You are probably accustomed to talking about the world being ‘overpopulated’. This has been a theme in public discussions going back to the 1960s, just as climate change is now. But if there was concern in the past that people were having too many babies, today there is a growing concern that they are having…
The monsignor, with a global mission linked to Blessed Carlo Acutis, had just departed County Down when the news was announced last Friday: the young Italian would be canonised in Rome on September 7. Monsignor Anthony Figueiredo – himself no stranger to headlines due to the saga of Cardinal Ted McCarrick – had been in…
Just as the world was anticipating for the pronouncement of the new Pope, here in Ireland, we were also anticipating for the news of who would be our next [Filipino] chaplain,” said Lorna Patindol, a Pastoral Council member and catechist in St Joseph’s Church, Berkeley Rd. in Dublin. “We are very, very delighted that we…
Search operations continue, but hope is fading. Dozens of people are believed to have died off the coast of Libya while trying to reach Europe. More than 60 migrants are missing after two shipwrecks off the coast of Libya. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) assumes that dozens have died, as it announced on Wednesday…
Hundreds of young people gathered in Knock on the weekend for the Jubilee Year’s event ‘Dare to Hope’ and official launch of the new €1.5 million retreat village. The event, which took place on June 14, aimed to inspire young adults (aged 18-30) to deepen their faith and renew their commitment to Christ. Knock Youth…
In 2024, a grim little piece of research about reading prowess was published by Johns Hopkins Press. It was called, in a masterpiece of understatement, They Don’t Read Very Well: A Study of the Reading Comprehension Skills of English Majors at Two Midwestern Universities. The research was carried out in 2015, before the advent of…
People were terrified, houses were burned, attacked and looted, petrol bombs, masonry and other missiles were hurled at police, writes Baroness Nuala O’Loan There was a palpable feeling of fear around Ballymena for a few days last week. Terrible violence erupted without warning. Those who have come from distant lands to live in the town…
For a quarter of a century now, the ‘grooming gangs scandal’ has rumbled on in Britain – as report after report emerged about young white girls being sexually abused by older males, these being mostly from Pakistan. From Rochdale, Oldham, Bradford, Telford, Huddersfield, Rotherham, Birmingham, Oxford came accounts of thousands of youngsters, some aged 12,…
Paolo Affatato The watchword: harmony. For 79-year-old Pakistani Cardinal Joseph Coutts, a musical metaphor best expresses his vision, his evangelical spirit — indeed, his very faith. It is also how he looks to the future of Christians in Pakistan: with hope, through harmony. “Harmony” is the word he chose as his episcopal motto — not…
For the outside world, it’s perhaps Pope Leo’s pleas for cease-fires in Gaza and Ukraine that have attracted the most attention since his election just over three weeks ago. For Catholic insiders, all manner of papal acts have generated reaction, from his sartorial touches, his use of sung Latin in public prayer, and even his…
David Quinn
Martina Purdy
Renata Steffens
Breda O'Brien
Nuala O’Loan
Mary Kenny
John L. Allen Jr.