Although persecution and instability has reduced Basra’s Christian population to just 10% of the 3,000 Christian families who were there before the 2003 invasion, the city’s Chaldean Catholic archdiocese has opened southern Iraq’s first Christian museum. The museum contains over 200 religious artefacts, documents, photographs, tools, clothing and furniture dating back to the 17th Century,…

Pope Francis is in “very good form” and while a papal visit to Ireland may seem unlikely for the moment, he continues to pray for the Irish according to the Bishop of Waterford & Lismore.  Bishop Phoncie Cullinan said it was “a beautiful, unforgettable moment” to meet Pope Francis last week while attending a course…

Kenya will be the first country Pope Francis will visit as part of his first Apostolic Visit to Africa, the Holy See has confirmed. The Pontiff announced his intention to visit Africa last January, stating in June that he would visit the Central African Republic and Uganda.  “Accepting the invitation issued by the respective Heads…

The Pro Life Campaign has said there is nothing reassuring about Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s refusal to commit to a referendum on Ireland’s constitutional protection for the unborn if Fine Gael is re-elected to government. PLC Deputy Chairperson Cora Sherlock said “The Taoiseach never actually said he was opposed to a referendum to dismantle the Eighth…

Catholic leaders in Nepal have welcomed the visit of Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, to southern Asia. The cardinal’s visit is rounding off a trip that has also seen him visiting Bangladesh and India’s Archdiocese of Kolkata, and sees him visiting camps for survivors of April’s earthquake as…

Next week’s National Ploughing Championships offer the Diocese of Kildare & Leighlin a unique opportunity to “reach out” to the masses according to Bishop Denis Nulty.  “It is very important to reach out and for us to be in the field or in the marketplace,” Bishop Nulty told The Irish Catholic. “With over 279,000 people…

Europe’s bishops call for European solution As the European Union is founded on the solidarity of Europeans, so the current refugee crisis should be recognised as a common challenge that needs a common solution, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) has said. Describing as “unacceptable” the attempts by some countries to evade their responsibilities, the…

Fr Mike Shea, an Irish-American Redemptorist, has made an appeal for funding as more and more children orphaned by HIV/AIDS arrive at his orphanage in Thailand. Fr Shea, whose grandparents were from Ventry in Co. Kerry, is ministering to 145 girls and boys of all ages in Sarnelli House Orphanage, near Nong Khai. Thailand is…

Members of a campaign to stop the closure of the Dominican church in Drogheda have said a meeting with the Master of the Order in Rome has given them hope for the future. In a meeting with Fr Bruno Cadoré, Master of the Order and his personal secretary Fr Vivian Boland, the eight campaigners set…

The Irish Catholic would like to express our sincere sympathy to the family and friends of Mrs Bridie Rochford, a faithful reader and promoter of The Irish Catholic for over 60 years in John’s Lane Augustinian church in Dublin. May she rest in peace.