8th March 2017 London, UK
I am always dubious about so-called silver bullets that allegedly solve a host of problems. “Life can’t be that simple,” I think. “Surely there must be a catch?” But there is one step that would improve countless lives — and make the world an infinitely better place — if only every government summoned the will […]
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18th November 2016 Holy See
On 19 November the Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church will gather in the Vatican. This Consistory (from the Latin “con sistore” – to stand together) is traditionally the opportunity for the Pope to gather the views and concerns of the Cardinals from all corners of the world. It will also be the occasion to […]
14th December 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
Occasionally you come across a fact that changes how you think. One such moment for me was when I discovered how the world had managed to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving extreme poverty and hunger between 1990 and 2015. It turns out that we met it five years early, meaning that nearly 1 […]
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12th November 2014
The following is a guest blog by Steve Townsend, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy to the Holy See The Ebola virus spread quickly through Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, with over 13,000 deaths so far. The disease has made the front pages across the globe, provoking concern, offers of assistance, and in […]
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11th September 2014
The bishops in the US and health care reform. The leading role played by the Catholic Church in tackling corruption in the Philippines. Caritas Internationalis responding in a practical way to the rise in suicides amongst Indian farmers. Catholic radio and censorship in South Sudan. The response of the Eastern Church Patriarchs to ISIL. Using […]
26th February 2014
If anyone doubts the global nature of the Roman Catholic Church, they had only to attend the Consistory on 22 and 23 February, when Pope Francis created 19 new Cardinals from the senior bishops around the world. The 16 ‘working’ Cardinals in Pope Francis’s first list now take their part amongst the 120 or so […]
4th June 2013
Can we be the generation to eliminate extreme poverty from the earth? This is the challenge set by the Report of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, co-chaired at the request of the UN Secretary General by the Presidents of Liberia and Indonesia, and the Prime Minister of the United […]
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25th April 2013 Montreal, Canada
Each April 7, the world celebrates World Health Day to commemorate the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1948. When thinking about your health, I am certain that access to – healthy – food pops up immediately in your mind. Indeed, food is a major contributor to a healthy well-being, […]
4th February 2013
On 1 February, I attended a special event in a special place. The Basilica of San Bartolomeo all’Isola in Rome was dedicated in 2000 by Pope John Paul II to the new martyrs of the 20th and 21st centuries. The moving memorial, managed by the Sant’Egidio Community, is significant because it is ecumenical. The martyrs […]
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16th November 2012
I have written in the past about the value of the complementary United Kingdom and Holy See global networks. One of the reasons we have an Embassy to the Holy See is that we can plug into global Catholic networks in the pursuit of achieving results on issues of priority to us. Two current examples […]
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