Iraq’s Chaldean Patriarch has spoken of an outpouring of solidarity for Christians in Baghdad over the Christmas period by Muslims eager to reject the ideology and divisiveness of so-called Islamic State (ISIS). In a New Year’s interview with AsiaNews, Patriarch Raphael Louis Sako described how young Muslims travelled from the city of Najaf to attend…
The Salesian Order has confirmed that a video loaded to the Youtube site on Christmas Eve shows Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, the priest of that congregation kidnapped in Yemen last March. Visibly thin and wearing a long beard, the priest appears in the five-minute video to urge Pope Francis as well as the government of his…
Pope urges prison reform in wake of Brazilian riot Pope Francis has prayed for the victims of the January 1 prison riot in Manaus, Brazil, and voiced again his appeal that prisons be reformed to better rehabilitate people with real dignity. During his general audience of January 4, the Pontiff lamented the loss of life…
Icicles hang from a fountain in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican. Rome has not been immune to a blast of icy weather across the European continent. Photo: CNS
In a new interview published on January 8, Pope Francis says he came into the papacy not wanting to travel very much, but after his initial outing to the Italian island of Lampedusa in early July 2013, which is a major point of arrival for refugees trying to enter Europe, he understood he had to…
Next week will see the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 45th president of the United States of America. Few could have predicted, even six months ago, that Mr Trump would defeat the Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton. In fact, I spent election results night at a party hosted by the wonderful US Ambassador to…
Among the most consistently interesting religious blogs over recent years have been those on the Catholic channel of patheos.com, with Eve Tushnet’s being a fine example of this. Tushnet, who converted to Catholicism in 1998, describes herself as an “openly lesbian and celibate Catholic”, and writes often on themes of religion of sexuality. In a…
Dirty Secrets: What To Do About Tax Havens by Richard Murphy (Verso, £12.99) Tax avoidance is one of the greatest difficulties besetting the world economy. Accountant and tax campaigner Richard Murphy estimates that 10% – maybe more – of the world’s wealth is hidden away in tax havens. Taxed, the secreted trillions would provide more…
J. Anthony Gaughan He was Galway: Máirtín Mór McDonogh, 1860 -1934, by Jackie Uí Chionna (Open Air/Four Courts Press, €19.95). This is a valuable biography of a truly remarkable person. The book’s title does not exaggerate. Máirtín Mór McDonogh (1860–1934) was a central figure in the civic life of Galway city and county for most…
Joe Carroll The Supreme Court. The judges, the decisions, the rifts and the rivalries that have shaped Ireland by Ruadhán Mac Cormaic (Penguin Ireland, €27.99) “We are the Supreme Court and under God we can do anything,” a judge of the court, Cecil Lavery, rebuked a young barrister who had the nerve to tell the…
John L. Allen Jr.
Michael Kelly
Greg Daly