The World Day for Social Communications is marked on Sunday, 17 May. This year, Pope Leo’s message examines how we need to preserve our God-given human dignity and show wisdom and good judgment in our use of fast-evolving communications technologies – particularly AI. This is a theme we discuss on this Catholic News podcast with the ‘media bishop’ for the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Bishop John Arnold. As Bishop of Salford, Bishop Arnold is a stone’s throw from Media City and regularly comments on the issues of the day from a Catholic perspective. Today we talk about the […]

A peace vigil was held in London on Thursday, 30 April, at Our Lady of Victories Catholic Church in Kensington to pray for peace in the Middle East. The vigil was attended by Bishop Jim Curry, Lead Bishop for the Holy Land for the Bishops’ Conference as well as Bishop Mike Royal, General Secretary of Churches Together in England, and His Grace Bishop Hovakim Manukyan, Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Great Britain and Ireland and Churches Together in England’s President for the Orthodox Churches. During the service, an address was given by Dr Harry Hagopian, a public international […]

It’s Holy Week for the world’s 2.4 billion Christians. As such, it’s a great time for us to meditate on how sacred music and sacred art accompany us on the road to Calvary to the foot of Christ’s Cross and beyond. The life, Passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus have provided rich and provoking subject matter for composers and artists for many hundreds of years, so for this joint Catholic News/Art of Dying Well podcast we’re joined by priest and art afficionado Father Patrick van der Vorst. Where do we start with the ebullient Fr Patrick? Three years a priest, […]

When Bishop Jim Curry, our Lead Bishop for the Holy Land, and Dr Harry Hagopian, our former consultant on the Middle East North Africa region, last offered their thoughts on a podcast together, it was to contribute to the final episode of ‘Middle East Analysis’. Just as we were lamenting the fact that the series had been placed on hold to consider its long-term future, something cataclysmic and literally earth-shattering took place that shook us from our self-imposed slumber to record a ‘special’ on the war in Iran and its wider regional consequences. We share this today on our ‘Catholic […]

For this ‘Catholic News’ podcast we’ve pulled a segment from our Lenten episode of ‘At the Foot of the Cross’. Fleur Dorrell, our Biblical Apostolate Manager, provides a very useful 15-minute whistle-stop tour of the Bible. We’re encouraging our listeners to deepen their relationship with Christ through Scripture during Lent. As well as talking about the books of the Bible, Fleur offers some achievable top tips to help us go deeper into Scripture as we journey towards Holy Week. Subscribe You can subscribe to our Catholic News podcasts via Apple Podcasts or Amazon/Audible.

It’s the end of the world as we know it. Wasn’t that what REM once sang? Ironically when the famous rock band from Athens, Georgia committed those lyrics to popular music folklore, the world made more sense. Today, after 17 years and many laughs, smiles, tears (and the odd exasperated outburst), Dr Harry Hagopian brings the curtain down on a remarkable podcasting run with this, the final Middle East Analysis. The epitaph reads: Here lies Middle East Analysis, 2009 to 2026, it lived hard, loved dearly and asks for your prayers as it returns to its maker. Something like that. […]

In today’s Catholic News podcast, we are joined by His Eminence Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, Apostolic Prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The Cardinal has been visiting the UK this week with Missio, the Pope’s charity for world mission. Cardinal Marengo has served as a missionary priest in Mongolia since 2003. He has been the Apostolic Prefect of Ulaanbaatar, a missionary jurisdiction that covers the entire country of Mongolia, since 2 April 2020, and was created a Cardinal by Pope Francis on 27 August 2022 – making him the second youngest in the College of Cardinals. In this episode, Cardinal Marengo tells us […]

Our Lead Bishop for the Holy Land, Bishop Jim Curry, has appeared as a guest on the December 2025 episode of Middle East Analysis, a podcast series that examines the complex religious, political and socio-economic realities of the region covering the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf States. Sitting alongside regular studio guest Dr Harry Hagopian, an international lawyer, analyst and consultant on the region, Bishop Curry discusses Pope Leo XIV’s first overseas visit to Türkiye and Lebanon as well as the need to look east from our comfortable position in the UK to the lands of Christ’s birth and […]

During the 16 Days of Activism against violence against women and girls, we met with Nikki Dhillon-Keane, a therapist, trainer, author and activist, and the founder of Safe in Faith, a project of Caritas Westminster working to support survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence and exploitation in ways that understand how their faith impacts their experiences. Nikki explored the expansion of violence against women in the digital world and explained the additional barriers and difficulties that women face when they stand at the intersection of gender-based violence and racial violence or other forms of oppression. Sharing practical advice and information […]

‘Dying to Live’ was a panel discussion that took place in the Grimshaw Room of St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham, on Sunday 26 October. It examined how faith traditions approach dying, death, and bereavement and the religious and cultural practices observed in end-of-life settings. Moderated by Associate Professor Maggie Doherty, Lead at the Centre for the Art of Living and Dying Well, the session presented findings from the Centre’s new community-based participatory research. The panel members, who shared deeply personal insights, represented six religions: Ruth Jacobs, Judaism; Shamim Merali, Islam; Shobha Sharma, Hinduism; Simon Romer, Buddhism; Harr-Joht Kaur, Sikhism; Christina Ronayne, […]