Rescuers search for survivors after a building collapsed during a magnitude-6.4 earthquake in Tainan, Taiwan. Pope Francis sent condolences following the quake that hit as the island prepared to celebrate Chinese New Year. Photo: Paul Yang

Marie Collins, the Irish clerical abuse survivor who has been a member of Pope Francis’ child protection advisory panel since its foundation, has said she did not vote for the suspension of her colleague and fellow survivor Peter Saunders. Following a February 6 discussion about the “direction and purpose” of the Pontifical Commission for the…

Priests have described the “shock” felt by local parishioners following the recent gangland violence that saw two men killed in the nation’s capital. Fr John Jones, administrator of Whitehall parish, said locals were “shocked” by the shootings that saw a man killed and two others injured at the nearby Regency Hotel. “It was a very…

An Bord Pleanála have rejected a Dublin hostels’ application to replace well-known The Irish Catholic sign on the facade of the building with the word “Paddywagon”. A conservation officer said the sign was “integral to the artistic, social and cultural significance of the building” on Dublin’s Lower Gardiner Street. The Paddywagon hostel operator and tour…

Gay cake appeal case adjourned The appeal by the Christian owners of a Belfast bakery who were found to have discriminated against a gay customer was adjourned last week to facilitate an intervention by Northern Ireland’s Attorney General. John Larkin QC made a last-minute request to make representation in the case about any potential conflict between the North’s equality legislation…

The housing crisis should be a key issue in the general election, four Church-related social justice organisations have said. With family homelessness having risen by 90% last year and numbers on local authority waiting lists having more than doubled since 2005, the quartet claimed that many families and individuals are not benefitting from the national…

Archbishop Eamon Martin has urged the Government to “go out of its way” to support the family, especially the “uniqueness of the faithful and exclusive union between a married man and a woman and their children”. “In doing so, the State is not only caring for its citizens, but it is also strengthening and nurturing…

Pilgrims from Rochfortbridge, Co. Westmeath, Breda and Adam Quinn, Annemarie and Amy Reilly and May Curran at the Holy Door for the Year of Mercy in St Mary’s Parish, Navan on St Brigid’s Day.

Young couples are “postponing” getting married due to the spiralling cost of weddings, it has been claimed. Fr Gerry O’Connor of Cherry Orchard Parish in Dublin warned that there are “huge expectations” for couples to have extravagant weddings which is forcing them to delay tying the knot. “There are huge expectations on couples to be…

Some of Ireland’s most-prominent religious sites are hoping for a ‘Pope Francis effect’ boost during the Jubilee of Mercy which the Pontiff has proclaimed this year. Representatives were amongst a delegation of pilgrimage leaders from around the world who were in Rome to hear Pope Francis outline his view that pilgrimage is key to the…