Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has announced its support for Italian journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi, who have been indicted by the Vatican, along with three others, for the crime of disseminating secret documents. “By writing Avarizia [Avarice] and Via Crucis [published in English as Merchants in the Temple] Italian journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano…

Allowing children to opt out of religion classes could cost taxpayers millions of euro, a leading education expert has warned. John Walshe, a former special advisor to Ruairí Quinn during his tenure as Education Minister, claimed that if large numbers of parents decided to withdraw their children from religious education, schools would have to make…

Pope Francis has called on Germany’s bishops to use the upcoming Holy Year of Mercy to offer Catholics a chance to “rediscover the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist”. During their ad limina visit to Rome, the bishops were handed an address from the Pope in which he noted a steep decline in sacramental participation…

Ways in which the holy dead are recalled, invoked and reinterpreted for each generation was the subject of hot discussion at a major conference held in Limerick last weekend. ‘Moments of Becoming: Transitions and Transformations in Early Modern Europe’, the inaugural Limerick Early Modern Studies Forum, saw an international group of scholars gathering at Shannonside…

American bishops have approved a formal statement on pornography and confirmed additions to their quadrennial statement on political responsibility. In the public portion of the November 16-19 autumn general meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the gathered bishops voted 210-21 with five abstentions for the 2015 version of their political responsibility document,…

Members of the Dominican order lead a candlelight procession through Athy, Co. Kildare after a farewell Mass in St Dominick’s Church attended by nearly 1,000 people to mark the order withdrawing from the town. This is the first of five closures announced by the Dominicans last year and the church will be converted into a…

Draw close to those others cast aside, Pope urges Pope Francis has called for greater attention to those whose health is affected by environmental degradation and pollution. Speaking to a conference sponsored by the Pontifical Council of Health Care Workers, he spoke of how he often meets sick people, especially children, afflicted with rare and inexplicable illnesses. “These rare diseases are the consequences…

The theology of ISIS relies on one key battle, writes Paul Keenan

St Kieran’s College, Ossory’s diocesan college, has offered the Department of Education and Skills a site for the relocation of two schools for Kilkenny City.  Fr Dermot Ryan, President of St Kieran’s College said the offer “continues the tradition of the commitment of the Diocese of Ossory and St Kieran’s College to excellence in education…

A short video by a group of pro-life students, has received more than 24,000 YouTube views. Beginning with a group of students saying they had voted ‘Yes’ in May’s marriage referendum, ‘Equality starts here’ records them challenging how pro-choice campaigners sought to co-opt the referendum result in the poll’s immediate aftermath.  “I was frustrated about…