Courtney McGrailA four-day film festival dedicated to the life and works of Blessed Mother Teresa is set to take place in India in the days running up to her canonisation in Rome on September 4. Already an annual event that began after the announcement of her beatification in 2003 with a small number of documentary films…
Category: News
Caritas workers released after Congo kidnap
Paul Keenan
Three workers with the Catholic aid agency Caritas were abducted from their convoy in the Democratic Republic of Congo and held for 24 hours by militiamen in the troubled North Kivu region, it has been reported. Initial reports detailed a gun attack on the convoy of vehicles in which a German photojournalist covering the work…
Vatican Roundup
Pope meets French President in wake of Hamel killing Pope Francis has followed up on a private phone call he received from French President Francois Hollande in the wake of the brutal murder of Fr Jacques Hamel in Normandy to host the French leader at the Vatican. Touched by Mr Hollande’s call to express condolences in the wake of the killing, Pope Francis…
Irish campaigners urged to step up pro-life fight amid funding row
Greg DalySenator Rónán Mullen has called on Irish people at home and abroad to support Irish pro-life organisations as pressure builds to overturn the constitutional protections for the unborn. The NUI senator’s comments came as it was revealed that the billionaire financier George Soros’ New York-based Open Society Foundations is a major contributor to the Abortion…
Flag of all nations
The Olympic flag – bearing one colour from every national flag in the world – is lowered during the closing ceremony in Rio de Janeiro on August. 21. It will next be raised in Tokyo for the 2020 Games. Photo: CNS
Bishop’s Vatican appointment welcomed
Staff reporter Pope Francis has appointed the Irish-born Bishop of Dallas, Kevin Farrell, as the head of the new Dicastery for Laity, the Family, and Life. The move sees Bishop Farrell become the most senior US Churchman to serve in the Holy See. Reacting to news of his appointment, Bishop Farrell said: “I look forward to…
Pope’s choice for new Vatican post boosts moderates, Americans
John L. Allen Jr.By choosing Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas as the first-ever head of his new department for family, laity and life issues, Pope Francis has handed a big win to pastoral moderates in the Church and also laid to rest concerns that he’s somehow hostile to Americans. (Farrell, 68, isn’t American by birth since he was…
Irish Church’s voice on migrants ‘abysmal’ – Priest
The former director of the Irish Episcopal Commission for Emigrants has described the Irish Church’s lack of a voice on the integration of migrants as “abysmal”. Speaking to the Irish Catholic this week in the wake of new figures, showing that the number of asylum seekers placed into direct provision last year doubled over numbers…
Justice at last for Orissa’s Christians
Good news in India was tempered with a sad loss, writes Paul Keenan
Church urged to show young people thinking side of faith
More work is needed in Ireland’s schools and colleges to raise awareness of what exactly theology is, a leading Biblical scholar has said. Speaking to The Irish Catholic following the publication of the first round of CAO offers suggesting that interest in university-level theology has dropped, Fr Brendan McConvery CSsR stressed that dropping points reveal…