Pope Francis made a visit to Benedict XVI on Tuesday to wish him ‘happy holidays’ as the retired pontiff left for two weeks holiday at the pontifical summer residence of Castel Gandolfo in the Alban Hills outside Rome. Francis has decided not to use the residence since he has said he dislikes holidays.

One of the members of the Vatican Medjugorje Commission has condemned recent media reports claiming that Rome intended to reject as not supernatural the alleged visions associated with the Herzegovinan town. Italian media outlets had reported that the Vatican Commission had met on June 24 and decided to rule that the alleged visions, which have…

A report from a Government-appointed working group to identify improvements to the Direct Provision system for asylum-seekers and refugees has received a mixed response. The report from the Working Group on the Protection Process, which was released on Tuesday, proposes that new asylum seekers should have the right to work after nine months of seeking…

The Israeli government must take urgent action against the perpetrators of an arson attack on a Catholic church if it is to ensure interreligious peace and the safety of Israel’s Christian minority, according to European parliamentarians. György Hölvényi and Jan Olbrycht, co-chairs of the EPP Group’s Working Group on Interreligious Dialogue, issued their statement in…

The principal of one of Ireland’s largest Catholic post-primary schools has offered the use of his schools’ facilities to Orangemen marching in this year’s Twelfth of July parade. Jarlath Burns, principal of St Paul’s High School, Bessbrook, Co. Armagh, said the move was about “reaching out” in an attempt to “create a new understanding” between…

Australian Cardinal George Pell has provided full passport details to disprove allegations that have been made against him. Paul Lyons, a 55-year-old survivor of sexual abuse by Robert Best, a member of the Christian Brothers has claimed that in 1969 Dr Pell, who was then a young priest, heard him pleading for help some weeks…

Top weather forecaster believes in the power of prayer

The enactment of a Kansas law intended to stop the abortion by dismemberment of human fetuses during their second trimester has been temporarily stopped by the courts. Shawnee County District Court judge Larry Hendricks has granted a temporary injunction against the US state’s Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act, which was to go into…

Staff reporter Pope Francis will address a joint session of the US Congress, the first Pope to do so, on his much anticipated September 19-27 trip to Cuba and the United States and will meet Cuban president Raul Castro in Havana, the Vatican has confirmed. His itinerary includes stops in Havana, where he meets Castro…

The Maronite Archbishop of Damascus has written to Aid to the Church in Need, pleading for help in the face of the deteriorating situation in Syria. In a letter entitled ‘From Anxiety to Hope’, Archbishop Samir Nassar says that it seems that the Syrian crisis is “the cruellest human drama since the Second World War”.…