Launching Laudato Si’ Week 2026 on May 17, Bishop Martin Hayes issued a statement reflecting on the encyclical’s legacy and welcoming the news that Ireland will co-host a conference on the fossil fuel crisis. “Last year the Irish Bishops’ Conference backed Trócaire’s call on the Government of Ireland to support the Fossil Fuel Treaty (Oct…
An annual Mass for organ donors and their families took place on Sunday May 17 in Knock Basilica. The occasion brought together transplant recipients, those awaiting transplants, medical teams, and bereaved families who have donated the organs of their loved ones to mark Organ Donor Awareness Week, which runs until May 23. Claremorris native Nicole…
20.01 – BELFAST: The Clonard Youth and Young Adult Ministry’s Tuesday night walking group were back on the Belfast streets last week. The group set off from Clonard and making their way through Millfield, Donegal Street, the Cathedral Quarter, over to the Big Fish, across the bridge to the Ormeau Embankment, up onto the Ormeau…
In the weeks leading up to Easter, dioceses and media outlets latched onto the high numbers of people set to become fully initiated into the faith in certain places to declare a sort of “Catholic revival,” which, according to one expert, isn’t exactly happening. “For example, I’ve heard how the Archdiocese of Newark has doubled…
On May 12, the French Senate rejected for the second time the assisted suicide bill under debate, with the leader of the conservative party calling for a referendum on the issue to avoid it being approved without the Senate’s approval. The National Assembly – France’s lower house – had already approved the bill twice, but…
President Donald Trump and several top administration officials joined with a cast of mostly conservative Christian clergy on Sunday at the National Mall in Washington for a prayer gathering billed as a “rededication of our country as One Nation Under God” upon America’s 250th birthday. Some critics called the Rededicate 250 event an effort to…
On May 13 the Vatican issued a final warning to a breakaway group of traditionalist Catholics that their planned consecrations of bishops without papal consent constitutes a schismatic act that incurs automatic excommunication. Pope Leo XIV is praying for enlightenment so that the leaders of the Society of St Pius X “may reconsider the extremely…
Pope Leo XIV visited Rome’s public La Sapienza University on May 14, the largest university in Europe and one of Italy’s most prestigious academic institutions, where he denounced the “great lie” he said is causing anxiety and depression among young people. Speaking in the university’s Aula Magna after a brief moment of prayer in the…
A Pope’s first encyclical is traditionally awaited with great anticipation – and this is now the case for Leo XIV as well. Church historian Jörg Ernesti explains what makes these particular doctrinal writings so special. Monday is the day: Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical will be published. And he will even present his encyclical, entitled…
The video shows an Italian priest at a funeral Mass in Ireland interrupting a eulogy. What is your opinion on Eulogies being said during funeral Masses?
Renata Steffens