2 d. ago Volodymyr Zelenskyy has courage. Pope Francis had it too. Why are there so many cowards? | Alexander Hurst

Corruption and greed have eroded morality in public life. Powerful people who do what is right are in short supply“Courage is seeking the truth and speaking it,” Jean Jaurès, the French philosopher and Socialist party leader, told a group of high school students in 1903. “It is not yielding to the law of the triumphant lie as it passes, and not echoing, with our soul, our mouth and our hands, mindless applause and fanatical jeering.”When the first world war reared its ugly, pointless head, Jaurès refused to give in to mindless fanaticism and attempted to coordinate a Franco-German general strike to stop the rush to war. In 1914, he paid for those efforts with his life when a 29-year-old French nationalist shot him twice in the back.Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Princess Charlene of Monaco, Spain's Queen Letizia and Belgium's Queen Mathilde meet Pope Leo XIV after inauguration Mass in all

Europe's Royal Families travelled to St Peter's Square in Vatican City to attend Pope Leo XIV's historic inauguration mass on Sunday.

Politics

6 d. ago Princess Charlene of Monaco, Spain's Queen Letizia and Belgium's Queen Mathilde step out for Pope Leo XIV's inauguration Mass in all

Europe's Royal Families arrived in St Peter's Square in the Vatican City to attend Pope Leo XIV's historic inauguration mass on Sunday.

Politics

7 d. ago Twenty years later: how 2005 Ashes marked end of cricket as we knew it

England’s titanic tussle with Australia enthralled a nation but then the Test game vanished from UK free-to-air TVHow are you planning to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 2005 men’s Ashes? Is it finally time to get that Kevin Pietersen skunk cut? Gather your friends for a drunken knees-up around Trafalgar Square?Realistically, a quiet afternoon on YouTube will do, with Simon Jones’s reverse-swinger to Michael Clarke on repeat, off-stump gone like a popped cork. That rabbit hole should end up taking you to Pietersen’s 2014 appearance on the Graham Norton Show in which he discusses his strained relationship with Andrew Strauss while perched next to Taylor Swift. Yes, that actually happened. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Pope Leo XIV makes passionate plea for 'no more war' in powerful message to world leaders

Tens of thousands of people crammed into St Peter’s Square to give Pope Leo XIV a rapturous welcome - as the new pontiff called for 'lasting peace' around the world

Politics

1 week ago Pope Leo XIV: Tens of thousands of people cram into St Peter’s Square to hear first Sunday Mass

Thousands of people rushed into St Peter's Square to hear Pope Leo XIV's first Sunday Mass where he called for 'no more war', peace in Ukraine & an immediate ceasefire in Gaza

Politics

2 w. ago Pope Leo XIV laments people valuing ‘technology, money and success’ over Christianity in first mass as pontiff – live

Pope held mass for cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on Friday morningProfile: the moderate, good humoured first US popePope Leo’s in-tray: the many urgent issues to addressShare your views on Pope Leo XIVChina has sent congratulations to newly elected Pope Leo XIV and hopes the Vatican under the new pontiff will continue dialogue with China “in a constructive spirit”, Reuters reports a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday at a regular press conference.Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, strained relations between the Vatican and China in 2020 when he described China’s Muslim Uyghurs as a “persecuted” people, listing them alongside the Rohingya, the Yazidi, and persecuted Christians in Islamic countries. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Harry Styles bizarrely spotted during Pope announcement and people were distracted by one thing

Harry Styles was among thousands of people who flocked to the Vatican City on Thursday to witness the inaugural public address of Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope in history

Politics

2 w. ago Pope Leo XIV’s name choice ‘signals he will continue work of Francis’

Pope Leo will have the challenge of following in the footsteps of the late Francis, whose popularity saw him dubbed ‘the people’s pope’.

Politics

2 w. ago Pope Leo XIV 'ironically hates the Cardinals' thanks to his Chicago roots

After the world's 1.4 billion Catholics waited with baited breath, the Church's first American pope was unveiled - but all people want to know is, which baseball team does he support?

