PHOTO: SISTER JO-ANNE MILLER, CSJP

Sister Liz Dodd, far left, former Tablet news editor, who has just taken her vows, with other sisters and novices of the Congregation of St Joseph of Peace 30

COLUMNS

Christopher Howse’s Notebook ‘Soon superheated steam was hissing from the platform, smelling a little of sulphur’ / 5

Gregory Wolfe ‘The convert named as this year’s Nobel literary laureate is an adventurous choice’ / 13

REGULARS Word from the Cloisters 15 Puzzles 15 Letters 16 The Living Spirit 17

CONTENTS 21 OCTOBER 2023 // VOL. 277 NO. 9524

FEATURES

4 / True and false reformers The journey of synodality that Pope Francis is advocating follows a model of change with roots deep in the history of the Church / BY SHAUN BLANCHARD

7 / Torn apart by a pitiless war The spark of recognition of the humanity of the other has been steadily extinguished by decades of violence, anguish and hatred / BY DAVID NEUHAUS

8 / Clare is still somewhere In the third of our series about aspects of family life, The Tablet’s arts editor reflects

on the vastness of the mystery of her little sister’s death / BY JOANNA MOORHEAD

10 / Money grows on trees Those falling leaves are worth a small fortune – bag them up and time will turn

them into gardening’s black gold / BY ISABEL LLOYD

12 / A Catholic new deal An economist argues that Catholic Social Teaching finds its closest modern incarnation in a strongly green-tinged social democracy / BY ANTHONY ANNETT

14 / Saving the world from the bottom up With Laudate Deum, Francis again exposes the world view that is at the root of our

failure to steer a course away from self-destruction / BY AIDAN COTTRELL-BOYCE

NEWS

24 / The Church in the World / News briefing 25 / Middle East patriarchs call for day of prayer and fasting

27 / View from the synod 28 / News from Britain and Ireland / News briefing 29 / Church’s internal governance structure criticised

COVER: ALAMY/ABACA

ARTS / PAGE 18 Architecture The Laudato si’ garden in Venice BESS TWISTON DAV I E S Radio Poet Laureate in the Arctic D.J. TAYLOR Theatre Death of England: Closing Time MARK LAWSON Cinema Killers of the Flower Moon ISABELLE GREY

BOOKS / PAGE 21

Nikolai Duffy Autumn poetry Katherine Backler The Iliad HOMER, TRANS. EMILY WILSON James Moran Speed reading short stories Brian Morton Mountains of Fire: The Secret Lives of Volcanoes CLIVE OPPENHEIMER Rachel Kelly Alone: Reflections on Solitary Living DANIEL SCHREIBER

For more features, news, analysis and comment, visit www.thetablet.co.uk

21 OCTOBER 2023 | THE TABLET | 3