Religion

1 Mar 2013

As cardinals from around the world gather in Rome to select the next pope, they must be cognizant of growing voices for a non-European to head the Roman Catholic Church. Profound shifts in the...

Students clash with Salafist Muslims in Tunisia over Harlem Shake

28 Feb 2013

At another school, south of the capital, the principal called police to stop a filming there, the interior ministry said. Students reacted by hurling stones at the police, who responded with tear...

Catholic Church's scandals no mere 'footnotes'

28 Feb 2013

Many people know Paul Kennedy as the author of the bestselling The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. Now, thanks to a poignant opinion piece in The New York Times, everyone knows he is a Catholic...

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Non-believers face 'extensive global discrimination', UN told

27 Feb 2013

Atheists, humanists and freethinkers face widespread discrimination around the world with expression of their views criminalised and subject in some countries to capital punishment, the United...

Britain's top Catholic cleric Cardinal Keith O'Brien resigns amid scandal

26 Feb 2013

O'Brien announced in November that he was planning to resign in view of his 75th birthday next month, but he said on Monday: "The Holy Father has now decided that my resignation will take effect...

Opinion

Jake Van Der Kamp

An age-old problem and the sums that just don't add up

Howard Winn

HSBC suffers the Taibbi treatment in Rolling Stone

Shirley Yam

How tycoons' IPO 'losses' may hide profits at herd's expense

Vatican hits back over corruption and blackmail claims

The Vatican's Secretariat of State - effectively the central administration of the Catholic Church - took the highly unusual step of issuing a formal statement condemning "unverified, unverifiable...

Priests' plagiarism sees exodus from Anglican church

A former parishioner at the Emmanuel Church in Pok Fu Lam, a St John's Cathedral affiliate, said four priests were guilty of using sermons from the internet and preaching them as if they were...

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Counter-attacks rage in Falun Gong 'banner war'

Falun Gong believer Lau Wai-hing, who is responsible for the group's Causeway Bay booth near the Sogo department store, said eight of the group's booths have been disturbed by the Hong Kong Youth...

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How they see it

It was not just the entire Roman Catholic Church, and it was not just all of Christendom that was shocked by the decision of Pope Benedict XVI to abdicate. The entire world was stunned.

THE PAPAL RESIGNATION

Pope Benedict makes emotional first appearance since decision to resign

An emotional Pope Benedict tried to assure his global flock over his decision to become the first pontiff in centuries to resign, saying he was confident it would not hurt the Church.

THE PAPAL RESIGNATION

Muslims see new hope of dialogue with Catholic Church

But improved ties between the church and Al-Azhar, the premier seat of Sunni Muslim learning, would depend on the next pope's approach to the Muslim world, the clerics said.