Catholic marriages and civil marriages are now almost neck and neck, according to the latest figures from the CSO. Soon enough, there will be more civil wedding ceremonies than Catholic ones. In addition, Ireland’s marriage rate has now dropped to the lowest level ever recorded, outside of the Covid years when we were locked down…
It may seem like a funny thing to say, but Pope Francis’s funeral last week got me thinking about fashion. Following the televising of the funeral and publication of photos of the various dignitaries in attendance, social media was alight with comments about who was wearing what, or rather criticisms about how inappropriately some (notably,…
Evangelium Ireland, the annual Catholic apologetics conference took place on Easter Saturday April 26 in Maynooth College for the second year in a row and was attended by approximately 165 people. Fr Chris Hayden (Ferns Diocese), the spiritual director of St Patrick’s National Seminary gave a talk entitled “What are you looking for? Discipleship in…
He campaigned for peace in Myanmar, the former Burma, the troubled Southeast Asian country that has always been torn by conflict in its 70-year history. All the more so now, as the country – much loved and often cited by Pope Francis – is torn by civil war after the military coup of 2021, and…
A recent release from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that the number of marriages post-Covid have been on the decline. In 2024, Ireland saw 20,348 marriages registered, including 668 same-sex unions, marking a 3.8% drop from 2023 and a 7.7% decline since 2014. Overall the marriage rate was 3.8 per 1000 people, down from…
Brazil celebrated 525 years of the first Catholic Mass in the country on April 26. Fr Severino Pinheiro da Silva Neto OFMCap, Chaplain for the Brazilian Community in Dublin said it is important to remember the day as it “reminds us of our identity, shows us who we are as it points at our origins.”…
In some way, Thérèse wanted me to have her book, because I would be aware of its significance, Renata Steffens hears. St Thérèse is one of the 37 Catholic saints recognised as a ‘Doctor of the Church.’ She is the second Carmelite nun to receive the distinction, after St Teresa of Ávila, and alongside with…
Many news reports and discussions in recent days have commented and paid tribute to the influence and legacy of Pope Francis. He was a steadfast defender of the right-to-life of the unborn child, though more often than not, in death as in life, his remarks referencing the pro-life issue didn’t receive the media attention that…
Pietro Parolin is a diplomat of great caliber. His star in the diplomatic service of the church and in the development of realpolitik and pragmatic strategies has been shining for many years. Just to give an example, in 2006, Inside the Vatican magazine named Parolin one of the ‘Top Ten’ of the year, citing his…
In Gaza ‘the situation is shameful, catastrophic, we have to say it… the dignity of those 2.3 million people, is not taken into the slightest consideration. We cannot think that they are all colluding with terrorism and crime’. This sentence, is just the latest in a long series of sharp accusations that the Latin Patriarch…
David Quinn
Maria Steen
Renata Steffens
Eilis Mulroy