The Irish Ambassador to the Holy See Frances Collins said that she believes that Pope Francis has a keen appreciation for Ireland, with particular concern for the status of peace on the island while also describing the present relationship Ireland enjoys with the Holy See as “strong”. Commenting on the admiration the current Pope has…
Family members of patients receiving palliative care are more likely to express a view that it would be better if the patient were no longer alive than patients themselves, according to an experienced palliative carer. Dr Faith Cranfield can count “on one hand” the number of people she has worked with in 10 years as…
An expert in Catholic education has hit back at “lazy” and “dangerous” myths perpetuated against Catholic education. Referencing Catholic education as ‘segregated’ or ‘an apartheid schooling system’ reinforces division and is “harmful to both the individual and social cohesion”, school chaplain and education expert Dr Aidan Donaldson has said. These arguments are “lazy and prejudicial”,…
Acclaimed German-Irish sculptor Imogen Stuart, who produced a sculpture of Pope John Paul II, located in St Patrick’s Pontifical University, Maynooth, and the altar and baptismal font of the Honan Chapel on the grounds of University College Cork, died last Monday at age 96. Born in Berlin, Ms Stuart was the daughter of art critic…
Irish Ambassador to the Holy See Frances Collins has praised what she said is a strong relationship between Ireland and the Holy See despite historic tensions with the Catholic Church, saying they share several key foreign policy and humanitarian priorities. In an interview with Crux, Ms Collins addressed a number of topical issues including…
A woman in Limerick nearly died from an ectopic pregnancy three days after having a medical abortion, a paper in the Irish Medical Journal shows. As no ultrasound was conducted, a situation developed in which the 24-year-old woman in question had a medical termination, before being treated in hospital three days later for an ectopic…
When Christians gathered in Jerusalem to remember Jesus’ entry into the city, it was one of a few joyful moments in the Holy Land, “crushed by so much hatred” in the months following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. “Despite the war and everything going on around us this year, we have once again…
Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia is set to finally be completed by 2026, a whole 144 years since work on the monumental basilica started. Designed by celebrated Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, who is buried in the church’s crypt, the world-renowned piece of architecture is famously unfinished. According to La Sagrada Familia Foundation, the organisation tasked with the…
French President Emmanuel Macron announced last week that the French Parliament in May would examine a proposal to legalise ‘aid-in-dying’ throughout the country. Macron in an interview with the Catholic newspaper La Croix described the measure as “a law of fraternity” that “reconciles the autonomy of the individual and the solidarity of the nation”. The law “opens…
The Church is better at saying sorry for instances of abuse, a study from Queens University Belfast has found. The QUB report on Church documents from March 2020 to February 2023 concludes that apologies offered during this time “do not offer excuses or create scapegoats”. “They are usually very detailed, with acceptance of full culpability…
Brandon Scott
Ruadhán Jones