Google has admitted that it “blacklisted” a significant number of videos on YouTube ahead of last year’s abortion referendum, and interfered with search results. This newspaper was also directly affected by the interference. Voters who searched for certain terms had the results of their searches manually altered by Google, ensuring that videos chosen by the…
A court fight over an attempted forced abortion shows need for better laws
Last week, a British appeals court ruled a mentally incapacitated woman would not be forced to have an abortion against her will, overturning the decision made by the country’s Court of Protection. The original decision was met with shock by the country’s Catholic Church and pro-life organisations. Although little is known about the woman’s circumstances, it…
Boosting lay leadership ‘especially important’ for new priests
Encouraging lay leadership will be a key task for tomorrow’s clergy, Bishop Larry Duffy has said. Speaking at the ordination of Fr Kevin Connolly in St Macartan’s Cathedral, Monaghan, Bishop Duffy said that as a priest Fr Connolly would be called to spend time with Jesus, pondering his life and message and celebrating his presence…
Slow down on fast fashion
Vintage clothes offer a solution to our ecological and fashion crisis, writes Madison Duddy In today’s world, fashion is one the largest polluting industries in the world. With severe ecological damage caused from ink that contaminates local streams to the unrecyclable plastic that ends up in the ocean or a landfill, dealing the fashion…
Congo prelates urge citizens to unite against ‘armed groups’
Congo’s bishops said territory in the east of the country is being ceded to violent extremists, who are using the lack of government control to massacre civilians and plunder resources. “We do not understand why the Democratic Republic of Congo’s armed forces, backed by the United Nations Stabilisation Mission, have not managed to neutralise these…
Ambition’s fall from grace
Frenzy and Betrayal. The Anatomy of a Political Assassination by Alan Shatter (Merrion Press, €19.95) Joe Carroll Alan Shatter has had to wait five years to give his version of his political downfall in May 2014 and the long ordeal of having his name cleared by two commissions of enquiry and finally the Supreme Court.…
Archbishop Sheen’s sainthood cause resumes
Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s remains have been transferred from the Archdiocese of New York to Peoria, Illinois, after three years of litigation, clearing the way for the former archbishop’s sainthood cause to go forward. Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria announced that Sheen’s remains had been transferred from St Patrick Cathedral, New York, to the Cathedral…
Evangelisation ‘vital’ in today’s busy world, says bishop
In a world that is becoming ever “busier”, books provide a gateway to evangelisation, Ossory’s Bishop Dermot Farrell has said. His comments come after he was appointed as chair of Ireland’s leading religious publisher and retailer Veritas. “It is good to be working [with] everyone at Veritas who for the past 120 years have been,…
Bringing Jesus onto the streets
Under persistent heavy rain and a grey overcast sky, the annual Corpus Christi Procession assembled after the 2.00pm Polish Mass, at St Conleth’s Parish Church, Kildare, to make its way down to St Eustace’s Dominican Grounds for Solemn open-air Benediction. Nothing deterred the enthusiastic participation of the congregation. Under an exquisitely embroidered antique canopy provided…
Security of Iraqi Christians still lacking
The security of Christians in Northern Iraq remains “tenuous” and will require close attention in the future, the US State Department’s religious freedom ambassador has told members of Congress. While the situation is “far better in Northern Iraq right now” for Yazidis and Christians, who in 2016 were recognised by the State Department as genocide…










