Church-charity Trócaire has welcomed Pope Francis’ call for universal access to Covid-19 vaccines and a suspension of intellectual property rights on the vaccines. The Pope made the call in a video message to the ‘Vax Live’ concert, an event promoting a more equal global distribution of Covid-19 vaccinations. He said a “variant of this virus…
Priests and pastoral workers in Germany defied Pope Francis this week by conducting blessing ceremonies attended by same-sex couples. Organisers held a day of protest on Monday in response to the Vatican’s recent declaration that the Church does not have the power to bless same-sex unions. The ceremonies, known as Segnungsgottesdienste für Liebende, or ‘blessing services…
Chai Brady, Ruadhán Jones and Jason Osborne Catholics across the Republic are breathing a sigh of relief this weekend with the controversial ban on attending Mass due to be lifted on Monday, senior bishops have told The Irish Catholic. The prelates also praised what they described as the “fantastic work” of the army of volunteers…
Irish boxing champion Katie Taylor thanked God after she retained her WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO lightweight titles after her victory over Natasha Jones at the Manchester Arena. After the win on social media, Katie said: “Thanking God for a hard fought victory. Thank you all for the support!” The star has always been very vocal about…
Following a European Commission (EC) ruling that Ireland can’t be trusted to police its own fishing quotas, a Donegal-based priest criticised the Irish Government for failing to defend the fishing sector. The ruling comes as a blow after the Irish fishing sector had already lost €43 million following Brexit negotiations. Fr John Joe Duffy said…
Galway-based businessman Declan Ganley has said he intends to “press on” with his challenge to the restrictions on public worship, despite the return to public Mass on May 10. Mr Ganley’s case was postponed again at its last hearing until May 18. “The bans that were put in place were in our view unconstitutional and…
The generation of human-animal embryos exists in a “legislative vacuum”, a TD has discovered on the back of a parliamentary question concerning the procedure. This comes as a team of American and Chinese scientists recently created a human-monkey embryo by injecting human stem cells into monkey blastocytes, some of which were kept alive for up…
Westminster’s approval of regulations giving the North’s Secretary of State Brandon Lewis power to direct the commissioning of abortion has been dubbed “outrageous” and should be “challenged”. Precious Life said it should not be up to pro-life groups to defend devolution after the Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2021 were approved by MPs in Westminster in a 431-89…
Pope Francis confirmed that the French hermit and martyr will be canonised, sparking joy among his followers, who see him as a “prophet of communion” for the modern world. Fr Niall Ahern, who is responsible for the Jesus Caritas fraternity in Ireland, said the community are “overjoyed” at the announcement, which came Monday May 3.…
Crisis pregnancy organisation Gianna Care has reported an increase in clients looking for post-abortion care, with some describing the experience as “very, very traumatic”. Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Gianna Care director Carolyn O’Meara said that they recently received 10 contacts in one week from clients who found the experience more difficult than “they expected…
Chai Brady