Sweet Treats Laura Anderson This week’s sweet treat is a timeless classic – its bright yellow colour makes it the perfect centrepiece for your table this Easter. If you’re tight on time the pastry can be made in advance and kept in the fridge for up to three days. Ingredients Makes one 23cm/9in tart.…
Dear Editor, Mary Kenny describes how there has been “some comment” about Pope Francis being “disinclined” to have his papal ring kissed (IC 28/3/2019). I have been absolutely appalled at the amount of attention given in the Catholic press to the supposed ‘scandal’ of this. A short video appeared online of the pope pulling his…
The Notebook Fr Bernard Healy The alarm on my phone goes off at 5.50 am. I drag myself out of bed and try to say a prayer. After all, it’s Lent! Washed and dressed, I head downstairs and meet two of my companions here in Rome’s Irish College: fellow priests, one Nigerian, another Irish.…
Peruvian authorities are investigating the death of British De La Salle Brother Bro. Paul McAuley, whose burned body was found April 2 in a home he founded for indigenous students in Iquitos, in the northeastern Amazonian region. In a statement issued the same day, Peru’s bishops called for authorities to clarify the events surrounding his…
Junno Arocho Esteves Critics of an agreement signed between the Vatican and the Chinese government must be patient and not quick to judge a deal that is meant to protect religious freedom, the Vatican Secretary of State has said. After addressing a symposium on religious freedom on April 3, Cardinal Pietro Parolin told journalists…
Junno Arocho Esteves In confession, the privacy of one’s conscience before God, also known as the internal forum, must always be protected and not be used to influence decisions outside the confessional, Pope Francis said. Departing from his prepared text in a speech to priests and seminarians attending an annual conference on the internal forum…
Dale Gavlak Jordan’s King Abdullah II urged greater co-operation to take on serious challenges worldwide as he was awarded a top Catholic peace prize by the Conventual Franciscans of the Sacred Convent of Assisi in central Italy. The annual award, known as the Lamp of Peace, recognises King Abdullah’s promotion of peace in the…
A Chilean appeals court has ruled in favour of three survivors of abuse by former priest Fernando Karadima and ordered the Catholic Church to pay damages. In a decision announced yesterday, the court ordered the Church to pay 100 million pesos (€4,594,271) for “moral damages” to each of the survivors: Juan Carlos Cruz, Jose Andres…
Hannah Brockhaus The ‘daily bread’ asked of God in the ‘Our Father’ is for everyone, and Christians will be judged by how well they shared their gifts with those in need, Pope Francis said yesterday. “Let’s get this in our heads: food is not private property, but providence to be shared with the grace…
I was born in 1945 at the end of World War II. As I grew up, I heard about the Holocaust. Descriptions of the greatest crime in history disturbed me deeply during my teenage and college years. I was ordained a priest in 1971. At that time, I suspected that references to the Devil were…