Luther’s ideas are still driving the Christian world, says Francis Campbell The Reformation was more of a phenomenon than we sometimes perceive. It was not simply religious but was societal, political, social and economic too. It is also more apt to speak of Reformations, rather than The Reformation, for in the end Luther also…
As we commemorate the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation, it is good to ask: where is the Catholic Church today with regard to Martin Luther and the issues he raised? A gesture that speaks volumes in answer to that question is the visit on October 31st last year by Pope Francis to…
Ecumenism is more important than ever now, Cardinal Anders Arborelius tells Greg Daly “We were of course very honoured and happy that the Holy Father could come here, and I think this has some historical reasons,” Cardinal Anders Arborelius tells The Irish Catholic of Pope Francis’ decision to visit the Swedish city of Lund last…
An award-winning novel is accused of getting Reformation England profoundly wrong, Greg Daly reports Cambridge University’s Dr Richard Rex believes the award-winning bestseller Wolf Hall contains “some pretty major blunders” for “a work which aspires to a high level of historical accuracy”, but is quick to stress his awareness that historical fiction requires a…
The Irish Church has done little to counter the dramatic negative effects of secularism on younger Catholics’ understanding of their faith, Baroness Nuala O’Loan has said. She warned that people who have been preparing children for First Holy Communion and Confirmation “have been aware for quite a while that the wider cultural shift away from…
Irish missionary work in Venezuela is worth celebrating even in troubled times, Greg Daly learns This summer, Ireland’s Sacred Heart Missionaries (MSC) celebrated the 50th anniversary of their mission in Venezuela, but compared with 1992’s silver jubilee, the mission’s golden jubilee celebration was a low key affair. “We had a Mass first,” explains Fr…
Pope Francis has given his approval for an extraordinary ‘month of mission’ in 2019 to reinvigorate and renew the missionary spirit and action of the Church. October 2019 was chosen for the month of prayer because it will be the 100th anniversary of Pope Benedict XV’s 1919 apostolic letter, Maximum Illud on the propagation of…
In the last two weeks 220 young people from two Irish diocese collected the Pope John Paul II Awards (JPII) for work in their parish and community. The Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo, assisted Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan in awarding 133 students from schools across the diocese of Waterford and Lismore. Archbishop Okolo thanked the…
Missionary legacy inspired WMOF Pope Francis chose Ireland to host next year’s World Meeting of Families to make sure Irish Catholics would take part in a ‘revolution’ promoting marriage and family life, one of the Pope’s key advisors has said. Dublin-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who heads the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, said…
Some stories make us uncomfortable. Mine is one of those stories, but I will tell it nonetheless, because I am a woman whose child was conceived in rape, and women like me will no longer be silenced. I was travelling on business, staying in a little hotel in a college town, when it happened. It was…
Greg Daly
Chai Brady