Once again praying from the window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St Peter’s Square, despite rain and the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis on Sunday ticked off many of his core social concerns: Peace, life, migration, and the fight against modern-day slavery, all in a matter of minutes. Peace and democracy for Myanmar Francis said he…
Medical Matters The year of 2021 has already been marked by more than 100,000 new Covid cases and tragically over 1000 deaths, just at a time when we looked forward in hope after the arrival of new vaccines. The emergence of new viral strains which are up to 70% more transmissible coupled with increased social…
Cold war novel Conclave is a reminder JPII’s significance for the Church and the world, writes Ruadhán Jones Conclave, the new fictional account of the election of Pope St John Paul II, opens in the recent past – 27 April, 2014 to be exact. It’s a significant day for the Catholic Church. On that day,…
Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon has appealed to the people of Myanmar – including the army, which staged a coup February 1 – to remain calm and to work for open lines of communication so democracy can prevail. “When, in 2015, a peaceful transition to the elected government was effected by the army, that…
No More Time by Greg Delanty (Louisiana State University Press, $17.95/£16.50/€19.99; order from www.eurospangroup.com) “Merritt Island, Florida, was flooded in order to eradicate mosquitoes around the Kennedy Space Centre, destroying this sparrow’s only nesting ground.” The sparrow in question is the Dusky seaside sparrow. But this observation which introduces one of Greg Delanty’s poems sums it all…
A colleague once challenged Pierre Teilhard de Chardin with this question. You believe that good will ultimately triumph over evil; well, what if we blow up the world with an atomic bomb, what happens to goodness then? Teilhard answered this way. If we blow up the world with an atomic bomb, that would be a…
Parents often protect their children from worry, through the simple expedient of not telling them about worrying things. There’s certainly no need to worry small children about crimes such as murder, for example. Yet we do tell them about dangers of traffic, as the worrying knowledge that cars can hurt of kill you encourages them…
Pope Francis adds feast of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus to Church calendar Pope Francis has added the memorial of Sts Mary, Martha, and Lazarus to the General Roman Calendar, giving the siblings the combined feast day of July 29. A decree from the Congregation for Divine Worship said on 2 February that Pope Francis had…
The Sunday Gospel Fr Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap. We will be commencing Lent next Wednesday. Because the churches are closed you may not be able to receive the blessed ashes, although some parishes will have sachets of ashes available for collection. With or without the ashes, you can still observe Lent. During Lent we are…
Alcohol deaths hit record high during pandemic The BBC reported that deaths caused by alcohol hit a record high during the first nine months of 2020, according to provisional figures from England and Wales. Between January and September, 5,460 deaths were registered with this cause of death, which is up 16% on the same months…
Dr Kevin McCarroll
Ruadhán Jones
Peter Costello
Fr Ronald Rolheiser