Malaysia’s Federal Court has ruled the Catholic Church cannot use the Arabic “Allah” as a substitute for “God” in the Malay edition of its newsweekly Herald. The ruling brings to an end an eight-year legal dispute which began when Murphy Pakiam, then Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, filed a lawsuit in response to then Home Minister…

A cleric at the forefront of social justice campaigning has accused the Government of further excluding people who are already clinging to the margins of society in a new review of State policy. A review of Government policies released by Social Justice Ireland this week, which analyses how Ireland is performing on reaching its national…

Poles should do more to maintain Poland’s synagogues and Jewish cemeteries, according to the Polish bishops’ Commission for Dialogue with Judaism. Pointing to how 3.5 million Jews lived in Poland prior to the Holocaust, the bishops said: “We often don’t realise that, in our localities and neighbourhoods, Jews lived, worked and created as our elder…

Government TDs should be asked to account for the coalition’s “arrogance” in seeking to speak for citizens in a way that is contrary to the Constitution, Bishop Kevin Doran has said. The Bishop of Elphin, who stressed that he is expressing a personal view as a citizen, also accused the Government of trying to presume…

A photograph from the installation of Bishop Donal McKeown as the new Bishop of Derry last year, won a prestigious award at the annual Press Photographers Association of Ireland’s competition. The photograph by Margaret McLaughlin of The Irish News, titled ‘The Holy Gust’, captures the moment when a gust of wind caught the robes of…

Church leaders have started to distribute a pastoral letter on marriage to parishes in the North, after doubts were raised about the Church’s commitment to promoting marriage when it was revealed that only a small quantity of the leaflets had been printed. Earlier this month, The Irish Catholic established that only 170,000 copies of The…

Prayer is an important part of daily life according to best-selling author Cecelia Ahern. Speaking on RTÉ’s The Meaning of Life with Gay Byrne, the 33-year-old author of PS I Love You and 10 other books said she prays to God every night. Describing prayer as an honest conversation in which people “say the things that you feel,…

An Irish priest who campaigns for street children in the Philippines has said he is heartened by the Pope’s visit, but wished the Pontiff had been “a little more forthright about the terrible conditions” faced by children in the country. Columban missionary Fr Shay Cullen, who highlighted the plight of Manila’s street children ahead of…

In the biggest gathering of Christians ever, Pope Francis addressed more than six million people in the closing Mass of his trip to the Philippines, calling on them to be “outstanding missionaries of the Faith in Asia”. The turnout was more than double that which assembled at World Youth Day in Rio, and is significantly…

Following a visit to the Holy Land as part of an international delegation, Bishop Ray Browne said that it is “critical” for people on all sides that progress is made towards peace. Bishop Browne of Kerry and Bishop Kieran O’Reilly, the newly appointed Archbishop of Cashel & Emly, joined a delegation of 14 prelates from…