The institution of monarchy has fallen on hard times in the modern world. Ever since King Louis XVI was guillotined during the French revolution, the number of kings and queens has become smaller and smaller with the passage of time. Australia continues to be a monarchy and our monarchy has recently attracted a great deal of attention, celebration and commentary through the passing of the late Queen Elizabeth II after a very long reign and the accession of her son, King Charl

We’ve all watched movies in which some possible disaster—a nuclear war, a gigantic meteorite, an unstoppable virus—causes the end of the world as we know it. After 90 minutes of tension and terror, we normally manage to do what we have been trained to do: we re-assure ourselves that it won’t happen to us in our lifetime, we get a good night’s sleep, and we get back to our jobs and our family life. Any adult who spent the night sleepless with fear and could not get on with lif

Today we celebrate the 1,701st anniversary of the dedication of the Church known as St John Lateran in Rome, which took place in 324. As is well known, there are four major basilicas in Rome: St John Lateran, St Peter’s in the Vatican, St Paul’s outside the walls, and St Mary Major. However, despite there being four major basilicas, we only celebrate the dedication of St John Lateran’s. In fact, the order in which the major basilicas are listed above is their order of ranking