Politics

2 w. ago Indigenous Catholics hope the next pope shares Francis' approach to Native people

Many Indigenous Catholics saw an ally in Pope Francis who championed their causes, asked forgiveness for the church’s historical wrongs and allowed them to incorporate aspects of their Native cultures into practicing their faith

Politics

3 w. ago REVEALED: How the People's Pope shielded sexual predators in the clergy

When the world's cardinals met in Rome last Monday for the first of their crucial pre-conclave discussions, they raised 'the issue of clerical abuse', according to a Vatican spokesman.

Politics

3 w. ago Fantasy Football for Pope launches as fans pick top 11 – but the Vatican isn't happy

With the Cardinals heading to Vatican City to start the process of selecting the next Pope, punters are making their own 'Fantasy Football' style team of candidates

Sport

3 w. ago The next pope will inherit Pope Francis' mixed legacy with Indigenous people

Whoever succeeds Pope Francis will inherit his momentous and controversial legacy of relations with Indigenous people throughout the Americas

Politics

3 w. ago The interim pope is a guy called Kevin. Why do people find that funny? | Emma Beddington

The name was good enough for actor Kevin Costner and Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson, to say nothing of an actual saint, Kevin of Glendalough. Maybe the papal connection could make it cool againI don’t think I’m imagining a collective amusement at “a bloke called Kevin”, as one headline put it, becoming the camerlengo, or interim pope and conclave organiser. The Vatican is such an incense-scented swirl of robes and ritual, history and high camp that it feels pleasingly incongruous that the person temporarily presiding over all its weird arcana is the very ordinarily named Cardinal Kevin Farrell.But is there a kind of snobbery to it? That’s something the Kevins of France know all about. The name became exceptionally popular there in the early 1990s, especially among working-class families, peaking in 1994 when 15,000 babies were called Kevin. It caught on, the thinking goes, thanks to the prominence of a handful of US pop culture Kevins at a time when people were starting to be more ...

Politics

3 w. ago MATTHEW YOUNG: 'I queued for first look at Pope Francis' tomb

The Vatican estimates that 30,000 people have already visited the late Pope in his Santa Maria Maggiore resting place since he was laid there on Saturday afternoon

Politics

3 w. ago Thousands queue to visit Pope Francis’s tomb on day after funeral

Mourners express sadness and gratitude, while special mass in St Peter’s Square attracts 200,000 peopleThousands of people queued to visit Pope Francis’s tomb in Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica the day after heads of state, royalty and hundreds of thousands of mourners attended his funeral in Rome.Many crossed themselves and took photos on their phones as they filed past the tomb, marked simply with the name Franciscus. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Catholic faithful pay respects to Pope Francis as his tomb opens to the public in Rome basilica

Roman Catholic faithful have begun visiting the tomb of Pope Francis

Politics

4 w. ago Pope Francis’s funeral in pictures: world leaders and 400,000 people pay their respects

Pope Francis’s funeral brought together leaders from across the globe with potentially historic consequences as presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky sat down together

Politics

4 w. ago ‘Grazie Francesco’: silence gives way to cheers and applause for ‘pope of the people’

As Pope Francis’s coffin emerged into St Peter’s Square, the crowd paid tribute to a leader who urged the world to build bridgesAs bells tolled and the coffin emerged from the gloom of the basilica, a hush fell across St Peter’s Square, in keeping with traditional solemnity, but the crowd itched to break it. Death had silenced Pope Francis but those who had come to see him off were not going to stifle their love or grief. He had requested a simple burial, not a silent one.The quiet held while 14 pallbearers placed the wooden casket on the edge of the stairs for the start of the mass and continued while cardinals streamed to one side to form a blazing red bloc. On the other side was an array of dark-suited prime ministers, presidents, princes, princesses, kings and queens. Continue reading...

Politics