The Feast of Our Lady of Fatima is this weekend on May 13. This year, the feast day carries extra significance as it is the centenary and Pope Francis is preparing to canonise the three children Our Lady appeared to. Between May 13 and October 13, 1917 she appeared to three shepherd children, Lucia, Jacinta…
Skin cancer is the commonest cancer worldwide accounting for about 30% of all cancer diagnoses and affecting 10,000 people in Ireland every year. The lifetime risk of developing skin cancer is about 15% in males and 10% in females, yet remains one of the most preventable cancers. The vast majority of skin cancers (90%) are…
The Pope and the American president are surprisingly similar, writes John Allen Jr. Pope Francis recently met with the Vatican’s communications brain trust, urging them to use “a little violence, but good, good violence” in order to create new and more effective ways of getting the Church’s message across. If the Vatican really wants to…
The American Health Care Act the US House of Representatives passed by a four-vote margin has “major defects” according to the chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Social Development. Venice, Florida’s Bishop Frank Dewane said it was “deeply disappointing that the voices of those who will be most severely impacted were…
The Vatican is investigating the decision by a group of Belgian psychiatric care centres run by a religious order to allow doctors to perform euthanasia of “nonterminal” mentally ill patients on their premises. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, is personally examining the situation, according to Bro. Rene Stockman, superior general of the Brothers…
Welcoming the election of Emmanuel Macron as president of France, the head of the French bishops’ conference has said he hoped elections next month to the National Assembly will not place the country “in an ungovernable situation”. Elected last weekend with 66.1% of votes in the second-round presidential ballot, former economy minister and head of…
Ahead of his historic beatification ceremony, Mags Gargan looks at the life of Fr John Sullivan Ireland will host its first ever beatification ceremony this weekend, when Fr John Sullivan SJ will be named Blessed on May 13. (Up until the papacy of Benedict XVI beatifications tended to take place in Rome and the Pope…
Mags Gargan examines the continuing popularity of parish missions Parish missions were a common feature in the Irish Church up until about the 1960s and for many the idea of a mission brings up the old stereotypical image of a judgmental, hellfire preacher. However, parish missions today are a gentler, communal affair and while they…
The finances of Dublin archdiocese have never been so transparent, writes Greg Daly On the face of it, comparing this year’s financial reports from the Archdiocese of Dublin with its Share Newsletters of previous years is a case of comparing apples and oranges. Previous practice in the archdiocese entailed the publication, typically in April, of…
In trying to eradicate Ireland’s Christian heritage, secularists could destroy Ireland’s identity, writes David Quinn Once French presidential candidate, Francois Fillon, was damaged by the scandal of paying his wife and family out of public funds for jobs that seemingly did not exist, it was inevitable that Emmanuel Macron would win the French election. Le…
Erin Fox
Dr Kevin McCarroll
John L. Allen Jr.
Mags Gargan
Greg Daly
David Quinn