Pope Francis has named Irishman Cardinal Kevin Farrell to a senior Vatican role that will see the Dublin native take on a key role between the death or retirement of the Pontiff and the election of his successor. In a communique this morning, the Holy See Press Office announced that Francis had appointed Dr Farrell…
Cindy Wooden Pope Francis has signed a decree recognising a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed John Henry Newman, the English cardinal, clearing the way for his canonisation. The Vatican announced on February 13 that Pope Francis had signed the decree the day before. In the sainthood cause of Blessed Newman, Bishop Philip…
A major Vatican conference on atheism could help stem the tide of people leaving the Church, a leading Catholic number-cruncher has said. Speaking to The Irish Catholic ahead of the Vatican’s first conference on atheism in 50 years, Prof. Stephen Bullivant of St Mary’s University in Twickenham, London, said the Church has long realised that…
While many Hollywood celebrities are known for having liberal sexual lifestyles, popstar Justin Bieber has revealed that he remained celibate for a year prior to his 2018 marriage with model Hailey Baldwin, for religious reasons. Speaking with Vogue about his relationship with his now-wife, Bieber confessed to giving up sex for a year, and admitted…
Exclusion zones in Ireland would create a very dangerous precedent for denying freedom of speech and peaceful protest, Carol Nolan TD has said. Ms Nolan said that depicting every pro-life action as “threatening” or “rogue” is outrageous, and shows how “blinkered, political and unbalanced” government policy has come in this area. Her comments come after…
Letter from Rome Inés San Martín Though reaction to Pope Francis’s recent joint declaration with the leader of Al-Azhar, arguably the most important figure in the Sunni Muslim world, received a mixed verdict – from being hailed as historic, to being dismissed as another feel-good statement without teeth – few men have more…
The district attorney for Queens County, New York, has reportedly dropped an unlawful abortion charge against a man accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend, citing a new state law that removed abortion from the criminal code. Anthony Hobson is accused of killing his girlfriend Jennifer Irigoyen, who was 14 weeks pregnant, on February 3. He…
Fr Bill Kemmy When people ask me what I ‘do for a living’, for harmless distraction I sometimes tell them that I work for a large multinational that specialises in communications and salvage. Within that admittedly lame gag lies an essential truth. The Church is in the communications business, not as an optional extra but at its…
Elise Harris Speaking at a secular conference on child pornography and online threats to youth last week, a Catholic priest said the fight against child abuse isn’t merely a cause for the Church, but for the entire human family and for civilization itself. During the February 7 panel titled ‘Pornography, Minors and Safety on the…
A prison sentence without hope serves no purpose other than to stir feelings of revenge and anger in inmates who are looking for a second chance in life, Pope Francis said. Speaking to staff members of Rome’s Regina Coeli prison, the Pope said that both prison staff and inmates always must look forward to the…