Alcohol deaths hit record high during pandemic The BBC reported that deaths caused by alcohol hit a record high during the first nine months of 2020, according to provisional figures from England and Wales. Between January and September, 5,460 deaths were registered with this cause of death, which is up 16% on the same months…
Dear Editor, In recent times there has been an increase of interest in the ministry of exorcism in the Church. Jason Osborne’s article, ‘Evil One exploiting Covid-19 to bring about fear says famed Dublin exorcist’ [IC 28/01/2021], quoting veteran exorcist Fr Pat Collins, prompts this letter. Is this a clear demonstration of “demonic obsession” where the demon,…
Poland must support mothers of disabled, children – bishop After a ban on aborting disabled children came into force, Poland’s Catholic Church urged “all possible help” for pregnant women and single mothers. “It isn’t enough just to implement the law – those governing today, as well as the Church and other groups have a supreme…
Poland’s constitutional court published January 21 the rationale for its declaration that abortion for foetal abnormalities is unconstitutional three months after it made the ruling. In the highly anticipated ruling on October 22, the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw said that the law introduced in 1993 was incompatible with Poland’s constitution. But the law did not…
The Vatican’s official news agency has vowed to do better after an observant Irish reader spotted they refer to ‘UK bishops’ when they mean just prelates from England and Wales. Vatican News, a news information portal provided by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, was taken to task by a concerned reader of The Irish Catholic…
Stating that Brazil’s federal government displayed contempt for protecting the health of the population and showed criminal conduct, 380 Brazilian Christian religious leaders filed an impeachment request against President Jair Bolsonaro for the crime of shirking his responsibilities. “Faced with the most serious public health crisis in the history of the country and the planet,…
The chairman of the US bishops’ pro-life and international policy committees said President Joe Biden’s memo rescinding the so-called ‘Mexico City policy’ January 28 is a “grievous” action that “actively promotes the destruction of human lives in developing nations”. “It is antithetical to reason, violates human dignity, and is incompatible with Catholic teaching. We and…
Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz said at a farewell Mass January 24 that the Church would remain a source of strength for Catholics in Belarus despite a change in leadership. The departing archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev also promised that he would remain an active bishop at the Cathedral of the Holy Name of Mary in the capital, Minsk.…
Indian Jesuit Fr Stan Swamy marked 100 days in prison with a letter highlighting the cases of poor people languishing in jail who begin their trials without even knowing their criminal charges. Ucanews.com reported on January 25 that in his letter to Jesuit colleagues, the 84-year-old priest also expressed gratitude for the “overwhelming” solidarity of…
Pontifical Academy for Life say no to ‘vaccine nationalism’ The Pontifical Academy for Life has stressed the importance of overcoming “vaccine nationalism” so that everyone can have the opportunity of being vaccinated and nobody is left behind in the fight against Covid-19. A statement from the Academy warns that “faced with the very serious problems…