Bishops across Ireland have urged parishioners and clergy to draw young people to religious life in a hope of curbing ongoing priestly decline. In a series of homilies for the annual Chrism Mass, prelates warned that the shortage of priests in the country will soon lead to “significant change” in dioceses and called for a…
Pope Francis has said he was “very saddened” by the destruction of the Notre Dame Cathedral, but was grateful the bravery of shown in extinguishing the flames. While greeting a group of French pilgrims at the weekly general audience, the Pope expressed his “affection and closeness” to the people of France following the devastating April…
A prominent pro-life group has welcomed the Taoiseach’s admission that introducing exclusion zone legislation would restrict free speech. Responding to Sinn Féin TD Louise O’Reilly in the Dáil earlier this week on the issue of exclusion zones outside abortion facilities, the Taoiseach confirmed that the proposed new law was running into difficulties around issues to…
Tottenham Hotspur footballer Lucas Moura has praised God for his first hat-trick in Europe after defeating Huddersfield 4-0 over the weekend. The 26-year-old Brazilian player was the star of the match in the new Spurs stadium, after scoring three incredible goals against the opposing team. Speaking after the match, the footy whizz told Sky Sports:…
Working “fearlessly” for the restoration of “hope and good relations” must be done as well as praying for the healing of relationships the Catholic and CoI archbishops of Armagh have said. In a joint Easter message Archbishops Eamon Martin and Richard Clarke said that after the events of Good Friday the first disciples had a…
Before the crowd at an April 10 hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Senator Ted Cruz, displayed a billboard containing a tweet quoting St Teresa of Kolkata: “Abortion is profoundly anti-woman. Three quarters of its victims are women: half the babies and all the mothers.” Alongside the quote was a picture…
Letter from Rome Inés San Martín Acting as the interim replacement for a cardinal subpoenaed by civil prosecutors for alleged sex abuse cover-ups, and facing questions about his own record in responding to abuse charges, the new man in Santiago, Chile, says he’s got only one “pastoral proposal”, and it’s expressed in his motto…
Caoimhín De Barra explains how he not only taught himself Irish, but is raising his children through Irish in the US When I was in primary school, I hated Irish. Mostly, I hated it because I struggled at it so badly. Never in a million years did I imagine that I would one day…
A new website aims to make available to Catholics and researchers a collection of photographs of the Shroud of Turin by a scientific photographer who was part of a research project that spent more than 100 hours conducting tests on the shroud. The Shroud of Turin is a linen cloth 4.4m long by 1.1m, which shows the…
Rhina Guidos Whether it was deliberate or by accident, the Archdiocese of Washington announced on the 51st anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. the selection of its new leader, set to become its first black archbishop. Various news stories noted the date and a reporter asked Archbishop Wilton Gregory…