The Wise and the Wherefores

The strongly-worded text of the new document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Samaritanus bonus or The Good Samaritan, describes euthanasia and assisted dying as “homicide” while adding that the sacraments should be withheld from those planning to end their lives. While the document understandably reiterates Church teaching,  and has some rich passages on accompanying the...

The writer and human rights activist Benedict Rogers talks to Ruth Gledhill about the persecution of the Uyghurs in China.  Benedict, East Asia Team Leader at the international human rights organisation CSW and a member of the Stop the Uyghur Genocide Campaign, is commenting after the announcement that Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, who prosecuted Slobodan Milosevic for genocide and is an expert on in...

In a podcast for The Tablet, home news editor Liz explains why the title of the Pope's new encyclical, Fratelli tutti, to be published on October 4, is not good enough. She warns of the danger that this failing will distract from the wider, important message of the Pope's vision for society in a post-Covid age.

The threat to the common good of breaking international law, unjust laws and secret trade agreements – a leading academic outlines the dangers, and how concerned people can help. Tim Gorringe, emeritus professor of theological studies at Exeter university, has written a strong article for The Tablet and now he has spoken more of his concerns in a Tablet podcast , in which he advocates that people...

Since the presidential election results in August, there have been mass protests. The Catholic Metropolitan, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, is effectively in exile, having been refused re-entry to Belarus from Poland. Jonathan Luxmoore looks at the politics behind the turmoil, and explains why the Catholic Church is being targeted. 

How should society be in a post-Covid world? Is Fratelli tutti, brethren all, a sexist title? The Tablet’s Rome correspondent Christopher Lamb discusses Pope Francis’ new encyclical with online editor Ruth Gledhill.