Burundi’s Catholic bishops have withdrawn permission from priests to serve on the country’s electoral council. In a statement a week before the parliamentary round of the national elections, the bishops explained that they had given a special dispensation for some priests to work with National Independent Electoral Council, but after careful analysis of the current…

Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick has said the synod in his diocese next year could be an opportunity to hear from gay people about the Church’s pastoral care for them. Noting that he would “take his lead from the consultation process” which is currently underway in the diocese, Bishop Leahy told The Irish Catholic the…

Western intervention is urgently needed to halt the “monstrosities” being perpetrated in Syria and Iraq, according to a bishop whose diocese is at the heart of the conflict. Even before the rise of Islamic State, Aleppo had seen some of the worst fighting in the Syrian Civil War, with Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo claiming last…

Report reveals “a high level of compliance with the Church’s safeguarding standards”

Vatican media to modernise The Vatican urgently needs to modernise its media operations, according to head of a new papal commission on how Rome can better communicate with the Church and the world. Speaking at a London Mass to mark World Communications Day, Chris Patten, former chairman of the British Broadcasting Corporation Trust, explained that…

Former Jesuit Provincial says clergy and laity must face challenges together

Sinn Féin has joined forces with Alliance and the Green Party to block an attempt at tightening Northern Ireland’s abortion law. The parties jointly submitted a ‘petition of concern’ against a DUP amendment to the Justice Bill which was debated in the Assembly on Tuesday. The amendment would have made anyone who ended the life…

Trócaire staff in South Sudan have been evacuated from an area in the north of the country as a result of heavy fighting in the region. Three staff members, who are all South Sudan nationals, have been forced to suspend vital humanitarian programmes in the Melut region and return to Juba, the country’s capital city.…

The Pro-Life Campaign (PLC) has urged the Government to reject draft legislation on assisted suicide being prepared by campaigner Tom Curran, whose late partner Marie Fleming lost a landmark right-to-die case in the Supreme Court in 2013. Cora Sherlock of the PLC told The Irish Catholic that “if our laws are telling people that they…

An Irish-born priest has been appointed as the new bishop of the English Diocese of Nottingham. Msgr Patrick McKinney (61) is the eldest son of Patrick and Bridget McKinney (deceased), originally from Ireland, and was brought up in Birmingham. His parents moved back to Ireland in the 1970s when he began his studies for the…