Scottish bishop investigated over plagiarism allegations The Pontifical Gregorian University has said it will review the doctoral dissertation of Scotland’s Bishop Stephen Robson, which is alleged to contain several acts of plagiarism. The institution’s “academic authorities have decided to proceed to a careful review of the dissertation in question, in accordance with what is established…
The Vatican has insisted that Pope emeritus Benedict XVI did not authorise his name to be given as the co-author of a new book along with Cardinal Robert Sarah on the topic of priestly celibacy. The book – published in French yesterday – gave the impression that Benedict wrote the defence of priestly celibacy along…
The president of Brazil’s Supreme Court has issued an order that allows streaming service Netflix to continue exhibiting a satirical film depicting Jesus as a gay man and reaffirmed Brazilians’ right to free speech. “It is not to be assumed that a humorous satire has the magic power to undermine the values of the Christian…
Voters are being asked to let the Assembly resume while major changes have been already wrought in the North without their agreement, writes Pól Ó Muirí Nothing happens and then everything happens. After a three-year hiatus, Northern Ireland’s regional assembly is back. It had become a running, and sour joke, amongst many that members…
Catholics in India are seeking to erect the nation’s tallest statue of Jesus, over objections by Hindi groups who say one of their gods lives on the hill designated for the project. Work began earlier this month on the statue, planned to be nearly 100 feet tall, on 10 acres of land owned by the…
A five-year-old British girl, whose parents won a legal battle to take her to Italy for medical treatment, has been moved out of intensive care, and into a rehabilitative unit for children with incurable illnesses. Tafida Raqeeb was transferred to the Galini Children’s Hospital in Genoa from the Royal London Hospital, where she had been…
Have we lost the belief in prayer and the power of God to be active in our world and in our Church, asks Fr John Harris OP On the morning of May 26, 2018 I sat in our Dominican church in Newbridge not wanting to open the church for the 8am Mass. Not one box…
Spanish Church leaders have voiced concern for their country’s future after the government pledged to legalise euthanasia, secularise education and strip the Church of “improper assets”. “Spain faces a critical situation, a true emergency for our future,” Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera of Valencia told Catholics in a pastoral letter. He asked that special prayers and…
Recommendations given to Health Minister Simon Harris calling for ‘safe access zones’ which would make it illegal to hold vigils outside places that provide abortion have been dubbed “absurd” by the Life Institute. Director of the institute, Niamh Uí Bhriain said the Irish Council for Civil Liberties position on safe access zones is “nonsensical”. “The…
Homo Lapsus: Sin Evolution and the God who is Love by Niamh Middleton(Deep River Books, $US14.99; available through Amazon UK, £11.53) Fr Joseph McCann CM Darwin’s evolution poses the most powerful challenge to belief in God and Creation and Salvation. Evolution explains human existence as a scientifically determined process, so there is no…