Staff Reporter Irish American philanthropist and billionaire Chuck Feeney is a key funder for the ‘yes’ campaign on same-sex marriage, it has been revealed. Feeney’s Atlantic Philanthropies have committed $475,000 (€443,612) to Marriage Equality Ltd, the main group dealing specifically with the issue, according to reports. In addition to funding Marriage Equality, Atlantic has funded…

ISIS has released a video apparently depicting the murder of 30 Ethiopian Christians in Libya.  The 29-minute video, titled ‘Until There Came to Them Clear Evidence’, shows 15 Christians being beheaded by masked militants, with a further 15 being shot. One group appears to have been killed on a beach in eastern Libya, the other…

Syria’s crisis is not a civil crisis, but is “a world war on Syrian territory”, according to Archbishop Jean-Abdo Arbach, the Melkite Greek-Catholic Archbishop of Homs, Hama and Yabrud. Interviewed at a conference on the Christian East and the Arab World, Archbishop Arbach said “the whole of the Middle East is in flames” and that…

The leader of the Church in Malta has encouraged a priest to continue his pastoral outreach to gay people, and been assured that the priest would follow Church practice and discipline in his ministry. Fr Mark Montebello OP was summoned to meet with Archbishop Charles Scicluna, a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of…

Canadian cities must end their tradition of saying prayers during council meetings, according to Canada’s supreme court. The ruling ends an eight-year legal battle that began when atheist Alain Simoneau and the Quebec Lay Movement lodged a complaint against Jean Tremblay, mayor of the Quebec city of Saguenay, claiming that the tradition of praying at…

Pope Francis prays in front of the coffin of Cardinal Roberto Tucci during his funeral Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on April 17. Cardinal Tucci, best known for having managed the travel logistics of Pope St. John Paul II, died April 14 in Rome at the age of 93. (CNS photo/Tony Gentile, Reuters)

The last the people of Kenya will do in the face of terrorist threats “would be to give up, to give up on ourselves, on anything” according to Nakuru’s Bishop Maurice Muhatia Makumba. Speaking in the aftermath of the massacre of 148 Christians at Garissa university, Dr Makumba said that while the atrocity was “very,…

Accountability on the agenda as Boston bishop opens dialogue with C9 Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley has spoken to Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinal Advisers about accountability for bishops who mishandle cases of clerical abuse, according to Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi. Explaining that there had not been a formal presentation on the issue, Fr Lombardi…

St Colman’s Society for Catholic Liturgy is hosting the Fota VIII International Liturgy Conference in Cork from July 4-6 on the subject of the priesthood of the baptised, entitled ‘A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation: Aspects of the Priesthood of Baptism’. The conference speakers over the weekend include Prof. Dieter  Böhler, from Germany…

Cork Scripture Group has celebrated its second graduation with 19 graduates from the parishes of Ballingeary, Bandon, Bantry, Drimoleague/Drinagh, Dunmanway, Kilbrittain, Newcestown, Schull and Timoleague completing the two year Diocesan Certificate in Biblical Studies. The group received diocesan certificates signed by Bishop John Buckley of Cork and Ross, who was unable to attend, but sent…