Increasing severity in the persecution of Christians in different parts of the world is reaching “genocidal” levels, according to a new report commissioned by the British government. An interim report issued by an Independent Review set up at the request of the UK foreign secretary said that Christians are overwhelmingly the most targeted religious group…
The PLC can help Catholics find and support pro-life candidates, writes Eilís Mulroy All of the main political parties and indeed all of those at the national political level pay detailed and close attention to the local elections. The reason they do so is because they provide a significant window of opportunity in which…
Pope Francis is praying for the victims of the recent attack on a Catholic church in Burkina Faso, the interim head of the Holy See press office has said. “The Holy Father learned with sorrow the news of the attack on the church in Dablo, in #BurkinaFaso. He prays for the victims, for their families…
The commission Pope Francis appointed to study the history and identity of women deacons did not reach a unanimous conclusion about whether deaconesses in the early church were “ordained” or formally “blessed”, the Pope has said. “What is fundamental is that there was no certainty that there was an ordination with the same form and…
Fine Gael is out of step with the Christian Democrat parties with which it shares a platform in the European Parliament, according to a former senator who lost the party whip in 2013 when she voted against the legalisation of abortion. “I just think that they’ve lost all sight of principle. That doesn’t seem to…
Ireland’s very own ‘Rosary priest’ has died, aged 97. Fr Gabriel Harty OP, the senior member of Ireland’s Dominican province, passed away on Thursday in Drogheda’s Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital. Known as ‘the Rosary Priest of Ireland’, Fr Harty was known for his decades of promoting the Rosary through preaching, missions and publication of…
Pro-life campaigners from across Canada gathered on Ottawa’s Parliament Hill last week for the country’s annual National March for Life. Carrying a variety of handmade and pre-printed signs in a variety of languages, pro-life advocates, school groups, families, and clergy turned out to mark the 50th year of legal abortion in the country. Police declined…
There has been a mixed reaction in Ireland to norms published by Pope Francis to tackle abuse and cover-up in the Church. Archbishop Eamon Martin has hailed Vos Estis Lux Mundi (‘You are the Light of the World’), the Pope’s apostolic letter on safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults as “a significant move for the…
The Ebola outbreak that began last August in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has now claimed more than 1,000 lives, the nation’s health ministry has confirmed. Efforts to contain the disease have been hampered by misinformation and distrust on the part of local communities, who in some cases have retaliated against health teams by…
A group which represents more than 1,000 Irish priests has said Pope Francis’ comments about the status of women deacons is a “major disappointment”. The reaction comes after the Pope revealed that the 2016 commission he appointed to study women deacons in the early Church could not reach a consensus on whether female ordination was…
Greg Daly
Colm Fitzpatrick