People in the modern Western world are often shocked when they read Plato’s Republic and see the great philosopher criticizing democracy as one of the lowest forms of governing society. For Plato, democracy and tyranny (the lowest form) are as one with the tyrant merely the most self-centred type of ruler. 

The small but agitated crowd at the front steps of the Catholic Centre in downtown Montreal mistook me for their saviour.

For several years now, Catholic refugee policy — articulated passionately and repeatedly by the Holy See and many national bishops’ conferences — has focused on the urgent secondary thing, rather than the most important primary thing.

MEXICO – The Nicaraguan bishops' conference has denounced death threats against an outspoken bishop, whose comments on corruption and support for students in the protests consuming the country have been poorly received by those in power.

WARSAW, Poland – France's Catholic primate has condemned the current presidential campaign as his country's "worst ever" and urged Christians to help prevent democracy from "losing its sense."

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – As the most respected institution in Congo, the Catholic bishops' conference is putting enormous effort into steering the country onto a path to peace, said an official of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

WASHINGTON – Is there a Catholic vote? Well, yes. Kind of.

ROME – The Italian government's approval of a controversial bill that grants legal recognition to non-married heterosexual and homosexual couples is a defeat for democracy and family life, an Italian bishop said.

MANILA, Philippines – Philippines President-elect Rodrigo Duterte's win in May 9 national elections was "a strong reminder that people want change," said Fr. Anton Pascual, president of Radio Veritas, the country's largest Catholic radio network.

NEW DELHI – India is rejecting a U.S. panel’s charges that the religious freedom of minorities in the world’s largest democracy is being violated with tacit support from elements in the ruling party.

The notion of separation of church and state is an important foundation for a true democracy. It guarantees freedom of religion by favouring no religion over another. It is also the surest way of guaranteeing the expansion of religion when the state favours none and allows religion’s best instincts to make a real contribution to society.

WASHINGTON – Is there a Catholic vote in the United States? Well, yes. Kind of. Voting patterns show Catholics vote much like the rest of America, with minor swings one way or the other, depending on the candidate and the state.

TORONTO - There can be no question that Muslim-Catholic dialogue matters. More than one billion Catholics and over two billion Muslims combine to cover the globe, penetrate every culture and express their ideas about the world, human life and God in hundreds of languages.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May made the perceptive point recently that democracy is too important to be left only to politicians. A nuance that might be added is that as a keystone of democracy, free, fair and above all vigorous elections should never become the exclusive preserve of the political actors seeking to benefit from them.

A future historian (on the generous assumption that there are any) might plausibly contend that the first salvo of the “culture wars” was fired in January 1973 when the U.S. Supreme Court released its Roe v. Wade abortion decision. He might also conclude that the same Court’s June 2015 decision declaring gay marriage to be a constitutionally protected right represented a final victory.