Israel’s finance minister wants to evict the Bedouins from Khan al-Ahmar. Human rights activists fear this will have repercussions across the entire occupied West Bank. And they warn that it could spell the end of the two-state solution. Israeli activists are sounding the alarm following the announcement by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that…
Category: News
Irish bishops tighten hold on national synodal process
Conservative Catholic voices have told this paper that recent episcopal oversight of the Irish Synodal Pathway has transformed what they once feared might be an open-ended discernment exercise into something more structured — and more recognisably Catholic — ahead of the National Synodal Assembly in October. The Irish Synodal Pathway is now in its most…
Archbishop urges preservation of human dignity in the tech era ahead of Pope Leo’s encyclical on AI
Pope Leo XIV will address the topic of artificial intelligence in his first universal encyclical, which was signed on Friday, May 15, and will be published on May 25, said the Vatican on Monday. The encyclical, entitled Magnifica humanitas, will discuss the preservation of human dignity in the growing age of AI, an issue that…
Barryroe’s former sacristan honoured with papal award
A Benemerenti Medal was awarded to the recently retired sacristan of the Church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, in Barryroe, Co. Cork. Maura Whelton was awarded by the Pope, but the presentation was made by the Bishop of Cork and Ross, Fintan Gavin. Ms Whelton worked in the church for some 30 years, and…
Cloyne diocese to celebrate first priestly ordination in nine years
Excitement is growing across the Diocese of Cloyne ahead of its first priestly ordination in nine years, as Whitechurch native Rev. Tiernan Burke prepares to be ordained to the priesthood on the Feast of Pentecost. The ordination will take place in St Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, at 3pm on Sunday, May 24, marking a joyful moment…
Local churches need courage, says Moran
Julieann Moran, General Secretary of the Synodal Path of the Catholic Church in Ireland, was a guest speaker at the Katholikentag in Wurzburg, Germany, over the weekend. She told participants that there is still great fear among some that things will change, and among others that they won’t. “But Jesus called on people not to…
Eulogy cut short at funeral Mass splits opinions online
A priest’s reaction to the eulogy at a funeral Mass in Ardee, Co. Louth, has been stirring opinions online. The eulogy was being read at a funeral Mass on May 13 in the Church of the Nativity of Our Lady, Ardee/Collon Parish, and was interrupted by the priest, who stood up, saying “that’s enough”, that…
Lough Derg prior urges pilgrims to make space for God as season begins
Lough Derg’s Prior has encouraged pilgrims to make space for God as the island’s Three Day Pilgrimage season begins, saying the Lord often speaks to people in ways they do not expect. Fr Laurence ‘La’ Flynn, who marks 50 years of priesthood this July, told The Irish Catholic that the ancient pilgrimage remains a powerful…
Kilnamanagh parish to inaugurate new shrine containing a relic of the True Cross
St Kevin’s Church, Kilnamanagh will welcome Archbishop Dermot Farrell to the parish on Sunday, May 24 to inaugurate a new shrine containing a historic Roman reliquary, a gift which parish priest Fr Frank Drescher described as “a blessing”. The reliquary holds a relic of the True Cross, and comes from the private collection of a…
Theology offers students wisdom beyond AI, says Maynooth dean
Students are turning to theology because it helps them engage with the “big questions” facing the modern world, according to Fr Luke Macnamara OSB, Dean of Theology at St Patrick’s Pontifical University, Maynooth. Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Fr Macnamara said theology continues to speak deeply to young people at a time of uncertainty. “While…







Renata Steffens


