The Catholics attending Mass at St Francis Xavier Church on Pentecost did not know how much it would cost to participate in the suffering of Jesus, said Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of Oyo. “How much do we understand when he says to us, ‘The time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is…
As Russia’s war in Ukraine drags on and joint funerals are held for the soldiers who died, Catholic military chaplains say they still see faith, hope and humanity in the soldiers with whom they minister. “It is a very special vocation to be a man of God among those who are called to defend, to…
An immediate scaling up of aid is now the only hope to avoid starvation for hundreds of thousands of people, writes Liam Fitzpatrick Forty-eight seconds. In the time it takes to brew a cup of coffee, one person in the Horn of Africa is likely dying of hunger in one of the most severe humanitarian…
Bishop Fintan Gavin visited Upper Mayfield parish, Cork, as it marked the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Church of Our Lady Crowned, June 11 and 12. Bishop Gavin celebrated all three Masses, including the intentions of the parish community, all those who received the sacraments over the years, the benefactors both living, and…
The UK government announced June 16 that it is imposing sanctions on the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office said in a June 16 statement that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia was being “sanctioned for his support and endorsement of Putin’s war”. The announcement came after European Union member states failed…
Italian bishops ease pandemic restrictions Italy’s bishops updated their pandemic prevention guidelines, easing many restrictions as new cases of Covid-19 continue to decrease after large spikes in January and February and as the severity of the disease diminishes. In a statement released June 15, the leadership of the Italian bishops’ conference said that, since the…
Jason Osborne and Ruadhán Jones Faithful from across the 26 dioceses gathered in Athlone Saturday as the Church in Ireland convened for the national pre-synodal assembly. The purpose of the meeting was to move towards developing the final national synthesis that represents the results of the listening and discernment of the Faithful during the first…
NASA to recruit scientists for UFO hunt NASA is officially joining the hunt for UFOs. The US space agency has announced a new study that will recruit leading scientists to examine unidentified aerial phenomena – a subject that has long fascinated the public and recently gained high-level attention from Congress in the US. The project…
Donations to the annual Peter’s Pence collection, which supports the work of the Roman Curia and funds the charitable activity of the Pope, held steady in 2021, but the total still was significantly lower than in 2018, the Vatican said. Peter’s Pence donations and income from investments totalled €46.9 million in 2021, while the expenses…
Thomas Morrissey SJ The Rise and Fall of Christian Ireland by Crawford Gribben (Oxford University Press, £25.00/€29.00) The author has produced a readable and impressive work of scholarship and organisation, which endeavours to trace the rise and fall of religion in Ireland from 8,000BC to the present day. The advent and progress of Christianity is presented…