Religious and lay people have expressed concern and outrage following an alleged letter from the HSE which bans priests from easily identifying Catholic patients in hospitals. According to Fr Michael Toomey of Clonmel’s Ss Peter’s and Pauls, priests and clergy will no longer be provided with a list of parishioners who are in-patients in South…
French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, archbishop of Lyon, was found guilty today of failing to report to authorities the alleged sexual abuse of a priest in his diocese. He was given a six-month suspended prison sentence. French tribunal president Brigitte Vernay declared Cdl. Barbarin guilty on March 7 “of non-denunciation of ill-treatment” of a minor. Cdl.…
A well-known Irish nun has received a renowned international award for her work in empowering young women in the one of the world’s most volatile countries. Wicklow-born Sr Orla Treacy, of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as the Loreto Sisters, has received the “International Women of Courage Award” for her outreach…
Northern Catholics speak out against ‘no deal’ Brexit Greg Daly, Chai Brady and Colm Fitzpatrick Prominent Northern Catholics have warned that a ‘no deal’ Brexit would be a disaster and insisted that uncertainty around Britain’s exit from the European Union is increasing pressure for a referendum on a united Ireland. Their comments come as former Unionist leader David Trimble…
Northern Catholics respond to David Trimble and Kate Hoey Fr Joe McVeigh “We want the Irish government to pursue the whole thing about the border poll which is part of the Good Friday Agreement and Trimble was one of the people who negotiated that and accepted that.” “…The whole momentum is going towards Irish…
The View Martin Mansergh We live in a world where moral authority often seems to be scarce or diminished, and largely unheeded. One or two issues can dominate and distract attention from others. While practical considerations are always important, the ethical dimension has also to be weighed in the balance. It is paradoxical that…
Declaring that the Catholic Church is unafraid of history, Pope Francis announced that documents in the Vatican Secret Archives relating to the wartime pontificate of Pope Pius XII will be open to scholars in 2020. Researchers, particularly those interested in Catholic-Jewish relations, have pressed the Vatican to open the archives and allow a full study…
Christopher White A new report by one of the nation’s leading organisations promoting best practices in leadership within the Catholic Church chronicles the “twin crises” within the Catholic Church, that of sexual abuse and its cover-up. The report, released on Friday by Leadership Roundtable, comes just days after Pope Francis’s historic meeting with the…
South Sudan’s peace deal is fatally flawed, the country’s bishops said as they committed the Church to helping forge new negotiations. They also recommended a series of measures to end the conflict. “We urge all stakeholders and friends of South Sudan to collaborate to seek a new model” for peace, the bishops said in a…
The Missouri House of Representatives has passed the Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act, an omnibus bill that bans abortion when the heartbeat of an unborn child can be detected, which could be as early as six weeks “depending on the method used”. The measure, also limits late-term abortions after five months of pregnancy; declares…