10 commandments for driving to Knock Mayo County Council has issued ‘10 Commandments of Road Safety’ for pilgrims planning on joining the Pope at Knock Shrine later this month. With 45,000 people due to join Pope Francis at the shrine on August 26, Mayo council has encouraged people to travel to Knock by public transport, but have advised the 91%…
Irish prisoners should be given amnesty for papal visit Hundreds of unfairly-incarcerated prisoners across Ireland should be released to mark the Pope’s visit to the country this month, Jesuit campaigner Fr Peter McVerry has said. The prominent priest said that there are a “significant number” of people in prison who are there for relatively…
Warnings that worshippers at the closing Mass for the World Meeting of Families run a risk of contracting infectious diseases have been overstated, a leading doctor has said. Dr Jack Lambert, consultant in infectious diseases in Dublin’s Mater Hospital, told RTÉ Radio it was “very unlikely” that pilgrims to the August 26 Mass in the…
A campaign to get The Irish Catholic columnist Maria Steen to throw her hat into the ring and run for President is gaining momentum online. While the petition calling for the respected commentator to run for president has reached over 1,250 signatures, the flattering gesture may fall flat according to trusted sources. The page entitled…
Pope Francis’ attempts to address abuse in the Church have been disappointing, the former head of the Irish Church’s child protection board has said. Commenting on claims that the Pope has utterly failed to tackle the issue, Ian Elliott, who headed the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, agreed, saying: “He has…
The principles of Humanae Vitae, Blessed Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical on the regulation of birth, have been “ignored for too long”, Elphin’s Bishop Kevin Doran has said, with the Church needing to present them “in a fresh way, in contemporary language and in an appropriate context”. Opening a Nazareth Family Institute-organised conference in Dublin to…
A failure of DUP leader Arlene Foster to see Pope Francis later this month would promote negative images of unionism as well as enhance “fear and smallness of mind”, a prominent Protestant minister has said. Dr Ken Newell, a former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland who played a significant role in the peace process,…
Baroness Nuala O’Loan has refuted the claims of Ireland’s Health Minister that conscientious objection is “for individuals, not institutions”, and that he should consider the need to protect hospitals from coercion. Before and since the Eighth Amendment was repealed the decision to opt out of providing abortion by way of conscientious objection, without repercussion, has…
A devout Irish man has joined the production team of a New York play which explores Elvis Presley’s Christian upbringing and struggle with faith. Louth native John Aidan Byrne says the story “made a deep impression with me as I examined my own positive Catholic upbringing and faith journey”. The King, the Final Hours, a new off-Broadway play, is…
Homeowners are being encouraged to invite elderly people who may have mobility or other issues to their houses to watch the papal Mass in a group setting. Pope Francis’ Mass in the Phoenix Park on August 26 is set to be an historic event for all involved, but with many elderly people unable to attend,…
Colm Fitzpatrick
Greg Daly
Chai Brady