April saw the first increase in VAT since 1993 in South Africa and also the Closing Report of the Davis Tax Committee appointed in 2013 by the then Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan to study SA's tax policies This increase in VAT will especially affect the ... More »
Cardinal Raymond Burke’s remarks at a recent conference in Rome, Anthony Egan says, open up the ongoing tensions in the Church over teaching authority, the primacy of the papacy and ultimately our understanding of truth. Burke made headlines when he claimed th... More »
On Monday, 9 April, the Solemnity of the Annunciation, Pope Francis released the third apostolic exhortation of his pontificate entitled "Gaudete et Exsultate" (Rejoice and be glad!). The exhortation focuses on holiness in everyday life. Pope Francis says: "Ev... More »
World-renowned physicist, Stephen Hawking, died at the age of 76 after a long struggle with a motor neurone disease on 14 March 2018. Anthony Egan takes a look at his life and the significance of his work, suggesting that there is a lot that Christian can lear... More »
Racism, in various forms, regularly raises its ugly head in South Africa. However, racism is a global phenomenon. The Catholic bishops in South Africa have, for Lent, asked the Church to reflect on racism. Professor of theological and social ethics at Fordham ... More »
In this final part of a three-part series (read parts one and two), Anthony Egan SJ concludes his examination of the first five years of Pope Francis' pontificate. In this third part, he describes the opposition to Pope Francis' pontificate. Whether from liber... More »
In this second part of a three-part series (read part one here), Anthony Egan SJ continues to look at the first five years of Pope Francis' pontificate. Pope Francis has tried to reform the Church: Whether financial reform or canonical and liturgical reform, f... More »
In this first part of a three-part series, Anthony Egan SJ looks at the first five years of Pope Francis' pontificate. He recalls the events of 13 March 2013 and looks at how Pope Francis came to be elected. He considers why it was that the cardinals elected a... More »
The question of land expropriation without compensation continues to evoke debate in South Africa. It was brought into sharp focus last week when a sitting of Parliament voted in favour of this motion. Mphuthumi Ntabeni continues to think through this national... More »
Bishop Peter Ebere Okpaleke, of Ahiara Diocese in Imo State, Nigeria, resigned recently after priests and laity rejected his appointment as bishop. In his resignation letter Okpaleke said remaining bishop in Ahiara would not be beneficial to the Church. Fr Law... More »
When Zuma came into office, we had a budget surplus of R20 billion. He left us with a budget deficit of R50 billion and debt of R2,3 trillion. The national budget announced by Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba suggests it will take three years to get us back to w... More »
South Africa was gripped by a renewed sense of national pride after the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as the country's new president. The 2018 Budget Speech, however, has brought many South Africans back to earth. Russell Pollitt takes a first glance at the budg... More »