Pope to visit Assisi Pope Francis will visit Assisi, the birthplace of St Francis this October 4, the saintís feast day. Following a meeting with ill and disabled children, the Pontiff follows a busy itinerary, moving to pray at the shrine of San Damiano and afterwards paying a visit to the Basilica of St Francis…

Pope Francis hosted a key meeting with the heads of all Vatican departments on Tuesday in anticipation of expected Vatican reforms.   A committee of senior cardinals – who the Pope has picked to advise him on reform of the Church’s central governance – is due to meet in Rome early next month. The so-called…

The fight between religious rights and gay rights that started at state ballot boxes and in courtrooms has moved to floral shops, bakeries and photo studios.   As churches are concerned about the potential of facing lawsuits, some are changing their bylaws to explicitly reflect their views on traditional man-woman marriage.   A bakery in…

As the war of words around a proposed strike against Syria raged last week, the war on the country’s Christians continued.   On September 4, word emerged from the country of the targeting of the predominantly Christian village of Maalula, an ancient enclave where some of the population still speak Aramaic and where a number…

The slaughter of the Syrian people has been ongoing for two years now. Over 100,000 are dead, 4.2 million have fled their homes, and 2 million are refugees in neighbouring countries.   As shocking as those statistics are, behind each of those figures is a real person. When I was in Lebanon recently, I met…

He’s the popular saint known to help people find lost items and his miracles have won him affectionate veneration among Christians and non-Christians alike.   This autumn, tens of thousands of St Anthony’s devotees in Ireland and Britain are expected to turn out to welcome his relics as they tour the two countries in October…

Nerves were frayed amongst the 80,000 crowd in Croke Park last Sunday as the All Ireland Hurling final between Cork and Clare resulted in a tense draw during injury time, and no more so than for Bishop Kieran O’Reilly, a Corkman based in Clare.   “Coming from Cork and living in Clare I had a…

Bishops must take a more democratic approach to priestly appointments according to a leading expert who works with priests and religious who feel bullied in the Church.   Spiritan Fr Tony Byrne said that bishops and religious superiors who do not listen to priests’ concerns about appointments store up problems for the future. However, he…

Education is now available at first, second and third levels on the campus of St Michael’s College in Dublin.   Dublin has now joined Rome as only the second European country to host the overseas programme of Duquesne University, the United States only Spiritan university.   With the arrival of 12 students this month, St…