Letter from Rome In the past week several intriguing news stories moved across the Vatican wire, and the mere act of listing them is likely enough to illustrate what they have in common. In the latest hearing in a Vatican sex abuse trial, an official of the former head of St Peter’s Basilica testified he’d…
All staff and teachers working in special schools or in special classes attached to mainstream schools must be prioritised for vaccination, say the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association (CPSMA). “It is vital that all staff [in special schools and special classes] are vaccinated to reduce the demand for substitutes, or we will assuredly face the…
The Vatican announced March 20 that Pope Francis has designated the Archdiocese of Quito in Ecuador the host of the 2024 International Eucharistic Congress. The conference, in its 53rd edition, will also take place during the 150th anniversary of the consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. “This great ecclesial meeting will manifest…
The Best of Benedict; An Irish Perspective edited by Dualta Roughneen (One by One Press/Alive Newspaper, available from Knock Shrine Bookshop and Mayo Books, €12.99 plus postage) This is not, as the title might at first suggest, an anthology of the writings of the Pope emeritus. These now span many decades of theological investigation and social comment,…
Pope Francis, his liturgy office and his communications team made very deliberate decisions over the past year with the goal of letting people experience how close the Pope was to them in their isolation and suffering. And people – tens of thousands of them – responded, praying with him and for him. As the Vatican…
Mindful Living So here we are again in Holy Week – a week when we are invited to recall the sacred rhythm of the spiritual life: the inevitable cycle of death, burial, and resurrection. For all of this week we celebrate the paschal mystery, the passion of Jesus and his resurrection as Christ because, as…
Officer Eric Talley, an 11-year veteran of the Boulder Police Department, was the first to arrive at the scene of a mass shooting at a King Soopers grocery store the afternoon of March 22 and the first of 10 to be killed. A Catholic, Talley often stopped by St Martin de Porres Church just across…
Our Cniotáil agus Comhrá group met on Thursday – a handy way for people to catch up on some knitting tips and build their confidence in speaking Irish. We usually try to avoid any chat about Covid but on Thursday a question emerged, “Cá háit a rachfá dá dtiocfadh leat?” – where would you go…
Personal Profile When Fr Norman Davitt SVD was nine years old – this being back in 1930 – the local parish priest came across him in a field near the Church. “He said, ‘what do you want to be’, I said, ‘I want to be a missionary’,” Fr Davitt explains. “About two years later, he…
A three volume tome dedicated to the Sistine Chapel brings the latest technology to bear on Michelangelo’s masterpiece, writes Jason Osborne Anyone seeking to capture an artwork of the profundity, immensity and timelessness of the Sistine Chapel should expect to encounter unprecedented challenges, and that’s exactly what Nicholas Callaway and Manuela Roosevelt of Callaway Arts…
John L. Allen Jr.
Ruadhán Jones
Peter Costello
Bairbre Cahill