The first sign that something was seriously threatening the unity of the Anglican Communion came on October 3, when, following the official announcement of Dame Sarah Mullally’s appointment as the next Archbishop of Canterbury – the first woman to hold the post in over 1,400 years – Laurent Mbanda, President of the Council of Primates…
Pope Leo’s election on May 8, 2025, coincided with the commemoration of the Blessed Martyrs of Algeria. Among them are the seven Trappist monks of Tibhirine, murdered in 1996, thirty years ago. Pope Leo will pay tribute to the 19 martyrs who were killed in this mostly Muslim nation. We reprint part of Luca Attanasio’s…
As Pope Leo XIV prepares for his first visit to the Church in Africa, I examine the key issues he is likely to encounter when he meets Catholic leaders in Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea from April 13 to 23. The pontiff has accepted the invitation from the government authorities and Church leaders of…
There is a special link between Ireland and Ethiopia, sealed, at the end of 2024, by a visit from a significant number of representatives from the Irish Bishops Conference, on a trip organised by Trócaire, their overseas aid agency. The delegation included Archbishop Dermot Farrell of Dublin, Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly SMA of Cashel and Emly,…
At the end of November in Nigeria at St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, in the north-central region: 303 students and 12 teachers were taken away by a group of armed men. Irish Sister Sr Mary Barron, Superior General of the Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles (OLA), the congregation that runs the schools where…
The images that continue to arrive from El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, Sudan, are horrific. Mass killings and indiscriminate violence against everyone, women, men and children alike, are the order of the day. For more than two and a half years now, amid deafening silence from the media and the international community, terrible news…
Mali is going through a very delicate period in its history. Assimi Goïta’s military junta, which came to power following the second coup in less than a year back in May 2021, has embarked on a path of total independence from France and the West in general, opting instead for alliances with its neighbours Burkina…
Conference marking the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si’ gathered climate specialists Lord of life, bless this water: may it awaken our hearts, purify our indifference, soothe our pains and renew our hope. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.” It began with a touching gesture of great symbolic value made by Pope Leo XIV the October 1–3…
The Irish and UK Catholic Church are stepping up their fight against climate change with an expanding array of initiatives that turn papal words into measurable action. Their commitment was on full display at the ‘Raising Hope for Climate Justice’ international conference, held in Castel Gandolfo just outside Rome from October 1–3 to mark the tenth anniversary…
They keep telling me that I have to be neutral about Gaza. Come with me to Gaza, talk to my people who have lost everything and then tell me that I must be neutral…” With these words, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, once again took a clear stance, reinforcing the Catholic Church’s opposition…