed the glories of the theatre’s internal box features, it also revealed how the seats had emptied during the performance. As the show ran so late, many of the spectators had to leave early to catch public transport.
Read more >>Love the Stranger – youchat’s “perspective”
This week’s post on the Catholic social thought blog is a bit different. Instead of the usual article written by one of our authors, the article is a reflection on the document published by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, Love the Stranger, which has been produced by youchat which is powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning. Specifically, youchat was asked to produce an article summarising the document. The article follows (no changes have been made to the original produced by youchat).
Read more >>Culture, compassion, consistency and conscience – addressing public policy challenges
In this longer article, Archbishop of Southwark, Most Rev John Wilson, argues that re-evangelisation and the revival of a Christian culture is necessary if we are to successfully make progress in addressing public policy challenges
Read more >>Love the Stranger
Fr Manuel Barrios Prieto, Secretary General of COMECE (Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union), introduces the new document, published by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, Love the Stranger.
Read more >>Civil Society under pressure[1]
“the right of association is a natural right of the human being, which therefore precedes his or her incorporation into political society…” Centesimus annus, 7, emphasising Rerum novarum
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