Ireland has once again been overlooked by Pope Francis as no Irish prelate was tipped to become a cardinal. The Pope announced over the weekend that he will hold a consistory for the creation of 21 new cardinals at the end of September, saying the choices express “the universality of the Church”. There are currently…
Vatican publishes schedule for papal trip to Mongolia Pope Francis’ visit to Mongolia August 31-September 4 will make him the first pope to visit this Asian nation, which is home to one cardinal and some 1,300 Catholics. The focus of the visit will be encounters with leaders of government and civil society and meetings with…
Blessed Michael McGivney was honoured in the US after seven parishes in New Haven, Connecticut, were merged July 1 into one parish, which was then named after him. The founder of the Knights of Columbus was born to Irish immigrant parents, Patrick and Mary McGivney, who settled in Connecticut in the US. Fr Ryan Lerner,…
Tobias Winright My family and I moved to Maynooth from Saint Louis, Missouri, in the United States nearly a year ago. We had visited Ireland a dozen times during the past two decades, and we were attracted to the beauty of the Emerald Isle and the hospitality of its people. Also, although it had experienced…
The daily Office of Readings includes an excerpt from a homily by St Augustine, which may be a funny place to begin a film review. Nonetheless, I’m going to take an excerpt from it now: “What fresh sort of suffering, brothers, does the human race now endure that our fathers did not undergo,” the great…
Saint of the week If you’re at all like me, the distances the Gospel has reached constantly astounds you. This week’s saint, remembered and celebrated by the Church July 14, is a good reminder of that. Born in 1656, St Kateri Tekakwitha was the child of a Christian, Algonquin mother and a Mohawk father, both…
Fr Séamus Murphy SJ The Government invited submissions to its Public Consultation on International Security Policy. Neutrality is on the menu. What does Catholic Social Teaching (CST) have to offer Irish Catholics as they reflect? CST’s values of peace, common goods, solidarity, respect for human dignity and rights, and preferential concern for the poor and…
A prayer book belonging to the priest who sheltered King Charles II has gone on display in the famous Moseley Old Hall in Wolverhampton. Fr John Huddleston’s personal missal is almost 400 years old, and was purchased by the conservation charity National Trust at auction. It’s believed that the missal, published in Paris in 1623,…
Pope Francis has named 21 new cardinals, announcing the names after his recitation of the Angelus with the Faithful in St Peter’s Square July 9. He said he would formally install the cardinals during a special consistory at the Vatican September 30. The new cardinals represent more than a dozen countries on five continents. Three…
Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando José Álvarez Lagos has been sent back to prison, July 5 after negotiations between the Nicaraguan bishops and the government of dictator Daniel Ortega broke down, Nicaraguan news sources reported. According to ACI Prensa, Bishop Álvarez, of the Diocese of Matagalpa, in Managua, was released Monday, July 3 but returned to custody…
Ruadhán Jones