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The mystery of Pope Francis's infallibly good taste in classical music
In this week's Holy Smoke podcast I suggest that Pope Francis has a more profound appreciation of classical music than any of his predecessors. I've …
5 years, 3 months ago
Is Jordan Peterson about to move from Jung to Jesus?
Is Dr Jordan Peterson about to convert to Christianity? If so, it’s a big deal. The earnest but sardonic Canadian psychologist is already the most ef…
5 years, 4 months ago
Why should persecuted Christians trust Pope Francis?
Beijing's new rules for clergy of all religions in China have been published in English – and, disastrously for the Vatican, they make no mention of …
5 years, 4 months ago
Can the United States be transported back to Christendom?
This week's Holy Smoke examines the fragmentation of American Catholicism following the election of pro-choice Catholic Joe Biden. It focuses on the …
5 years, 5 months ago
Lockdown and the pandemic of loneliness
In 1930, the American novelist Thomas Wolfe wrote these chilling words: 'The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, f…
5 years, 5 months ago
How the Vatican tried to suppress criticism of the new president
Cardinal Blase Cupich, the ambitious left-wing archbishop of Chicago, must have imagined that Joe Biden's inauguration last week would be a moment to…
5 years, 5 months ago
The death of the English parish
The English parish has been a source of spiritual consolation, and a certain amount of social comedy, for more than 1,000 years. So it's very old – a…
5 years, 6 months ago
The problem of paranoia on the Catholic Right
Every day there’s some sort conspiracy theory being aired by right-wing Catholics on social media involving the globalist agenda of the Pope’s UN/Chi…
5 years, 6 months ago
Goodbye to Catholic Ireland
Rarely has a religious culture collapsed more rapidly than that of Catholic Ireland, which just 30 years ago seemed indestructible. Incredibly, it lo…
5 years, 6 months ago
Beethoven’s spirituality: a conversation with Sir James MacMillan
It's the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven. In this episode of Holy Smoke, Damian Thompson is joined by his fellow composer Sir …
5 years, 7 months ago