There’s a lot of Catholicism in this issue of Reform. The old Pope, the new Pope, a bishop, a priest, a visit to Rome, the Sistine Chapel. Not as much RC as URC, but getting there.

Where, if you are not a Catholic, does Catholicism fit into your view of the world? What does it mean? How does it feel?

Part of the answer for me is that, as an incorrigible Protestant who has studied history, I can’t escape the sense that Rome has rather stronger genealogical claims than my own Church. The family tree of Christianity is a single trunk (well, more or less) half the way up, when it splits into the two equal branches of Catholic and Orthodox. Only in the top quarter do you get the million-twigged offshoot of Protestantism. Which of us really seems to go back to the start?..
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This is an extract from an article published in the Issue 4 – 2025 edition of Reform

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