Chai Brady and Ruadhan Jones There have been calls for a Derry-born nun who died while ministering to orphans in an earthquake in Ecuador,to be put on the path to sainthood. Sr Clare Crockett (33) was killed as she tried to lead schoolchildren to safety when the earthquake struck the Plays Prieta area of northwest…
The former head of the Vatican’s finances, who spent 405 days in jail before the quashing of his child sexual abuse convictions, has said that “God-fearers” were better able to deal with evil and suffering than atheists. In an Easter message Cardinal George Pell, 78, said he knew that God was with him throughout his…
Bishop Gary Gordon of Victoria, British Columbia said the priest who volunteered to remain with inmates has a deep and long commitment to prison ministry. The Bishop said, for privacy reasons, he would not reveal the name or location of the priest in question. “He offered to go there and live in the institution 24-7,”…
World-renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli performed to an empty Duomo in the heart of Milan in Italy, in an event live-streamed to the world from one of the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis on Easter Sunday. Across the globe people tuned in to witness the concert which was streamed live via YouTube and now has…
Covid-19 has achieved in a few short weeks what colonial powers and cultural Marxists couldn’t achieve for the last 1,600 years writes Dr Michael Kinsella There is a violence to the virulence of Covid-19. Its capacity to wreak financial and societal upheaval is now well-established in the Western world where we, alas, all too…
On Easter Sunday, people started to gather – observing physical distancing – outside the locked doors of Holy Cross Church in Dundrum, south Dublin. The streets were eerily quiet, and people nodded and exchanged warm smiles from a distance. As the clock struck 2pm, the doors of the 19th Century church swing open and Fr…
A missionary priest has expressed his “joy” and “surprise” after a video was released showing that his brother, who was kidnapped in 2018, is still alive. Fr Walter Maccalli was relieved after discovering the news from watching a 23-second video showing his sibling, Fr Pierluigi Maccalli, and another man last week. The priest told Catholic…
The call to stay home and save lives is also an inner call, write Declan Marmion and Ann Guinee Covid-19 has disrupted our lifestyles, our work, and our way of communicating with each other. The initial impulse to stockpile, whether it was toilet paper or hand sanitiser, was a balm of sorts. Happily, that…
The Church in Tanzania is keeping its doors open while the rest of world closes places of worship to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Thousands of people are turning up for public Masses after a presidential directive stated churches and mosques could remain open so people could seek refuge, according to Church sources. Other…
Letter from Rome Christopher White On the same day that Pope Francis was elected in 2013, the head of the World Council of Churches (WCC) was meeting with colleagues discussing how to “develop a wholeness in our ecumenical work” when he offered the example of Francis of Assisi. “He [Francis of Assisi] is a…