Michael Kelly is an award-winning writer and broadcaster specialising in religious and social affairs. Born and raised in Northern Ireland, he attended the Pontifical University St Patrick’s College, Maynooth where he obtained degrees in philosophy and theology and the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome where he studied social institutional communications. From 2002-2005 he was an Editor in the Central Information Service of Vatican Radio. In this role, he travelled with Pope St John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI on overseas trips. In 2005, he returned to Dublin to take up the position of Deputy Editor with The Irish Catholic newspaper, succeeding as Editor in 2012. He is a regular contributor to programmes on RTÉ, BBC, UTV, CNN and Al Jazeera. He also have extensive experience offering media training and coaching in the voluntary sector. Mr Kelly is a weekly columnist with Ireland’s largest-selling secular newspaper the Irish Independent and has been published in The Irish Times, the Irish Examiner, The Irish News, The Guardian, Our Sunday Visitor, Catholic World Report, the National Catholic Reporter and the National Catholic Register. He writes from Ireland for Catholic News Service of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Micheal finished his stint as Editor of The Irish Catholic in January 2024 and has taken up the position of Director of Public Affairs for Aid to the Church in Need Ireland.
The brave Catholics of Holy Family Parish turn to Jesus, Mary and Joseph this Christmas and always, writes Michael Kelly or the first time in three years, the Christians of Gaza decorated their Christmas trees with a cautious hope for more peaceful times. Hope is always tempered by caution in Gaza. They’ve been here before,…
‘We need to re-present the faith and be a renewed Church that goes out to meet people’ When Pope Leo XIV appointed Bishop Niall Coll as Bishop of Raphoe, it marked not just a homecoming, but the beginning of what he calls “a renewed sense of mission” for the Church in Donegal. Speaking of…
If you’re not free to practice your faith, all other rights evaporate too writes Michael Kelly In just four years, 2029, Ireland will mark the bicentenary of Catholic Emancipation. I write that more in hope than expectation, since the signals from official Ireland are not promising. When the Programme for Government was launched last year,…
The brave parish priest of Gaza continues to lead his tiny flock in faith and hope amid the suffering, writes Michael Kelly When the war in Gaza started following the deadly Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023, the tiny Christian community had a stark choice to make. Do they remain in their…
For almost 45 years, pilgrims have come in search of profound spiritual experience and a break from the mundane, writes Michael Kelly The name Medjugorje literally means ‘between mountains’. Mountains hold profound spiritual significance in the Judeo-Christian tradition, serving as sacred spaces where heaven and earth seem to meet, facilitating divine encounters, revelation, and transformation.…
Pope Leo XIV will build bridges within the Church, and prioritise the proclamation of the Gospel writes Michael Kelly The well-worn cliché about the Catholic Church is that it is an institution so deeply rooted in tradition that it is incapable of embracing change and transition. But the reality is, few global organisations in our…
50 Irish pilgrims’ Faith did not go unrewarded as they witnessed white smoke in St Peter’s Square, writes Michael Kelly When we first organised our Aid to the Church in Need, Ireland Holy Year pilgrimage to Rome almost a year ago, we could never have imagined we would be there for the election of a…
When Karol Wojtyla was elected Pope in 1978 taking the name John Paul II, he joked with the Roman crowd that the cardinals had called him da un paese lontano – from a faraway country. After all, the Archbishop of Krakow had come from behind the ‘iron curtain’ and was the first non-Italian Pope since…
Just four years from now, these islands will mark the bicentenary of Catholic emancipation. We’re used to seeing it almost exclusively as an Irish celebration, but we shouldn’t forget that the act as well as a huge breakthrough for Catholics in Britain, was the first great measure of Westminster reform of the 19th Century. The…
In the midst of war, the Holy Land’s Christians are struggling to remain united, writes Michael Kelly It was not in splendour and worldly power that God came to Earth, but in the humility of a defenceless baby born in the manger of Bethlehem. No wonder the strong and the powerful are so perplexed by…