Assisi has always drawn crowds. But this year is different. As the Church marks the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis, almost 450,000 pilgrims have registered to venerate the mortal remains of the Poverello of Assisi during a rare, month-long public display in the Basilica of St Francis. Among the Franciscan friars welcoming…
Darragh Kelehan’s journey towards running prayer groups, pilgrimages to Medjugorje, and Life in the Spirit seminars has not been linear. Mr Kelehan, who was born and raised in the Catholic faith in Blanchardstown, turned away from God in his adolescence, and it took him 21 years and the ability to completely surrender himself to bring…
The monks of La Trappe Abbey have announced they are considering leaving their historic monastery by 2028, citing a shortage of vocations and the difficulties of maintain the site. In a statement released earlier this month, the community said the possibility of departure would mark “a page of history that is about to be turned,”…
By Richard Maher and Mario Luis López Durán At 5 o’clock in the evening on March 19, 1739, one of the great bells of Palma de Mallorca’s La Seu Cathedral, known as N’Antònia, knelled the toll of Extreme Unction. Don Patricio Laules, or Sir Patrick Lawless as he was known by his Irish contemporaries, was…
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine completely changed people’s lives into a constant horror that has already been going on for a fifth year. Four years of fear for one’s own life and the lives of loved ones. Ireland became a second home for tens of thousands of Ukrainians—refugees from the war. A country they came…
Study Groups on relevant questions from the Synthesis’ Report of the First Session of the XVI General Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops were set up and Study Group No. 5 looked at women in ministries. Here is an extract. Fundamental Issues (III): Ministries Turning to the concrete forms of women’s participation in…
The splendid Maggio Musicale building in Florence was the venue for the third annual European festival of journalism and media freedom. As the programme explained, the festival is a “three-day event where citizens can come together to explore crucial themes shaping our relationship with information.” The chief organiser is the Centre for Media Pluralism and…
Recently, I spoke at a conference focused on the Irish Gender Recognition Act in Dublin. Much of what I said will seem familiar to people who follow my work, but I think I managed to express why gender self-ID is harmful to women rather than men better than I have before. I laid out what…
In five breathless minutes on the hallowed turf of Croke Park in 1994, Limerick’s world collapsed. They had waited 21 years. Since 1973, the Liam McCarthy Cup had eluded them, slipping through fingers and fading into memory. Now, leading Offaly 2-13 to 1-11 as the clock edged toward injury time, the famine appeared finally over.…
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,…