The Vatican reported the Roman Curia had a €66.3 million deficit in 2020, and on the same day, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, which administers Vatican properties and investments, made a summary of its annual budget public for the first time. Releasing both reports July 24, the Vatican said the coronavirus pandemic had a serious negative impact…
As the war over control of Ethiopia’s Tigray region expands into neighbouring regions, the country’s bishops on Saturday urged an end to the violence. “It saddens our hearts hearing about war while we all would like to hear about peace and reconciliation,” read a July 17 statement from the Ethiopian bishops’ conference. The conference had…
Bishop Brendan Leahy has described former minister Des O’Malley as a man of “courage and decency”. The former leader of the Progressive Democrats was laid to rest following requiem Mass in Dublin on Friday. He represented Limerick in the Dáil for many years and served in numerous ministries, including the Department of Justice. On hearing…
Cuba’s communist government has drafted a law that would equate the role of dissidents’ defence lawyers with that of public officials. In May, the People’s Supreme Court, Cuba’s highest judicial authority, drew up a series of legislative proposals that it sent to the island’s legislature, the National Assembly of People’s Power, for passage. Among these…
To Love and to Serve: Selected Essays Exploring the Ignatian Tradition by Brian O’Leary SJ (Messenger Publications, €25.00 / £23.00) From the beginning of his career as a priest and academic Brian O’Leary has been involved in exploring various aspects of spirituality, especially as they derive from the Ignatian tradition to which he himself belongs. Much…
Msgr. Jeffrey D. Burrill, the general secretary of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops since November, has resigned from the post after the USCCB “became aware of impending media reports alleging possible improper behaviour by Msgr. Burrill”, said Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, USCCB president. In a July 20 memo to bishops, Archbishop…
Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai has implored Lebanon’s patron saint to help save the country from “total collapse” amid one of the worst financial crises the world has seen in decades. In a homily for the feast of St Charbel, the leader of Lebanon’s Maronite Catholics said that he sought the intercession of the 19th-century Lebanese…
Synod of Bishops publishes list of commission members The Vatican released the names of members of two commissions charged with assisting the leaders of the Synod of Bishops’ general secretariat in reviewing documents, drafting resources and developing best practices. According to the synod website, the theological commission and the methodology commission will include religious and…
A City Imagined: Belfast Soulscapes by Gerald Dawe (Merrion Press, €19.95) Joe Carroll Gerald Dawe grew up in pre-Troubles sectarian Belfast, and this slim book is his third attempt to re-capture what today can seem a magical time when poetry and music were flourishing on narrow streets. As Dawe took his first steps as a…
Laudato Si’ This month, the Vatican highlighted the potential good that the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics can bring about during the ‘Season of Creation’, which starts on the September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ends on October 4, the Feast of St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint…