The Catholic bishops’ conference has described a lawsuit against it brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as “misguided”. Last week, The Irish Catholic reported on the legal action, alleging negligence against the bishops, under whose tenure, Catholic hospitals do not offer abortion as a medical option for women suffering complications during pregnancy. Responding…

The head of the country’s episcopal conference has condemned legal moves to criminalise homosexuals. Following a Supreme Court ruling last week which overturned a 2009 High Court decision decriminalising of homosexuality under British colonial legislation, Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai decried the move as “unjust discrimination”. “As Christians,” Cardinal Gracias said, “we express our full…

The country’s leading court for the implementation of sharia law has called on the government to impose the death penalty as the only recourse in law for the crime of blasphemy. The Federal Court for the Sharia has stated that alternative sentences for those guilty of insulting Islam are unacceptable as such an offence is…

A group of politicians has vowed to take a case for the removal of a crucifix from parliament to the European Court after a local court rejected its case. According to some members of the Your Movement party, which took its original case in 2011, the cross, placed over a door in the debating chamber,…

Police in Tartarstan have arrested a number of Muslim men in connection with a spate of arsons against Christian churches. Last week, The Irish Catholic reported on an investigation after the latest attack on a place of worship and the announcement, by President Rustam Minnikhanov, of a one million rubles reward for information leading to…

UN requests for reports turned down

Students from Patrickswell National School at the launch of ‘A Year with St John’s Bible’ at Mary Immaculate College (MIC), Limerick. Described as 'the American Book of Kells' this seven-volume work took a team of artists and scholars in Minnesota 15 years to complete, and is now the first complete handwritten Bible since the invention…

Positive first meeting takes place in Cairo

Tynan & Middletown Parish marks 200 years

"We are resolved to be martyrs in this land, blood martyrs, like some of our faithful. Despite the woes and the quite tragic situation that we have been experiencing for nearly three years now, we want to stay and help our faithful to stay." Patriarch Grégoire III Laham, speaking of his clerics with Pope Francis…