Archbishop Eamon Martin has warmly welcomed the appointment by Pope Francis of Archbishop Jude Okolo as the new Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland. “Archbishop Okolo’s rich experience in the diplomatic service of the Holy See means that he brings many gifts to bear on his new mission in Ireland,” Archbishop Eamon said. The Vatican announced the…

Staff Reporter It may have been a coincidence or a moment of singular grace, but few could fail to remark on the significance that Portugal’s win in the Eurovision Song Contest at the weekend – the first in that country’s 49 attempts – came on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. As Salvador Sobral…

The commission investigating alleged visions of Our Lady at Medjugorje has reportedly recommended early apparitions be accepted as authentic, but casts doubt upon later claims of visions. According to reports in the Italian media this week, the overwhelming majority of the 15-member body voted in favour of recognising the supernatural nature of the first seven…

The Pro Life Campaign (PLC) has said it is confident that polls showing support for abortion would change rapidly in the event of any referendum “as people start to reflect on what the changes would mean in practice and how it would open the door to abortion on wide-ranging circumstances”. A survey by Behaviour &…

President Michael D. Higgins is expected to meet with Pope Francis during a visit to Rome next week. The visit, which is set to take place in the Vatican’s Papal Library, will be the first private meeting between the two heads of state. President Higgins previously met the Pontiff at the papal inauguration ceremony in…

Pop superstar Rita Ora has revealed that one of her proudest moments was performing at the Vatican last year, at a ceremony to mark the canonisation of Mother Teresa, a fellow native of Kosovo. “Oh, it was beautiful,” she said. “To hear my voice in that room – incredible reverb, by the way – was…

Teachers and parents need support in helping prepare children for Christian lives, a leading theologian has said. Speaking after an education conference in Limerick’s Mary Immaculate College, which discussed whether sacramental preparation should be taken out of schools, Prof. Eamonn Conway said the conference affirmed the importance of very close working relationships between parents, parish,…

Staff reporter The Northern bakery run by a Christian couple who last year lost a discrimination case over refusing to make a cake advocating same-sex marriage saw their profits rise in 2016. Controversy around Daniel and Amy McArthur’s Ashers Baking Company’s 2014 refusal to make a cake bearing the slogan ‘Support gay marriage’ has not…

Draft educational legislation would destroy faith-based schools, religious freedom think-tank The Iona Institute has warned. It was responding to the ‘Equal Participation in Schools Bill’ proposed by Ruth Coppinger TD. The draft proposes to take away the right of denominational schools to have a religious ethos and would require religious education to take place outside…

Fr Mathew statue not returning to O’Connell Street A statue of Fr Theobald Mathew, founder of the temperance movement in Ireland, will not be returned to O’Connell Street after the completion of the Luas works in Dublin. The statue, erected in 1893, cannot be accommodated in the new transport layout and discussions are ongoing between…