Pope’s meeting with Sanders wasn’t endorsement Pope Francis has dismissed suggestions that he has somehow endorsed US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders by meeting with him in the Vatican. The Vermont senator was in the Vatican to participate in the ‘Centesimus Annus’ Conference on Catholic Social Teaching and had stayed the night at Casa Santa Marta, where the Pope lives. Speaking…
Relatives carry the coffin of a relative on a vehicle in Pedernales, Ecuador, after an earthquake struck on April 16 off the country’s Pacific coast. At least 413 people died, nearly 3,000 were injured and thousands were left homeless in the magnitude-7.8 earthquake. original photo: CNS
Dear Editor, I write to express my concern and disappointment in relation to question 11 of the census 2016 form which classifies people according to their colour i.e. ‘white’ and ‘black/coloured’ or ‘geal’ or ‘gorm’. There is only one human race and any attempt to imply that there are two or more races is false…
Dear Editor, Though less informed on the Pope’s latest document Amoris Laetitia, I think David Quinn is correct in referring to the Pope’s challenge for Church leaders to implement a “positive and prudent sex education” programme to be imparted to children and adolescents (IC 14/04/2016). Only days ago, I heard a ‘run of the mill’…
Dear Editor, The 10 Commandments are a list of religious and moral rules that were given to us by God through Moses. If you look up the term ‘commandment’ in the dictionary you will find “a rule or instruction to be observed as strictly as one of the 10 Commandments”. The commandments that God gave…
Dear Editor, At a time when the role of third level chaplains is being questioned (IC 14/04/2016 ‘Mass attendance a crude measure of chaplaincy support services’) perhaps it is time to look again at clergy deployment priorities. The question I would ask is, why are some parishes being deprived of their full-time priest and yet…
Dear Editor, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin is rightly concerned about the “lazy narrative” on the Catholic Church from the main Irish media outlets, particularly RTÉ (IC 07/04/2016). However, this goes much further than a “lazy narrative”. It is now an all-out assault, not just on Catholic/Christian values, but on the very mention of God. For example…
Dear Editor, It is my opinion that a baby in the womb should be fully protected by legal safeguards provided by our Constitution. I cannot reconcile myself with the pro-choice lobby that abortion can be seen as a sensitive intervention in cases of fatal foetal abnormality. When these situations arise perinatal hospice care is the…
Dear Editor, I notice that, while The Irish Catholic is now featuring a great number of advertisements, the Letters Page is more frequently missing. Do you plan to restore the Letters Page? I can assure you that it is very popular – and much missed by your readers. Yours faithfully, Isabella Corr, Greyabbey, Co. Down
Dear Editor, Great prominence and praise is rightly given by the media to Pope Francis’ visit and care to refugees in Lesbos. Our Irish bishops could be more supportive of the leadership of the Holy Father in this vast humanitarian crisis. I wrote to the hierarchy some weeks ago suggesting that vacant religious convents and centres could…