In April of this year Parish Cells of Evangelisation received permanent recognition from the Pontifical Council for the Laity. To bestow this recognition Pope Francis issued an invitation to all cell people from around the world to meet with him in the Vatican earlier this month. Over 5,000 people from all over the world, 124…

For nine Mondays and Tuesdays, starting on Monday, September 28 in St Senan’s Church Kilrush and on Tuesday, September 29 in SS John & Paul Church Shannon, people will gather each week at the Shrine of Matt Talbot, to pray and intercede for people suffering or sharing in the life of addictions. Now in its…

The Askeaton/Ballysteen Parish Pastoral Council in Co. Limerick is hosting a film festival to run over four consecutive Wednesday nights.  Films by their nature can be informative, uplifting and reflective and with this in mind the parish group has chosen to show four films with various life themes: The Way, The Mission, Amazing Grace and…

The European Union “was born to knock down walls, not to build them” according to Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, criticising Hungary’s erection of a border fence to regulate the movements of asylum seekers.  “If you stop the flow in that direction, we have to pose the problem of how to respond to the urge…

Christian efforts to ensure that Nepal’s new constitution would confirm the state’s secular nature have been successful after the country’s constituent assembly rejected proposals to introduce an article identifying Nepal as a “Hindu religious country” into the constitution.  The new constitution was approved on September 16 and came into effect on September 20, replacing an…

The Church in Nigeria has praised the decision to recall 3,032 soldiers dismissed by the previous military authorities. Msgr Gabriel Osu, Director of Social Communications in the Archdiocese of Lagos, described the army’s decision as “a morale booster that would encourage troops fighting the insurgents in the northeastern part of the country to do their…

Pope Francis has picked Bro. Guy Consolmagno SJ as the new director of the Vatican Observatory. A planetary scientist who has studied meteorites and asteroids with the observatory since 1993, Bro. Consolmagno studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and lectured there and at Harvard College Observatory before joining the Jesuit order in 1989.  In…

Tegucigalpa’s Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga has said his homeland of Honduras is full of hate and needs to change, because “the future of the world is not found in a life without God and without the reference to the values of the Gospel”.  “We cannot go on like this,” said the cardinal, adding, “hate…

English and French Church leaders along with 2000 supporters from across western Europe took part in a ‘Refugee Welcome’ day of action at Calais' refugee camp on Saturday, September 19.  Southwark’s Archbishop Peter Smith and Dr Jean-Paul Jaegar, Bishop of Arras, were joined by the Church of England Bishop of Dover, Trevor Wilmott at the…

Syrian doctor cautions of the West getting used to attrocities People in the West are in danger of taking for granted atrocities committed in Syria, according to the Marist brother who is director of one of Aleppo’s two remaining hospitals. “We think that the repetition of the denunciation of the crimes committed and the suffering of Syrians risks becoming insignificant,” said Dr Nabil Antaki,…