Dolphins self-medicate skin conditions with coral A rash might send humans rushing to the pharmacy, but when some dolphins get skin conditions they queue up to rub themselves against coral with medicinal properties, new research suggests. According to the study, the animals are selective about which coral they use to self-medicate. Co-lead author Angela Ziltener,…
Given the death late Friday of Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who was 94, what’s often described as the Vatican’s “old guard” has taken a significant blow. Sodano had been the Secretary of State to two popes and the former Dean of the College of Cardinals, and he remained massively influential in shaping the Vatican’s internal…
Bishops start fund to help displaced in Burkina Faso Tens of thousands of residents who have been displaced due to the ongoing conflict in Burkina Faso, prompting Church leaders to mobilise funds and aid to assist those facing difficulties due to the conflict. According to the International Crisis Group, the landlocked West African country with…
A Dublin school is determined to “continue to be a Catholic primary school in a diverse and multicultural community” as it became part of the Le Chéile Schools Trust, according to the Principal Anne Kernan. Our Lady’s Grove Primary School in Friarland is preparing for a new beginning after they joined the network of 65…
We can’t think coherently about humanity if we don’t think about God, Prof. Judith Wolfe tells Ruadhán Jones What is the relevance of the TV series Game of Thrones to a Catholic thinker? And what does its efforts to overthrow the world of Catholic author JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings tell us about…
Kilmichael: The Life and Afterlife of an Ambush by Eve Morrison (Irish Academic Press, €19.95/£16.95) Here in Ireland, we had a very economical revolution, with possibly no more than about 5,000 fatalities in the period from 1919 to 1923. By contrast Finland’s contemporaneous civil war, an outcrop of the Russian Revolution, a struggle between right…
On Tuesday May 24, Cardinal Joseph Zen, retired bishop of Hong Kong, made a court appearance and pled not guilty to charges that led to his arrest earlier this month, saying in a Mass later in the day that Christians must “steel themselves” for defending the faith. Zen, 90, and three other trustees of the…
As a “first choice”, members of the Italian bishops’ conference decided to focus their study of clerical sexual abuse in the country on cases reported to the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2000 to 2021. Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, the new president of the conference, told reporters May 27 that…
Charlotte Vard Just last month, echoes of laughter and exclamations of pleasant surprise were heard throughout Newbridge Parish Centre, as we hosted sixth class Confirmation retreats. For just three days, Confirmation students were given the opportunity to grow in their faith, have fun, and build relationships. I’ve said it for the past nine years and…
Saturday May 21 saw the annual National ‘Faith and Light’ Pilgrimage to Knock shrine. Fourteen communities from all over Ireland travelled by bus and car, which after two years of virtual pilgrimages provided an added element of rejoicing. Founded by a French couple who had two sons with intellectual disabilities, Faith and Light came out…
John L. Allen Jr.
Chai Brady
Ruadhán Jones