6th August 2015
The UK’s Modern Slavery Act came into force on 31 July This landmark legislation brought into law some important new provisions. These include mechanisms to seize traffickers assets and use those funds to help compensate victims, prevention orders to ensure that those who pose a risk of committing modern slavery offences cannot work sectors where they will […]
10th July 2015
The following is a guest blog by Steve Townsend, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy to the Holy See Pope Francis is currently in Latin America, visiting Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay. There is a particular interest for me, as I spent over three years in Bolivia as Deputy Head of Mission, which left me with many […]
1st July 2015
This is a networked world. And yet there are few genuinely global networks out there. By that I mean networks that have a capacity to operate globally, co-ordinated centrally but operating in capillary fashion, horizontally in a radial pattern as well as vertically in a hub and spoke model. One of the reasons why we […]
28th May 2015
Amongst the various reforms underway at the Vatican, one that has generated considerable interest is the reform of Holy See communications. There had for many years been criticism of a lack of coordination and high levels of duplication in Holy See communications. The last decade had also seen a number of avoidable communications errors that […]
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21st May 2015
This week I attended an important conference at the Pontifical Santa Croce University, on “The New Climate Economy. How Economic Growth and Sustainability Can Go Hand in Hand”. It was jointly organised by the Dutch Embassy to the Holy See and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and brought together leading political figures, business […]
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14th May 2015
Amongst the Vasari frescoes In the Sala Regia in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican is a series to make ecumenists blanche. It depicts the planning and implementation of the St Bartholomew’s Eve Massacre – the massacre in Paris on 23-24 August 1572, ordered by the King of France, of thousands of French Huguenot Protestants. […]
21st April 2015
The Holy See’s decision to take part in the Venice Biennale, after its inaugural participation in 2013, reminds us of the extraordinary role played by the Popes in the history and production of art. For much of its history, the Holy See was an undoubted centre of connoisseurship, patronage and artistic endeavour. It is impossible […]
13th April 2015
Stereotypical images tend to come to mind, at least the non-Catholic British mind, when we think of nuns. We think of Julie Andrews and The Sound of Music. Perhaps Sister Wendy Beckett delivering art lectures. We might just stretch to Mother Teresa in the slums of Calcutta. Like most stereotypes, such images are both unhelpful […]
2nd April 2015
You won’t be surprised to hear that Easter is a busy time of year at the Holy See. The Pope has a full schedule of engagements that take him through the solemnities of Holy Week to the great festivity of Easter Sunday and the Easter period beyond. Pope Francis will be applying his own particular […]
23rd March 2015
Pope Francis is a powerful campaigner against corruption; the exploitation by the powerful of the vulnerable, the poor and the weak. He returned to this theme again on his recent visit to Naples, a city blighted by the corrupting influence of organised crime. “Corruption stinks”, he said, “corrupt society stinks and a Christian who lets […]