The Vatican is unlikely to invite Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to participate at a key summit on abuse due to be held in the New Year, one of the organisers has indicated. Pope Francis has called the heads of bishops’ conference from around the world – including Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin – to Rome in…
Aggressive nationalism is to blame for a rise in violence and other intimidation against religious minorities – and the West is failing to convert words of concern into action, according to a report by the charity Aid to the Church in Need. Assessing all 196 countries around the globe, the Religious Freedom in the World…
It is essential for the doctors of today to fight for the rights of the doctors of tomorrow, writes Dr Keith Holmes Several generations past in Ireland, the vast majority of doctors were Catholics who came from Catholic families; if, as students, they wished to go to Trinity College, then various ecclesiastical permissions had…
The International Union of Superiors General has called on women religious who have suffered abuse to come forward and report it to their congregations and Church and state authorities. “If the UISG receives a report of abuse, we will be a listening presence and help the person to have the courage to bring the complaint…
Advent is an ideal time to remember why we have the Faith we do, writes Tony Foy Did you ever think that we would get to the stage that Ireland needs missionaries? We all celebrate Christmas but somehow, recently, we have forgotten why. I am the Director of a Catholic mission of young people…
Abuse in the home is a reality that must be faced and it is happening in our communities, writes Sr Fiona Pryle After the murder of Garda Tony Golden in Omeath, Co. Louth in October 2015, it was widely reported in the media that he lost his life keeping the peace. The reality is…
The star that guided the Magi guides us today, writes Paula Freney In my family, the Christmas season always began with the crib being taken down from the attic, out of its cardboard box, and placed on the mantlepiece in our front room. It was bought before my parents’ first Christmas together, a small,…
A Kenyan priest serving in Cameroon has been shot and killed by soldiers. Fr Cosmas Omboto Ondari was shot dead in Manyu, Cameroon, just days after the murder of another Kenyan priest, Jesuit Fr Victor-Luke Odhiambo, in South Sudan. According to the St Joseph Missionary Society Mill Hill Missionary’s Formation Centre in Cameroon, Fr Ondari,…
The Pope has raised the stakes for February’s Church summit on abuse, writes Christopher White In the Oscar-winning film Spotlight, which chronicled the Boston Globe’s devastating reporting on the first wave of the clerical sex abuse crisis in the US, one of the reporters remarks that “the Catholic Church thinks in centuries”. When Cardinal…
An effort by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece to start severing ties between the state and the Greek Orthodox Church, including taking priests off civil service payrolls, has opened up divisions within the church which has played a dominant role in the country’s life for centuries. Mr Tsipras and the head of the Orthodox…