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.
Michael Kelly in Rome and Paul Keenan in Dublin Pope Francis has encouraged the Church in Ireland to maintain and enhance the strong values of Catholic schools, despite a background of negativity from some vested interests. Speaking to the bishops in a closed-door meeting at the Vatican on Friday, the Pontiff said that to be…
“Pope Francis once said that Catholics had to understand the current situation as not so much an era of change, but a change of era”, writes Michael Kelly Irish bishops have been in Rome meeting with Pope Francis and senior Vatican officials as part of the ad limina process. In theory every bishop in the…
Irish bishops felt encouraged to face challenges by their Roman encounter, writes Michael Kelly It’s easy to dismiss the traditional ad limina visits that bishops make to Rome as out-dated. In an age of email and instant messaging, it hardly seems necessary for bishops from all over the world to travel to Rome every five…
“Francis has changed much in the workings of the Holy See, and the traditional bishops’ visits are not immune from this”, writes Michael Kelly At the Vatican press office on Friday morning, dozens of journalists waited patiently for the script of what Pope Francis would say to the Irish bishops present for their ad limina…
People living with a disability need to be at the heart of development, Catrina Sheridan tells Michael Kelly Sightsavers is an organisation on a mission. When we meet, the recently-appointed CEO of Sightsavers Ireland Catrina Sheridan is brimming with enthusiasm about plans for the year ahead. At heart, the work of Sightsavers is quite simple:…
“Mr Bruton and his Fine Gael colleagues seem determined to make a mountain out of a molehill”, writes Michael Kelly When it comes to education policy, Fine Gael seems to have adopted the policy of diversion as the best form of defence. In seeking to ban parish-owned schools from prioritising Catholic children when the school…
“Much of what passes for debate about faith in Ireland is a mishmash of tired clichés and ignorant bombast”, writes Michael Kelly In a recent perceptive letter Jesuit theologian Fr Gerry O’Hanlon took up the issue of the so-called ‘dialogue of the deaf’ between secularists and religious believers in Ireland. “At a time,” Fr O’Hanlon…
Next week will see the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 45th president of the United States of America. Few could have predicted, even six months ago, that Mr Trump would defeat the Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton. In fact, I spent election results night at a party hosted by the wonderful US Ambassador to…
“Any crisis facing the family also becomes a crisis for the Church” writes Michael Kelly This year will see preparations for the 2018 World Meeting of Families in Dublin intensify. Much focus around the event – so far – has centred on whether or not Pope Francis will attend the gathering. All of the signals…
“People who are addicted to negativity are generally angry about something”, writes Michael Kelly