Bishops from the Democratic Republic of the Congo have criticised governmental and United Nations failures to tackle “genocide, jihadist fundamentalism and Balkanisation” in the country. “For more than 20 years, the eastern populations have fallen victim to war and insecurity,” said the bishops from eastern South Kivu province in a pastoral message, continuing, “in 2010,…

Anti-homelessness campaigners welcome plans for rent control

Over 500 people took part in Liverpool’s biggest Marian procession in decades on Saturday May 30. Liverpool’s Archbishop Malcolm McMahon and Sisters from the Missionaries of Charity, the congregation founded by Mother Teresa, led children who had made their First Holy Communion through the city, stopping several times to sing a hymn and to say…

Staff Reporter A study that found that two thirds of people who died of probable suicide were not taking prescribed medications when they died “opens a window onto the fact that people dying from suicide are not adhering to treatment”, according to a leading psychiatrist. The NUI Galway study of 153 deaths in the west between…

Pope Francis receives a kite from a boy during a meeting with children of Italian prisoners in Paul VI hall at the Vatican May 30. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) 

The leader of the Church in Ireland has distanced himself from remarks made by controversial US Cardinal Raymond Burke about the recent marriage referendum. Cardinal Burke, who was the Vatican’s top legal adviser until he was demoted by Pope Francis last year, said the referendum result here was a “defiance of God”. “It’s just incredible.…

Burundi’s Catholic bishops have withdrawn permission from priests to serve on the country’s electoral council.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”