Welcome to October, the month of the Rosary and of Our Lady, and also, this year, a special month because on Saturday the 3rd it is the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis in 1226. All Franciscans will be celebrating his feast with special vigour this year. The rest of us won’t be, because the feast of St Francis of Assisi is on the 4th, which is a Sunday this year. St Francis will be amused.

A new podcast strand: the Seven Deadly Sins

Sin is failure to love, which means that a right contemplation of sin will teach us to love better. Dante Alighieri is one of the greatest poets in world literature and an expert in the theology of love, so in August a new strand started in the Universalis podcast: the Seven Deadly Sins, following the way Dante sees each of them in terms of love.