Pope Francis has expressed his grief for the loss of life caused by the sinking of a ferry in the Tigris River near the Iraqi city of Mosul. In a telegramme signed on his behalf by Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Pope said he is deeply saddened to learn of the accident and expressed his prayerful…
Only faith can speak in the darkness of immense tragedy, Archbishop Eamon Martin has told the requiem Mass of Morgan Bernard this morning (Friday). Morgan (17), Lauren Bullock (17) and Connor Currie (16) died outside a St Patrick’s Day event at the Greenvale Hotel in Cookstown following a crush. The tragedy, Archbishop Eamon told mourners, remind us…
Jonathan Luxmoore A close aide to St John Paul II has vigorously defended the late Pope’s handling of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and denied accusations that he ignored the problem during his 27-year pontificate. “Emerging opinions that John Paul II was sluggish in guiding the Church’s response to sexual abuse of minors by…
A pro-life group in Dublin’s Trinity College has criticised the visit of former Planned Parenthood Federation President, Cecile Richards, after she was invited to the university to receive an award for her pro-choice activism. Ms Richards was invited by the Philosophical Society to speak on campus and receive their Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage on…
Letter from America Elise Harris Catholicism’s ongoing clerical abuse scandals have provoked wide reactions, not the least of which has been a push both within the Church and from outside it for tough norms and policies to provide accountability for both the crime and the cover-up. However, according to a leading member of a…
Church agencies have rallied together to help more than half-a-million people in dire need after a cyclone hit Southern Africa last week. It’s estimated that at least 1,000 people have died in Cyclone Idai which hit Mozambique on March 15, making landfall near the port city of Beira on Thursday with winds of up to…
Michael Otto New Zealand’s Catholic bishops expressed horror and distress at a terrorist attack in two mosques in Christchurch that saw at least 49 people killed. The shootings took place at or near the Al Noor Mosque, where 41 people were killed, and at the Linwood Mosque, where seven were killed. One more person…
New Zealand’s Catholic bishops have expressed horror and distress at a terrorist attack in two mosques in Christchurch that saw at least 50 people killed. The shootings took place at or near the Al Noor Mosque, where 41 people were killed, and at the Linwood Mosque, where seven were killed. One more person subsequently died…
Forgetful Remembrance: Social Forgetting and Vernacular Historiography of a Rebellion in Ulster by Guy Beiner (Oxford University Press, £35.00) Ian d’Alton Troublesome memories, or memories of troubles? This fascinating book is about memory, and how the contemporary inevitably colours perceptions of the past. In that context, pinning down memory is always aiming at a moving…
Faith isn’t a matter of praying for victory, Wales’s defence coach told a gathering of Catholics ahead of the Welsh rugby team’s 25-7 trouncing of Ireland last weekend. Speaking on ‘Faith in a Competitive World’ to over 120 people near Cardiff’s St David’s Cathedral, lifelong Catholic Shaun Edwards said that as a boy he had…