The Southern Cross (South Africa)
| Southern Africa's Catholic Weekly | |
Cover of The Southern Cross, 13 August 2014 issue
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| Type | Weekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Ltd. |
| Editor-in-chief | Günther Simmermacher |
| Launched | 16 October 1920 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | 10 Tuin Plein Cape Town, 8001 |
| Country | South Africa |
| Circulation | 9,000 to 11,000 (as of 2012) |
| Website | SouthernCross |
The Southern Cross is South Africa’s only national Catholic weekly newspaper. It is published independently but with the support of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference. First published on 16 October 1920, it has appeared uninterrupted every week since. The current editor-in-chief is Günther Simmermacher.
The Southern Cross is published by the Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Company Ltd., which is based in Cape Town. The newspaper is financed by sales and advertising, as well as revenue from sales of books published under The Southern Cross Books imprint, international pilgrimages, and financial support from its Associates’ Campaign.
Publication day is Thursday, but most issues are sold in churches at weekend Masses. The Southern Cross is also available by postal subscription and as a digital edition. It is not sold in retail outlets other than Catholic bookshops. Since 2012, circulation has fluctuated between around 9,000 and 11,000.
The editor of The Southern Cross has full editorial independence, confirmed in 2009 by the President of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of the Archdiocese of Johannesburg.
The Southern Cross editorials have frequently made worldwide news. In 2001 an editorial that argued that the Catholic Church should allow the use of condoms in marriages in which only one spouse is infected with HIV was picked up by the BBC World News,Voice of America, Time, and other publications.
In 2011, an editorial that criticized the presence of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at the beatification of Pope John Paul II in the Vatican was reported on widely, especially in the international Catholic press.
In 2014, an editorial calling on the Catholic Church to condemn controversial anti-gay laws in Nigeria and the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2014 was picked up by the news service of the Vatican’s missionary dicastery, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. A Vatican analyst for the Italian newspaper La Stampa suggested that by picking up The Southern Cross’ critical editorial but not a congratulatory statement by the president of the Nigerian bishop's conference, the Vatican had voiced its disapproval of the draconian policies which are tantamount to persecution, and called on African bishops to "speak out ... against the discriminatory legislation and violence directed at homosexuals, many of whom are fellow Catholics."
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