Cardinal Parolin urges cooperation and friendship in North Korea speech The Vatican Secretary of State said last week that the Holy See supports cooperation over confrontation in efforts to achieve peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula. Cardinal Pietro Parolin delivered a virtual keynote speech to the South Korean government’s annual forum to discuss issues…
Dear Editor, With his customary clarity David Quinn describes the dilemma facing liberal secular humanism [IC 26/08/2021] in light of the Afghanistan debacle now unfolding: should Western democracies try to change societies which inherit centuries of tribal customs and loyalties, or leave them alone? They believe that their human rights gospel must be extended to…
Peace Prize nominee urges Biden to protect Iraqi Christians After the last US forces left Afghanistan last week, an interfaith coalition implored President Joe Biden to keep American troops in Iraq to protect Christians and other persecuted religious minorities. “We beseech you on behalf of two historic and endangered peoples, Assyrian Christians and Yazidis, to…
Population of Republic above 5 million for first time since 1851 The country’s population was estimated to stand at 5.01 million in April, the latest statistics from the CSO revealed last week. This is the first time the population has risen above five million since the 1851 census, when the population stood at 5.11 million.…
Parishes in the Republic are expected to be able to have churches up to 50% full from next week. As The Irish Catholic went to press this week the Cabinet was poised to announce a further easing of restrictions on religious and other gatherings and permit a phased return to out-of-school activities for children. Sacraments…
Ireland’s ambassador to the US has opened up about the role of Catholic education in his formation and his gratitude to the “great men” who taught him in the Christian Brothers’ school in Waterford. Ambassador Dan Mulhall was speaking at the Milwaukee Irish Festival addressing the question of the role of the Church in Irish…
A university in England has refused to recognise a Catholic priest as a chaplain over comments that he posted on social media. The University of Nottingham, in central England, confirmed August 25 that it had declined to give official recognition to Fr David Palmer, a priest of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.…
Brandon Scott The Diocese of Waterford and Lismore is mourning the loss of one of its foremost priests, Msgr Michael Olden, who died on Monday. The 86-year-old cleric had recently celebrated the sixty-first anniversary of his ordination from St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Appointed to the staff of the national seminary in 1966 just after Vatican…
Religious sisters from the Missionaries of Charity and 14 disabled children from an orphanage in Afghanistan arrived safely last Wednesday at Rome’s international airport. A Catholic priest and five sisters from the order founded by Mother Teresa arrived on one of two evacuation flights from Kabul that landed in Rome on August 25 carrying a…
Some 170 Irish pilgrims departed from Cork Airport yesterday (Wednesday) on board a specially-chartered plane organised by Marian Pilgrimages for Medjugorje. It marks one of the first post-coronavirus organised pilgrimages to the Bosnian town where local children first reported apparitions of the Mother of God in 1981. It has been a popular destination with Irish…