More than 1,000 people have already been executed in Iran in 2025. UN human rights activists are appalled and accuse the Islamic Republic of carrying out death sentences on an “industrial scale”. UN human rights experts are deploring an unprecedented wave of executions in Iran. More than 1,000 death sentences have already been carried out…
Fewer and fewer cardinals and papal electors from Central and Eastern Europe The death of the Romanian Grand Archbishop Muresan throws a new spotlight on the fact that the era of John Paul II is fading as its defining figures disappear. Central and Eastern Europe are receding into the background. It was the message of…
Episcopal question mark behind the Pope’s words: Bishop Kohlgraf warns against minimising the issue of abuse. Sexualised violence is a crime against human beings. The Church has a responsibility in this regard. In the debate on how to deal with sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz questions recent statements by…
Senator and psychotherapist sound alarm on threat to faith and family The new Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum, recently rolled out by the Department of Education, has prompted a wave of concern among parents, teachers, and Catholic commentators, who fear that the programme undermines parental rights and introduces children to confusing and…
The national Pro Life Campaign (PLC) hosted their annual fundraising dinner for 600 people on September 20 in Dublin. The dinner, titled Ceiliúradh Cois Life, took place in the Clayton Hotel and featured a reception which included drinks and dancing, a live band and a raffle. Éamon Ó Cuív, former Cabinet Minister and TD for…
“My aunt, my mother’s sister, was [a] Sister of Mercy,” Pope Leo XIV revealed in a letter sent recently to the Mercy Sisters in Ireland. In the letter, he called himself “a devoted follower” of Bl. Catherine McAuley. And the Sisters are quietly hoping that the Pope’s affection for their charism might help push on…
A new book on the priesthood, Priesthood Today, is set to be launched on October 22, the feast of St John Paul II, at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. The volume, edited by Bishop Phonsie Cullinan of Waterford and Lismore and Chair of the Council of Vocations, brings together essays from priests, religious, and lay people…
Under a Facebook post by The Irish Times on September 21, the public gave their opinions on secular ‘non-Communions’, the subject of a story written by Rachel O’Dwyer for The Irish Times. The story, which focused on the growing desire of non-practising Catholics to include their children in First Communion ceremonies because they feel “left…
The Traveller community has reached an important milestone in pastoral care and theological education, with Richard O’Brien of Kilarney, Co. Kerry, becoming one of the first Irish Travellers to be accredited as a Catholic Chaplain. “I was surprised to hear I was the first Traveller to become a chaplain, because it is such a faithful…
Self-help manuals are big business today (a book called Let Them continues to be a leading best-seller). One of the most interesting self-help philosophies, I’ve found, is Stoicism. Deriving from the classical world of Greece and Rome, the counsel of Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius encourage us to accept what we cannot change and focus…
Renata Steffens
Mary Kenny