democracy in the catholic church?: all articles

The pope's decision over an ultra-right bishop reveals chaos in the Catholic church

Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the United States was a diplomatic success. But what is he for?

A year since Regensburg, as the Latin liturgy is restored, Michael Walsh takes the pope 's measure

The shifting religious landscape of Brazil presents a major challenge of policy and empathy to the visiting conservative pope, says Rodrigo de Almeida.

Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey was as important for Catholic-Orthodox dialogue as for European-Turkish, says Michael Walsh. But in healing one breach did it open another?

One year after the death of Pope John Paul II, Adam Szostkiewicz links Poland’s preparations for the visit of his successor Benedict XVI to concerns over the future of a Catholic media empire.

The Vatican’s boycott campaign helped turn Italians’ passionate debate over fertility treatment and embryo research into a referendum flop. Sarah Pozzoli assesses the democratic fallout.

The cardinals’ choice of new pope reflects the Catholic church’s crisis of modernity, says Michael Walsh.

Joseph Ratzinger, the new Pope Benedict XVI, could represent the long withdrawing roar of a sclerotic Kremlin-like empire, says Andrew Brown.

The heartbeat of the Catholic church is in the poor south, and it pulses for fundamental truths not liberal nostrums, says Joanna Bogle.

Pope John Paul II’s failure of political nerve and imagination leaves the Catholic church facing a decisive choice, says Rabbi Arthur Waskow.

Pope John Pauls II’s death leaves Catholics worldwide needing to grow spaces of dialogue where appropriate forms of democracy become possible, says Timothy Radcliffe.

Women are leading the challenge of renewal to the 21st-century Catholic church, says Lavinia Byrne.

As millions gather to witness the Polish pope’s Rome burial, Ariel Dorfman recalls the five minutes in Chile that define his life’s paradox.

Can democratic reform of the Catholic church escape the stifling influence of the Vatican? Michael Walsh of Heythrop College proposes creative ways forward.

The retired archbishop of São Paulo reveals to Laura Greenhalgh the Polish pope’s unexpected sympathy for “liberation theology” and frustrations with his Vatican advisers.

Pope John Paul II's successor will be chosen by a secretive, top-down process. Austen Ivereigh, press secretary to one of the cardinals involved, calls for reform in the way the church is governed.

In his long life, the Polish pope, Karol Wojtyła, was at the forefront of the struggle for liberty. But in his twenty-six years at the Vatican, where did this towering figure stand on democracy? The distinguished writer Neal Ascherson dissects an ambiguous legacy.