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…

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…

Dublin City returning officer James Barry has apologised to Harold’s Cross priest Fr Gerry Kane after a Sheriff’s Office official removed a crucifix from the local pastoral centre. The official had removed the crucifix as he had been told it was offensive, but on being contacted by Fr Kane offered to restore it. Mr Barry…

A round-table conference on evangelisation is to be held in Ballymena. Following on from successful conferences last year, this year’s conference at All Saints Church will be on the theme of ‘Living Faith: Go Proclaim the Gospel’. The conference will be an occasion for people to explore how parishes and faith communities can put their…

The head of Ukraine’s Greek Catholic Church has called on Pope Francis to take a firmer stand on the conflict in the east of his country. Criticising what he described the Vatican’s “ambivalence” on how Russian-backed rebels have been fighting government forces for more than a year, despite an official ceasefire, Kiev-Halych’s Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk…

A leading religious education expert has said he “remains to be convinced” that a planned change to employment equality law will protect the right of Catholic schools to defend their religious ethos. Theologian Dr John Murray said he was “concerned” by the Minister of State Aodhán Ó Ríordáin’s announcement that he was working hard to…

Women’s Conference makes progress but ‘more to be done’ Over a hundred mainly female participants have attended Rome’s second International Conference on Women, organised by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, in collaboration with the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations (WUCWO) and the World Women’s Alliance for Life and Family (WWALF). With a theme of ‘Women and the post-2015 development agenda…

Six Irish priests concelebrated Mass with Pope Francis in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae in the Vatican on a visit to Rome to celebrate the 55th anniversary of their ordination to the priesthood:Fr Kevin McMullan (Down & Connor diocese), Canon Brian McCluskey (Clogher diocese, living in Belfast), Fr Phil O’Connell (Kerry diocese), Fr Brian…