“It appears as if the Taoiseach has forgotten his own words that ‘Israel’s violations of human rights are contravening international law’,” said the Priests Against Genocide IRL-UK group (PAG) to The Irish Catholic following their open letter to the Taoiseach, Tanaiste and Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) Governor. The letter addressed Ireland’s role in enabling…
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on July 29 that debate around the introduction of assisted suicide should be put on hold until palliative and social care programs in the country are properly funded. “I take the view that that debate – and I don’t say that there shouldn’t be a debate at some point…
The Diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta offered emergency resources to civil authorities July 31 as more than 60,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, straining local infrastructure. In a statement published July 30, the diocese said it was deeply concerned “over the severity of events and the particular vulnerability of so…
The US Catholic bishops are getting ready a nationwide call to prayer and action, with an official launch date of August 18, to mobilise Catholics to address the rising abortion rate and the increased availability of an abortion-inducing drug. “Every abortion involves the death of a child and harm to the mother. Now with easier…
A Catholic-supported hospital in Gaza City sustained damage after an Israeli airstrike hit a nearby residential apartment late July 29, according to the Catholic Near East Welfare Association’s Pontifical Mission in Lebanon and Syria. The blast shattered windows and doors at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital and damaged an elevator serving its diagnostic center, though the hospital…
A question asking, “is your current gender different from that assigned to you at birth?” on forms for blood donors could risk turning potential donors away because they fundamentally disagree with the question, said Michael Aherne on the Grásta Podcast with Bishop Phonsie Cullinan. In a July 25 episode of the podcast, presented by the…
An Irish priest ministering at St Stephen’s Church in Boston has called on Irish to remember their history of emigration as hostility towards immigrants becomes more prevalent around the US and Ireland. Fr David Costello of Co. Limerick said he has observed anti-immigration hate in Boston amid Trump’s US immigration crackdown, and has observed from…
Senator Sarah O’Reilly’s journey to the Seanad was unexpected and accidental, she says. The first Aontú representative to be elected to the Seanad explained in an interview with The Irish Catholic that she doesn’t think of herself as a “career politician”. Recalling her life as a single mom with four kids on social welfare in…
A burial controversy involving a Dalit man in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state has brought the plight of the country’s Dalit population into sharp focus, with the local Catholic bishop involving civil authorities to resolve the dispute. Fr Devasagayaraj Zackarias, national secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India’s Office for Scheduled Castes and Backward…
Pope Leo XIV renewed his appeal for peace in the Middle East on July 26, after a week that saw deadly Israeli settler violence in the West Bank, Israeli military strikes in Gaza, and intensified US operations against Iran. The pope’s new appeal came in remarks following the Angelus prayer on Sunday at the papal…