Damian Thompson

What were Prince Philip’s religious beliefs? The Duke of Edinburgh had Orthodox Christian ancestry, but how was he drawn to its traditions, was he influenced by the Queen’s faith, and why was he critical of Catholicism? Damian Thompson speaks to Gavin Ashenden, chaplain to the Queen from 2008 to 2017.

The intrusion of the sanctuary of a Polish church in Balham on Good Friday by the Metropolitan police was not only a shocking event but also a deeply concerning piece of history. It can’t be interpreted as a premeditated attack on Christianity – but it’s evidence of the utter irrelevance of Britain’s Christian heritage to

Can the West take on China? We may need some kind of economic Nato (00:50). Are Mormons misunderstood, by Netflix and everyone else? (14:15) And what does it really mean to be Spiritual But Not Religious? (27:45). With James Forsyth, The Spectator’s political editor; Iain Duncan Smith, former leader of the Conservative Party; Damian Thompson,

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 been saying this for years and everyone assumes that it’s a wind-up or that I’m confusing him with Benedict XVI. Not so. The Pope doesn’t just enjoy listening to Bach,

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 effective advocate for the moral precepts of Christianity in the English-speaking media. But, until now, his penetrating exposition of the Bible has been inspired more by Jungian symbolism than by

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 any role for Pope Francis in approving the appointment of Chinese Catholic bishops. So it looks as if the Vatican’s secret deal with China, which gave the Pope nominal

This week’s Holy Smoke examines the fragmentation of American Catholicism following the election of pro-choice Catholic Joe Biden. It focuses on the strangest current of thought among the many conservative Catholics calling for an urgent change of approach in order to confront what promises to be an authoritarian liberal administration. It’s called integralism, a label

In 1930, the American novelist Thomas Wolfe wrote these chilling words: ‘The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, far from being a rare and curious phenomenon, is the central and inevitable fact of human existence.’ It’s an idea that, for many of us, is harder to shrug off now

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 – and, it turns out, frighteningly vulnerable to the coronavirus. Countless parish churches, both Anglican and Catholic, will quietly shut their doors forever over the next few months. Bishops