Ongoing discussions around the so-called ‘baptism barrier’ and the role of religion in schools are distracting from the main challenges facing primary education in Ireland, the head of the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association has said. Maintaining that “the real issue in Irish education is around a lack of resources”, CPSMA head Seamus Mulconry told…
Pro-lifers should take advantage of Ireland’s political ethics laws in order to ensure the referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment is conducted fairly, a cross-denominational group of Christian leaders has said. ‘Is God for the 8th?’, a pamphlet signed by 120 Christian leaders from throughout Ireland, highlights how key organisations in the campaign to repeal…
A major gathering in the Vatican has attempted to allow the Church to hear the concerns of today’s young people, writes Greg Daly “Finally, the Church in Rome has decided to give us a platform; they decided to give us a listening ear,” thought Nigeria’s Vincent Paul Nneji when he was invited to take…
In some ways, the Vatican’s speedy disavowal of reports ahead of Easter that Pope Francis had told the elderly Italian journalist Eugenio Scalfari Hell does not exist could not have been clearer. “The Holy Father Francis recently received the founder of the newspaper La Repubblica in a private meeting on the occasion of Easter, without…
Leading child protection campaigner Marie Collins has dismissed reports that she has not been invited to meet Pope Francis during his visit to Ireland this August. The Irish Independent reported the claim on Saturday in an article titled ‘Clerical abuse survivor not invited to meet Pope’. The article added that Mrs Collins had called on…
The bodily resurrection of Jesus was central to Christian faith from the very beginning, writes Greg Daly “The resurrection of Jesus is fundamental to our Faith, but that does not mean it happened exactly as it is described in the various biblical accounts,” wrote Fr Tony Flannery on his blog almost exactly a year…
BREAKING NEWS Pope Francis has confirmed that he is to visit Ireland this August. Speaking at his general audience today, the Pope stated that he will visit Ireland for the World Meeting of Families, being held in Dublin over August 21-26, culminating in a ‘Festival of Families’ and a closing Mass to be held in…
Padre Pio lived a life of prayer and suffering, writes Greg Daly Padre Pio was a priest with a worldwide following, Pope Paul VI told a gathering of Capuchin Chapter Fathers in 1971, not because he was a philosopher or especially wise or blessed with extensive resources he could use. “No,” he said, his…
Padre Pio was far from the only saint to have borne stigmata, writes Greg Daly “God,” Pope Francis reminds us in Amoris Laetitia, “allows parents to choose the name by which he himself will call their child for all eternity.” For all that we think of St Pio of Pietrelcina by his religious name…
A new booklet mapping out the basics of Catholic social teaching is intended to introduce older teenagers to the Church’s tradition of thought around major questions questions facing the world in our time, Down and Connor’s Bishop Noel Treanor has said. ‘Wellspring of Your Future: The Social Teaching of the Church’ has been distributed as…