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…

The systematic reduction in the funding for Essential Needs Payments (ENPs) is placing severe pressure on struggling families throughout the country, according to the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) The ENP budget this year (2015) is €27.9m, a cut of 55% since 2011. John-Mark McCafferty, SVP Head of Social Justice & Policy said…

An Argentinean bishop is leading the call for the beatification of a Co. Limerick missionary who died in December. Fr Liam Hayes, a Divine Word Missionary from Cappamore, had devoted his life to helping the poorest and most vulnerable in Oberá, Argentina. He founded several homes for children and adults with severe physical and intellectual…

The Irish Bishops’ Conference has launched a new website which outlines the Church’s teaching on marriage. The website www.meaningofmarriage.ie will host relevant material which has been published by the Irish Bishops’ Conference, its councils, and by individual bishops, including the pastoral statement The Meaning of Marriage, as well as comments from Pope Francis on the theme…