Catholic aid groups have challenged European plans for tough measures to curb the flow of migrants and refugees across the Mediterranean, urging a more humanitarian response.  European governments are “at least partly responsible” for conditions in Libya and other countries, because of past interventions, and should be doing more to promote stable development there, according…

An Irish priest has been appointed by Pope Francis to a select committee tasked with streamlining and modernising the Vatican’s many communications structures. Meath-born Msgr Paul Tighe, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and one-time director of the Archdiocese of Dublin’s public affairs office, has previously served as secretary of an 11-member commission…

Two millennia of ties to their homeland keep Syria's Christian population from fleeing en masse, according to Aleppo’s Melkite Catholic Archbishop Jean-Clement Jeanbart. Speaking in Washington as part of a visit to raise awareness and funds for his ‘Build to Stay’ initiative, which aims to help Syrian Christians rebuild their lives and livelihoods, he said…

Fianna Fáil has urged the Government to take a more “tolerant” approach to Catholic marriage counselling if the referendum on same-sex marriage passes. Party leader Micheál Martin told The Irish Catholic there “will always be different organisations coming to a particular issue from a particular ethos or a particular tradition”. “We are in a tolerant…

Blessed Junipero Serra was a “working-class missionary” who deserves to be made a saint and to have his record as a defender of native peoples made known, according to Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles. Acknowledging that Pope Francis’ plan to canonise the 18th-century Franciscan in September “has opened old wounds and revived bitter…

The Irish Jesuits are making a phased withdrawal from the Pioneers Association because of falling numbers and aging profile of their priests. The Pioneers Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart was founded in 1898 by a Dublin Jesuit, Fr James Cullen to address the damage being caused by excess alcohol. Over 100 years later,…

Catholic workers in the contested border region between Sudan and South Sudan are launching new efforts to make peace between the two groups that claim the isolated and oil-rich region of Abyei. Although South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011, several border areas have remained in dispute. A planned 2005 referendum on the region’s…

A Co. Meath-based priest and blogger has launched an initiative to encourage the faithful to take part in a novena of prayer in advance of the same-sex marriage referendum. “The bishops of Ireland, in their various letters and statements have called on the faithful to pray intently at this time, so this novena is in…

It could take 20 years for the Belgian Church to regain its credibility, according to Auxiliary Bishop Jean Kockerols of Mechelen-Brussels, who says the president of Belgium’s bishops’ conference wants Catholics to respect a court judgment against him for failing to act on abuse allegations. Liege’s Appeal Court ruled that Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard of Mechelen-Brussels…

The papal nuncio, Archbishop Charles Brown invited a group of Pope John Paul II award students from Ardscoil Na Mara, Tramore, Co. Waterford to visit the nunciature after The Irish Catholic published a picture of them posing for a selfie with him at the ordination of Bishop Phonsie Cullinan. The archbishop presented each student with…