Archbishop Pietro Parolin, the Vaticanís new Secretary of State, has assumed his post after a period of recuperation from illness. Archbishop Parolin was installed as Secretary of State in absentia on October 15 when an unexpected surgical procedure forced him to remain in hospital. Following his release, the archbishop took time in the city of…

Dominicans offering a free event for young people aged 12-17 years

Mark Zimmermann reflects on the 50th anniversary of JFK’s death

The unprecedented consultative document, sent out in preparation for a 2014 meeting of the world’s bishops, is available online on diocesan websites.

Time is running out for Irish Catholics to express their views to the Vatican on controversial issues around marriage and the family.

One of the survivors of the October 3 migrant boat sinking off the island of Lampedusa has been arrested after other migrants identified him as a member of an African trafficking gang. Identified in reports as a Somali, the unnamed man is alleged to have been one of a number of men who tortured and…

‘There is still so much needed’

A Christian convert who received a 10-year prison sentence for abandoning Islam has been released less than a year into his sentence. Mostafa Bordbar was arrested last December 27 during a Christmas celebration with other Christians and in June sentenced for undermining national security in founding Christian house churches. In handing down the 10-year penalty,…

Fr Jerome Murphy-O’Connor OP, who died in the early hours of November 11 in Jerusalem, has been described as a “colossus” in biblical scholarship. The Cork-native spent more than 45 years working and researching in the Holy Land. Born in 1935, he was acknowledged as one of the foremost New Testament scholars in the world,…

South Africa – A Catholic priest is recovering after a man whom he earlier helped attacked him and left him for dead in the city of Pretoria. Fr Craigh Laubscher of St John Fisher Catholic Church had just left his church when he was set upon by the man. The priest was severely beaten and…