The Pro-Life Campaign has called on The Irish Examiner to retract a front-page story claiming that 75% of Irish doctors support open access to abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The PLC has said the story, which has the sub-heading ‘Poll of 400 medics shows support for liberalising abortion regime’, is “fake news”.…
Bishop Denis Brennan of Ferns is meeting in the Vatican with other bishops, senior law enforcement officers and key international organisations this week to share best practice in the fight against human trafficking and modern slavery. Dr Brennan is the Irish bishops’ representative in the Santa Marta Group (SMG), an alliance of police chiefs, bishops,…
This year marks the 160th anniversary of when Bernadette Soubirous announced to fellow villagers in the French town of Lourdes that she was experiencing visions of the Mother of God. An understandably sceptical local community at first didn’t believe the girl who would go on to be known the world over as St Bernadette of…
Lourdes: 160 years of healing In our modern day, the word ‘Lourdes’ often evokes imagery of the Virgin Mary’s apparitions, but the historical, geographical and social context is usually excluded from the imagination. What exactly is the history of the place where a young Bernadette Soubirous experienced the Marian visions and how did the…
Government plans could undermine communities even further The National Planning Framework plan currently under discussion by Government could undermine life in rural Ireland a well-known priest-activist has warned, with other priests insisting that rural Ireland is dying as a result of policymakers’ neglect. Fr Harry Bohan told The Irish Catholic he believed that the framework was…
Lourdes: 160 years of healing Colm Fitzpatrick explores the short and remarkable life of St Bernadette A quirky and curious pub question that may raise a few eyebrows is: “Who is the first saint to be photographed?” The answer, believe it or not, is St Bernadette Soubirous, the renowned visionary of Lourdes, whose picture was…
A prominent theologian and advocate for Church reform has said the Vatican decision to bar former President Mary McAleese from speaking at a conference is “understandable”. However, Dr Massimo Faggioli, Professor of Historical Theology at Villanova University in the US believes that “whoever barred Mary McAleese from taking part in a major international conference on women’s…
Lourdes: 160 years of healing Greg Daly details how various Popes have been linked with Lourdes from the 1850s to today In an 1873 letter to Blessed Pope Pius IX, St Bernadette, then Sr Marie Bernard, recalled how Our Lady had appeared to her just four years after the declaration of the doctrine of…
People who read at Mass are not reading from a newspaper, they are “proclaiming the word of God” and they need training, Fr Danny Murphy from the National Centre of Liturgy in Maynooth has said. Fr Murphy, told The Irish Catholic that parishes and dioceses “need to be facilitating getting people trained” who can then go back…
Rían Wood While Catholic schools must be inclusive, the Church has a “right and the responsibility to impart the Gospel vision” to students Bishop Fintan Monahan has warned. Speaking at Mass to mark the conclusion of Catholic Schools Week, the Bishop of Killaloe said the success of the Catholic system is a result of its…
Colm Fitzpatrick
Susan Gately
Michael Kelly
Greg Daly