Equality Authority accused of rushing employment amendment process

A Christian exodus of “biblical proportions” from across the Middle East now threatens the survival of the faith in the region, a new report reveals. Persecuted and Forgotten has been compiled by the international charity group Aid to the Church in Need and, among 30 countries covered worldwide, details the deteriorating situation for Christian communities…

Cleric recovering after savage beating

Israel has declared an Italian Catholic nun ‘Righteous Among Nations’ for her life-risking efforts to save Jews during World War II. Mother Josephine Biviglia was abbess of the Sisters of Saint Quirico in Assisi during the war and is reported to have used her position to direct the community convent’s use as a place of…

Hundreds of people gathered in Belfast city centre last Saturday to ‘Witness to Life’ during an event marking the first anniversary of the establishment of a Marie Stopes clinic there. Organised by the pro-life group Precious Life, the event drew participants from across Ireland who back Precious Life’s campaign to force the closure of the…

Pope Francis is proving a ratings winner for Italian broadcasters covering papal events. According to the state broadcaster, RAI 1, the Popeís noon Angelus alone has seen numbers jump by 250,000. Figures released show that numbers tuning in for the Angelus prayers have gone from 1.56 million in 2012 to 2.27 in 2013. Meanwhile, it…

Sunday service plan ‘solid and sensible’

Pope Francis has welcomed America's new Ambassador to the Holy See, Kenneth F. Hackett, who presented his credentials in Rome on October 21. Ambassador Hackett is a former president of Catholic Relief Services, the US bishopsí overseas relief and development agency, which he first joined in 1972. He retired as president of CRS in December…

The Church of Ireland has become embroiled in a major internal row following allegations of sectarianism from one of its leading prelates. Last week, as he addressed annual diocesan synods of his Church, Archbishop Michael Jackson of Dublin related his own “bitter experience” of sectarianism within his Church, stressing that “sectarianism is alive” in the…

Dublin’s Lord Mayor calls for “bottom-up system of government”