The Mexican bishops’ conference has called for calm and reflection after well-armed members of a drug cartel descended on the city of Culiacan and forced Mexican security forces to release the son of convicted cartel kingpin Joaquin Guzman Loera, known as ‘El Chapo’. In a statement, a day after the violence in Culiacan, capital of…
Humanitarian concerns are growing as people caught in the crosshairs of the Turkish incursion into northeastern Syria try to flee for safety, and groups are scrambling to aid them. “There are big concerns about what is going on in northeastern Syria with the Turkish military aerial assaults and ground operations,” Fr Emanuel Youkhana said by…
It was a dream come true for many Magherafelt fans at the weekend as the O’Donovan Rossa club won their first Derry senior final in 41 years. However, winning captain Danny Heavron had a powerful intercessor in Heaven who he turned to in the final moments of the tight clash with the Glen. “I was…
“Nones”, those who profess no religious affiliation, are now the largest subgroup in American society, their numbers having grown in the past decade while the percentage of Catholics in the US slipped over the past 10 years. In a Pew Research Centre ‘religious landscape’ report issued last week, nones have jumped from 17% of the…
Morocco’s king has pardoned a journalist, her fiance and the medical team who last month were found guilty of procuring and performing an abortion. The country’s penal code bars abortion except in cases when the mother’s life is endangered. Mohammed VI’s pardon was granted on October 16. Hajar Raissouni, 28, had been sentenced last month…
Northern bishops have sharply criticised nationalist politicians for their failure to stand up to prevent abortion being imposed on the region. The move – which took effect at midnight on Monday – came after a sitting of the assembly was unable to form an executive due to the failure of both Sinn Féin and the…
Catholic teachers in Ghana have joined the bishops’ conference and Muslim organisations in urging the government to withdraw a sex education program from the national school curriculum. The “unlimited scope and span” of the comprehensive program, launched this year by the government and UNESCO, “would create room for anything to be introduced…by interested groups or…
The Education of an Idealist Samantha Power (William Collins, £20/€25) Felix M. Larkin Samantha Power knows how to tell a story well, and what a story she has to tell in this autobiography. Born in London in 1970 to Irish parents – a dentist and a medical doctor – and raised in Ireland until she…
Vocation crisis caused by lack of holiness not celibacy – bishop A bishop in Brazil who is a member of the Amazon synod has said he believes a major obstacle to increasing priestly vocations in the region is a lack of personal holiness among the ordained, rather than the discipline of celibacy. Bishop Wellington de Queiroz…
Your Faith in Our Schools About 170 Catholic school principals from across Northern Ireland enjoyed a conference in which they could share their “common vision and values” and hear advice on mental health and wellbeing as well as modern Faith-based education. The Catholic Principals Association (CPA) conference began with a prayer and a tribute to…