Faith · Cinema · Observations · Society · People · Rome

Pope Francis backs civil unions in a documentary film but does not speak of marriage

I see that many media outlets have run headlines along the lines of "Pope recognises gay marriage" or "Pope calls for legalisation of gay marriage". Let us clarify at once. First, today's statement is of a quite different nature, as I wrote earlier; second,

Faith · Books · Society · People

The British Catholic journalist, writer, commentator and biographer of Pope Francis, Austen Ivereigh, gives an exhaustive account of Cardinal Bergoglio's position as of 2010 on same-sex marriage and civil unions, which in…

File on Telegram The British Catholic journalist, writer, commentator and biographer of Pope Francis, Austen Ivereigh, gives an exhaustive account of Cardinal Bergoglio's position as of 2010 on same-sex marriage and civil unions, which are not, in fact, one and the same, in his 2014 book The

Faith · Society · Rome

For the sake of clarity, it is fair to note that the position on same-sex civil unions voiced today by Pope Francis I goes somewhat beyond the documents of 1986 and 1994 against the legal recognition of gay couples, addressed…

For the sake of clarity, it is fair to note that the position on same-sex civil unions voiced today by Pope Francis I goes somewhat beyond the documents of 1986 and 1994 against the legal recognition of gay couples, addressed to the bishops of the Catholic Church and formally

Faith · Cinema · Society · People · Rome

Today the Rome Film Festival premiered "Francesco", a documentary about Pope Francis I

Today the Rome Film Festival premiered "Francesco", a documentary about Pope Francis I. And in this film words of papal support for same-sex unions were heard. "Homosexuals are children of God and have a right to a family. We must create a civil union law [for

Archive · Books · Museums · Society · People · Saint Petersburg

Pasted-over pages in books at the Akhmatova Museum and her poems about Stalin

In the Akhmatova Museum at the Fountain House there are poetry collections with pages pasted shut. It is reported that Akhmatova herself pasted these pages shut. What is on them? Akhmatova's poems about Stalin. It is believed that Anna Andreyevna was compelled to write them in order to

Architecture · Heritage · Society

Two rather stale but dispiriting items of news: open letters from professional communities in defence of the restoration sector

The first is addressed to the Minister of Culture, Olga Lyubimova, and to the presidential adviser on culture, Vladimir Tolstoy. In it, specialists in the preservation of cultural heritage report (though this is common knowledge anyway) the catastrophic, critical state of the sector, which they describe as "in essence

NB! · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

A whole subculture has grown up around the Union of Salvation, and it is most entertaining to observe

A whole subculture has grown up around the Union of Salvation, and it is most entertaining to observe. And the jokes are good, as they say

NB! · Palaeontology · Nature · Humour

"Goodness, how lovely!" "Those are the fossilised droppings of a giant sloth"

NB! · Faith · Books · Society · People

The life of this hero of the 17th and 18th centuries can be read about in Marcus Rediker's book "The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist"

Faith · Mores · Society · People

The most remarkable part of Benjamin Lay's biography is his literal adherence to his theoretical ideals: first he left Barbados, where he could not reconcile himself to the condition of the slaves, then he resolved to renounce the fruits of slavery's expl

The most remarkable part of Benjamin Lay's biography is his literal adherence to his theoretical ideals: first he left Barbados, where he could not reconcile himself to the condition of the slaves, then he resolved to renounce the fruits of slavery's exploitation, ceasing entirely to acquire

Faith · Society · People

The Quakers have a hero named Benjamin Lay (1677 - 1759): an Englishman who ended up in Barbados, where he saw his fill of the horrors of slavery and, because of his categorical rejection of the order prevailing on the island, was obliged to move to Penns

If you have ever been a guest in a Quaker house or in some memorial apartment, you will surely have seen the image of this man, extraordinarily widely reproduced and easily remembered: a bandy-legged fellow under 120 centimetres tall, hunchbacked, with arms longer than his legs. Such was Benjamin

Museums · Observations · Heritage · People

Early this morning came the sad news: at the age of 80 there passed away a remarkable person, a living legend of the Russian museum world, an outstanding, cultured, devoted and tirelessly active champion of Russian culture, Natalya Nikolayevna…

Early this morning came the sad news: in her 81st year there passed away a remarkable person, a living legend of the Russian museum world, an outstanding, cultured, devoted and tirelessly active champion of Russian culture, Natalya Nikolayevna Gramolina, who had worked at the Polenovo estate museum since 1970 and

Alexandr Radayev