Queen Bona Sforza transformed royal finances and expanded a dynasty’s wealth, becoming one of the most powerful women in early modern eastern Europe.
- Professor of History, Australian Catholic University
The pope has warned that AI is never truly neutral: it reflects the society that made it. He has called for ethical oversight – and protecting workers.
Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel suggests solidarity is possible, but only under conditions of risk and mutual obligation.
Pope Leo’s papacy is still a work in progress, but the American-born pontiff has so far emphasised unity in a fractured church – and world.
Pope Leo XIV does not claim to direct political outcomes. He claims the right, and the duty, to judge them.
In his recent speech at Davos, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney drew on Havel’s book challenging compliance in an age of untruthfulness. What does it say?
Over centuries, artists and censors have employed the humble fig leaf to cover the penis – including on Michelangelo’s ‘unmistakably male’ David.
Across nearly 2,000 years, popes have been involved in peace efforts – almost always on the sidelines. Can the papacy keep its independence in a polarised world?
De l’objet de scandale à l’ustensile incontournable : comment la fourchette a voyagé de Byzance jusqu’en Lituanie et a fini à côté de nos assiettes, portée par plusieurs siècles d’évolution des usages à table.
As the air begins to warm and the days stretch, the screens get darker — with crime, mystery and noir creeping in.
The series may not be accurate in detail, but it is valuable in spirit – and hilariously opens a window onto a forgotten corner of European history.
From scandal to staple: how the fork travelled from Byzantium to Lithuania, helped by Queen Bona Sforza and centuries of changing table manners.
Victoria Amelina’s unfinished notebook was salvaged after she was killed by a missile. From a bunker, meanwhile, John Lyons reports on the war.
New genetic research has traced the paternal line of Poland’s first royal dynasty, challenging long-held national traditions about the origins of the Piasts.
Showing up in Rome is pragmatic statecraft, executed under Bernini’s colonnade, where religious and political figures have long mingled.
Léon XIV s’efforcera de traduire l’idéal « un seul esprit et un seul cœur » dans une action qui protégera le travailleur vulnérable, le migrant déplacé et la planète blessée.
Leo XIV will work to translate the ideal of one heart, one mind into structures that protect the vulnerable worker, the displaced migrant and the wounded planet.
A Filipino or Congolese pope would signal that Catholicism’s demographic heart now beats in Manila and Kinshasa, rather than Milan and Cologne.
Anna Jagiellon’s story, set over four centuries ago, shows a woman could secure power through a vote, even in an era when female rulers were nearly unheard of.
Durante séculos, o papel foi atribuído a um membro do Colégio de Cardeais - e quase sempre a um italiano. Será que desta vez teremos nosso primeiro papa da Ásia, da África, ou mesmo do Brasil?
For centuries, the role has gone to a member of the College of Cardinals – and almost always to an Italian. Might we soon have our first pope from Asia or Africa?
The conclave – one of the most secretive processes in Christendom – is rooted in centuries of tradition.
Do you prefer yours with sultanas and spices, or Vegemite and cheese? However you eat them, hot cross buns reflect centuries of tradition – and superstition.
Russia’s war on Ukraine continues, despite US attempts to broker a ceasefire. Russia has repurposed history to build its power since the 1500s – that continues, too.
Maria Clementina Sobieski – one of just three women buried in St Peter’s Basilica – lived a life of extraordinary defiance and determination.
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