New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan has led Church voices in condemning an advertisement campaign which declares that “public funding for abortion is a Catholic social justice value”. Reacting to the advertisement, backed by a group called Catholics for Choice and running in newspapers across America, Cardinal Dolan said it was “deceptive”. Stressing  that Catholics for…

Cardinal clarifies homily on ‘conquest’ of Europe Austria’s Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has issued a statement clarifying a homily interpreted on social media as predicting an Islamic conquest of Europe. During celebrations in Vienna on September 11 to mark the feast day of the victory of Christians over the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vienna in 1683, the prelate asked if…

A medal-winning athlete at this year’s Rio Olympic Games has gifted her bronze medal to the shrine of St Mary of Marija Bistrica in her native Croatia in thanks for answered prayers ahead of the games.  Champion high-jumper Blanka Vlašić has revealed that she nearly missed the 2016 games due to complications from surgery to…

A statement signed by former President Mary McAleese is out of step with Pope Francis, one of her colleagues at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, has said.  Mrs McAleese joined more than 100 academics in signing a ‘Scholars’ Statement’ from the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research challenging the Church’s ban on artificial contraception. The former president…

Archaeologists in Israel believe they have uncovered the site of the biblical battle between David and Goliath. According to experts who have led excavations for the past seven years at a site today known as Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Elah Valley, the Old Testament city of Shaaraim has been found. The city is mentioned in…

Ireland’s newest bishop has said the Vatican’s ‘baby bishops’ course was a valuable opportunity for networking and learning best practice from elsewhere in the world. Bishop-elect Fintan Monahan, who will be ordained Bishop of Killaloe this Sunday, September 25, said that the annual training course was “great – a very good experience, probably more so…

Staff reporter A major conference on education due to be held in Dublin next month will address the future of faith-based schools in Ireland, both North and South. Organised by The Irish Catholic in collaboration with St Mary’s University, Twickenham in London, the October 20 event will be addressed by former UK Secretary of State for…

One of America’s most prominent prelates has voiced his strong concern at the quality of candidates standing in the 2016 presidential election. In a scathing assessment of the campaign to date, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia said he had not previously known a year in which the contending political parties had “at the same…