A Belarusian archbishop who has been denied entry back into his own country said the Vatican was doing everything in its power to resolve the situation and help him return. To live in “forced exile” is difficult, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk told SIR, the news agency of the Italian bishops’ conference. “I can only live in…
The Lonely Century. Coming together in a world that’s pulling apart by Noreena Hertz (Sceptre, £20.00) Frank Litton It is no surprise that soap operas are a staple of television. After all, we make sense of where we are and where we might go with the ‘story’ of our lives. We find ourselves cast into roles…
Everything must be done to make sure that schools in the North reopen next week to avoid “repercussions for years to come” according to the Chief Executive of the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCSM). Writing in The Irish News, Gerry Campbell said the CCSM is “extremely concerned” about the immediate impact on young people…
A Catholic Church labour group in the Philippines has accused lawmakers of ignoring the poor, as well as the health and labour sectors with its budget for 2021 by not allocating a “sufficient amount” to cushion the effect of the coronavirus on hard-hit Filipinos. The Church People-Solidarity Group, an organisation composed of clergymen and churchgoers…
Catholic bishops in Congo are calling for a special international criminal court to try people suspected of mass killings and human rights abuses in the African country, where thousands of women and girls have been raped by armed men. The bishops made the call in a statement released October 19 after their plenary meeting in the capital,…
Pope names new archbishop of Lyon after resignation of Cardinal Barbarin Pope Francis has named Bishop Olivier de Germay of Ajaccio, Corsica, to be the new archbishop of Lyon, France, succeeding a cardinal whose conviction on charges of failing to report clerical sex abuse was overturned. Cardinal Philippe Barbarin’s conviction was overturned in January, but…
Sir Cliff Richard said his faith sustained him after being “in a pit” of despair following a claim in 2014 of historical sexual assault. Sir Cliff appeared on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories and opened up on the devastation caused by the incident, recalling how he was left crumpled and sobbing on the kitchen floor. “I…
Dear Editor, I was dismayed to read that NPHET’s reason for their recommendation that public worship should not continue [during level 3 restrictions], accepted by our government, was to decrease contacts in areas that, as a society, are relatively speaking in the context of a pandemic, less important. As a Catholic, I most strongly disagree…
Catholic Coney Barrett sworn in as US Supreme Court justice US President Donald Trump has sworn in his latest nominee to the Supreme Court. The White House ceremony took place on Monday night after Amy Coney Barrett’s [pictured] nomination was approved by congress. She will be the 115th justice in US history and the fifth…
Evolution at work? Babies born without wisdom teeth More people are being born without wisdom teeth and an extra artery in their arm as a result of rapid evolution, according to scientists in Australia. Dr Teghan Lucas, of Flinders University in Adelaide, has discovered that people are undergoing a micro-evolution which allows evolutionary changes to…