Gianluigi Torzi, the Italian businessman who brokered the final part of the Secretariat of State’s purchase of a London investment property, has been arrested in the United Kingdom. The arrest, which took place May 11 in London, was requested by an Italian judge in Rome in April. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Service said:…
Catholic actors Mark Wahlberg and Mel Gibson are to star in a new film about an American priest, which has just begun filming. In Stu, Wahlberg will star as Fr Stuart Long, a onetime boxer who became a priest and died in 2014, while Gibson will play his father. Variety, a show business magazine, reported…
Liverpool’s Alisson Becker dedicated his recent goal versus West Brom to his late father, who drowned near his home in Brazil in February, saying “I’m sure he was seeing, with God at his side, celebrating”. The Brazilian goalkeeper displays great faith in God, regularly tweeting scriptural passages to his 1.2 million followers, his account reading…
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Jan Tyrawa of Bydgoszcz, the latest bishop accused of covering up sexual abuse by clergy. The bishops’ conference said the Vatican had “conducted proceedings on reported negligence” in line with the Pontiff’s May 2019 motu proprio, Vos estis lux mundi, and had also taken account of “other…
Ahead of an audience with Pope Francis last Wednesday, Germany’s foreign minister welcomed a day of same-sex blessings held in defiance of the Vatican. Speaking before he met with the Pope on May 12, Heiko Maas backed the blessing ceremonies held in around 80 German cities on Monday in protest at the Vatican’s “no” to…
Throughout history and across the globe, lay catechists have been revered as saints, and many were martyred for their refusal to renounce their faith and their vocation to teach the Christian faith to others. Formally instituting “the ministry of catechist” with a document published May 11, Pope Francis praised “the countless lay men and women…
Unintended Consequences: The story of Irish Immigration to the US and how America’s door was closed to the Irish by Ray O’Hanlon (Merrion Press, €19.95) Joe Carroll For over 150 years the Irish crossed the Atlantic to make a new life in the United States and nobody shouted ‘stop’. Then in 1965 the open door narrowed…
The Sunday Gospel Fr Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap. May I begin by wishing us all a very happy birthday. It is the birthday of the Church, the day when the coming of the Holy Spirit utterly transformed the apostles from being fearful and directionless into a community empowered to carry on the mission of Jesus.…
Dear Editor, Recent statements by politicians regarding Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) are very revealing. In effect they are demanding that the Government devise a RSE programme which would be imposed on all schools, irrespective of the school’s values and ethos. I wonder how they would feel if the same logic were applied to politics, i.e.,…
Jesuits prepare to celebrate Ignatian Year The roughly 15,000 members of the Society of Jesus, their collaborators and many people who draw on the spiritual heritage left by St Ignatius of Loyola are preparing to mark a special Ignatian Year beginning May 20 and lasting until the saint’s feast day, July 31, 2022. Anticipating the…