The US Supreme Court has blocked a Texas law that had meant all but seven of the state’s abortion clinics were closed because they failed to meet new standards. The block will remain in effect while the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals considers a legal challenge to the law itself. It will allow at…

Passionists about to buck trend with three ordinations in four years

Visitors to the chapel can reach 20,000 a day in summer

Archbishop Eamon Martin called on politicians to have “open minds”

A Belfast Sister of Mercy is seriously injured in hospital after a fatal road collision on the same motorway where two sisters from her order were killed last month. The car of the 74-year-old nun was hit by a vehicle in which three young men were being pursued by the PSNI on the A1 near…

Over 3,000 teenagers celebrated the feast of the Holy Rosary in Knock

Before making a pastoral visit to any single European nation, Pope Francis will address the regional European Parliament, which meets in Strasbourg, France. Releasing the official itinerary for the November 25 trip, Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the Pope would return to France during 2015 for a pastoral visit to the country and…

Unable to resist telling the world about a personal event that is dear to his heart, Pope Francis said that 70 years ago to the day, he celebrated his first Communion. “They say that you shouldn’t talk about personal things, but I can’t resist the temptation,” he said at his weekly general audience in St…

Poverty, in particular understanding its root causes and finding innovative ways to reduce it, was the focus of Catholic Charities USA’s annual national gathering in Charlotte, North Carolina. Discussions had extra urgency given the stagnating number of Americans living at or below the poverty line. “This is our opportunity to come together as providers of…