The remains of John Curry, youngest witness of the apparition at Knock, buried since 1943 in an unmarked grave on New York’s Long Island, are to be exhumed and buried in the cemetery of Manhattan’s St Patrick’s Old Cathedral. Plans for the reinterment, scheduled for next spring, had their seeds in a lunchtime conversation between…

Pope Francis has expressed his “horror and condemnation” about the June 11 attack on a gay nightclub in the United States. The attack at Pulse nightclub, which left 49 people dead and 53 injured, was the biggest mass shooting in US history. The gunman, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, was also shot dead by Orlando police. “The…

The section of the Charities Act which protects against the sale of bogus Mass cards can now be enforced following the withdrawal of an appeal to the Supreme Court by a Mass card trader. The Irish Catholic first raised concerns about so-called trafficking in Masses in 2008 when it emerged that many pre-signed Mass cards…

Four men engaged in religiously-aggravated harassment of and violence against a church-going co-worker on a number of occasions between 2014 and 2015, York Crown Court has heard. The teenager had been working as an apprentice with Direct Interior Solutions, a shopfitting firm managed by one of the defendants On one occasion, the Catholic teenager was…

Iraqi refugees appeal for help and offer Francis a gift of a hand-sewn chasuble Iraqi refugee women who fled Islamic State group violence have appealed to the Pope for help, sending a hand-sewn chasuble and imploring him to pray for them and for peace in their country. “One of the most precious items is the vestment of a priest, bishop or Pope serving at the altar during the…

Concern has been expressed that the churches in the nation’s capital may become “virtually inaccessible” if Dublin City Council pushes ahead with plans for a pedestrian plaza at College Green. A number of city centre representative bodies have opposed the controversial plaza that will ban private cars from the area outside Trinity College. Fr Christopher…

Nigeria’s plight at the hands of Boko Haram militants has created one of the worst and most neglected humanitarian crises in the world, a leading campaigner has said. Speaking at a conference in Washington DC, Elijah Brown, executive vice president of the 21st Century Wilberforce Institute, described the ISIS-affiliated Boko Haram as “the most lethal…

The new moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland has said that bigotry is common in his denomination and something he struggled to overcome in himself when asked to minister in Dublin as a young man. Speaking on Sunday Sequence on BBC Radio Ulster, Dr Frank Sellar, who was elected moderator in February but took…

The US has crossed a line from being a society that cares for the vulnerable to one that seeks to be rid of those whose suffering is deemed inconvenient, the archbishop of Los Angeles has said. Criticising the introduction of a new “End of Life Options” law allowing doctors in California to prescribe lethal medications…