During Pope Francis’ official visit to Kenya last Friday he met with Trócaire’s Country Director, Paul Healy and Programme Officer for Gender Based Violence and HIV, Catherine Khamali, in Kangemi slum, Nairobi. “In what was a very moving moment, the Pope was addressed by Pamela Akwede (a peace worker with a Trócaire partner organisation), who…

Media monitors at the 57-country Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have condemned the Vatican’s trial of two journalists and their alleged sources, and have called on the Holy See to honour its commitments to press freedom. “Our main concern is for the protection of confidential sources,” said Gunnar Vrang, spokesman for OSCE’s…

The Northern bishops have described themselves as “shocked and disturbed” by a Belfast High Court ruling that the region’s almost total ban on abortion breaches the European Convention on Human Rights. The decision was made in response to a legal challenge from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. Mr Justice Mark Horner held that the…

Mali Church leaders insist friendship with Muslims will continue Relations between Catholics and Muslims in Mali will not be affected by the November 20 attack on Bamako’s Radisson Hotel, according to the secretary-general of Mali’s Catholic bishops’ conference. While conceding that the attack, in which at least 20 people were killed, was part of a wider Islamist campaign, Msgr Edmond Dembele recalled how…

Country music fans should be sure not to miss our December 24 issue, which will include an extensive interview with singing sensation Nathan Carter, who talks to us about his faith, his rise to fame, life on tour and looking forward to sharing a family Christmas. In the meantime, The Irish Catholic is offering readers…

Tributes have been paid to Fr Gerry Reynolds, a priest credited for his role in the Northern Ireland peace process, who has died aged 80. The Redemptorist priest based at Clonard Monastery in west Belfast, died in the city’s Royal Victoria Hospital on Monday (November 30) after a short illness. Fr Reynolds, a Co. Limerick…

New research by the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO) shows that securing accommodation was the most important factor in helping a person move away from criminality. The ICPO, a pastoral outreach of the Irish Bishops Conference, works with approximately 1,200 Irish people imprisoned in more than 30 countries around the world, offering information, support…

Pictured at the launch of Ireland & Vatican II: Essays Theological, Pastoral and Educational at the offices of The Irish Catholic in Dublin are editor Fr Niall Coll and contributor Baroness Nuala O’Loan. Fr Gerry Reynolds CSsR was also a contributor to the book. The featured essays explore areas such as education, human rights, social…

Staff reporter A leading academic has claimed that if it were not for the vocation crisis, there would be little appetite to involve lay people in the Church here. Fr Oliver Rafferty SJ, Director of Irish Studies at Boston College, insisted that “if there was not a shortage of priests in the contemporary Church the mind-set…

The President of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth has rejected a former professor’s claim that the college focuses on producing “ecclesiastical functionaries” rather than teaching its seminarians theology.  Msgr Hugh Connolly told The Irish Catholic that the remarks made by Jesuit Fr Oliver Rafferty were “sweeping” and “unfair”. Writing in Ireland & Vatican II, Fr Rafferty,…