Writer
Paul Collins
Paul Collins is an historian, broadcaster and writer. A Catholic priest for thirty-three years, he resigned from the active ministry in 2001 following a dispute with the Vatican over his book Papal Power (1997). He is the author of fifteen books. The most recent is Absolute Power. How the pope became the most influential man in the world (Public Affairs, 2018). A former head of the religion and ethics department in the ABC, he is well known as a commentator on Catholicism and the papacy and also has a strong interest in ethics, environmental and population issues.
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One established church is enough
Just now we all need a rest from royalty. But what’s gone unnoticed in media is how intimately connected the monarchy is to the Church of England. Continue reading »
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How to become a Catholic bishop
The fundamental crisis of Australian Catholicism is one of leadership and bishops are at the heart of this crisis. Continue reading »
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Christianity: a dismal future?
The future for religion in Australia, especially Christianity, looks rather bleak following the 2021 Census. But is the future really that dismal? Continue reading »
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Paul Collins: Pope Francis keeps them guessing
For a week or so the Vatican rumour mill has been in overdrive. How sick is Pope Francis? Will he resign? Where next for the papacy? Continue reading »
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A mixed blessing for Catholicism
The man who effectively ran the papacy in the late-1990s and the early-2000s during declining years of John Paul II died on Friday 27 May. His career was a mixed blessing for Catholicism. And sixteen new voting cardinals just appointed. Continue reading »
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Christ’s Resurrection in 2022
In the gospels Jesus challenges the religio-political establishment, hostility to him grows, and he is convicted on trumped-up charges and dies as a common criminal on the cross. His life seems over. Continue reading »
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Putin, the Pope and the Patriarch
While the invasion of Ukraine is fundamentally strategic, religion, faith and history also play a major part. Continue reading »
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Pope Francis is 85. Insiders are already thinking about the future leader of Catholicism’s 1.34 billion adherents
If it reaches a deadlock someone from left field might emerge. But here are my tips. Continue reading »
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What motivates Putin’s invasion of Ukraine? Don’t underestimate history and religion
There is a theory that he has an almost mystical notion of Russia of which Ukraine and particularly Kiev are integral parts. Continue reading »
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The fundamentalist take-over of ‘Christianity’
The Religious Discrimination Bill debate got taken-over by religious extremists with the mainstream wedged in the middle Continue reading »
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Population decline isn’t happening fast enough to save planet
By 2050 we will consume three earths per year. Degradation of land and the oceans, biodiversity loss and global warming are the direct results. Continue reading »
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The Plenary Council has been a masterclass in avoiding the real problems in the Catholic Church.
The present model of the Catholic Church has far outlasted its relevance. The time has come for all Catholics to tell Rome loudly and clearly: the monarchical model isn’t fit for purpose and has to go. Continue reading »
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History lessons for critiques on Christianity
Before we worry too much about school students, it’s the adults who need remedial history lessons if two recent articles are anything to go by. Continue reading »
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Hans Kung: a theologian for everyone
Hans Küng died last Tuesday aged 93. I had the honour of knowing him as a friend. He was a rare breed: a theologian who spoke to people of diverse beliefs and none. Continue reading »
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Joe Biden’s Catholicism
With the exception of Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush, religion has not been a big deal for recent US presidents who were, at best, nominal Christians. For Joe Biden faith is central to who he is. Continue reading »
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George Pell could comment ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you’
Sensational news stories about Vatican finances are two-a-penny. But for the first time Australia features in a scandal with claims that since 2014 €1.4 billion (A$2.3 billion) of Vatican money ended-up in the Great South Land. Continue reading »
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Faith when matter really matters
Christmas is not about Santa Claus, consumerism, or even happy families. It’s about God’s radical entry into humanity in the person of Jesus. Continue reading »
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The Beginning of the End?
Is Pope Francis running out of steam? Will we ever see an end to Vatican financial scandals? And where is George in all of this? Continue reading »
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Archbishops, vaccines and COVID-19
The recent letter of the Sydney-based Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox archbishops on the ethics of the Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine has left many believers and the general community gobsmacked. Continue reading »
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Population ‘Bomb’ Already exploded
Like many commentators before him, Kevin Bain’s ‘Prospects for refugees and migrants if the population bomb goes bust’ (Pearls and Irritations, 23/7/20) assumes that population is a future problem, ignoring the fact that the world is already over-populated. Continue reading »
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PAUL COLLINS. First Step to a Better Church?
I must admit up-front that I’m not a fan of committee reports. They’re usually pedestrian and repetitious, even at the best of times. So, to be honest, I didn’t approach the 200-page Governance Review Project Team (GRPT) report The Light from the Southern Cross with much enthusiasm. Continue reading »
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PAUL COLLINS. Back to Nature
It is five years this week since Pope Francis published perhaps the most radical and important papal encyclical ever issued, Laudato si’, mi’ Signore (‘Praise be to you, my Lord’) on ‘care for our common home.’ Continue reading »
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PAUL COLLINS. Meditating with J.S. Bach
There is no better way to meditate this week leading up to Easter than with J.S. Bach Continue reading »
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PAUL COLLINS. COVID-19. A chance to rethink the deeper moral and human issues
We are part of nature and the most important lesson of COVID-19 is that it reminds us of our sheer vulnerability. Continue reading »
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PAUL COLLINS. A New Era of Fire Part 2
Never before have we experienced fires like the present. They challenge us to re-assess our whole approach to living in Australia. With global warming a reality, we now face some pretty stark options. Continue reading »
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Bushfires and the Culture War. Part 1
The bushfire culture wars have already begun. For some the current crisis is apocalypse now, for others it’s just an extreme example of business as usual on our incendiary continent. Continue reading »
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PAUL COLLINS. Ten new papal electors
Last Sunday Pope Francis unexpectedly announced that on October 5 he would appoint thirteen new members to the college of cardinals from thirteen different countries, a truly international group. Ten of the new appointments are under the age of 80 and can therefore vote in a papal election. Significantly there were no Americans, and only Continue reading »
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Where to from here?
One persistent question that has been asked since the failure of Cardinal George Pell’s appeal last Wednesday has been: Why isn’t the Vatican acting to force him from the College of Cardinals and expel him from the priesthood? They moved with amazing speed in the case of Theodore McCarrick, Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, DC, after Continue reading »
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PAUL COLLINS. Give me a break!
Please, please, give me a break from Israel Folau! We’ve all heard more than enough about who’s going to hell. He can believe whatever he wants and he can blow his bags ad nauseam to his Pentecostal mates. But we don’t have to take it seriously. He’s a rugby footballer, for goodness sake, not a Continue reading »
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PAUL COLLINS. A badly governed Church needs a new model. Catholicism continues to wrestle with the unrealized vision of the Second Vatican Council.
It is an understatement to say that Catholicism is in deep trouble. The sexual abuse tragedy and the secrecy and denial surrounding are obvious symptoms. A key element in the broader Church crisis is governance. Continue reading »
