The Canadian government has introduced legislation to delay by one year plans to include mental illness among the list of conditions eligible for the country’s assisted suicide program. The assisted suicide law – called Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) – excludes Canadians from eligibility whose only medical condition is mental illness. In 2021 lawmakers excluded…
There was a full house in Trinity College Dublin for a talk on the life of St Titus Brandsma, who was killed by the Nazis for speaking out against anti-Jewish laws. Dr Fernando Millán Romeral O.Carm., former prior general of St Brandsma’s Carmelite congregation, explored the saint’s battle for truth and freedom in his February…
‘Pope’s ministry is for life’, says Pope Francis Pope Francis addressed once again the question of whether he will resign the papacy in two conversations with Jesuit priests in Africa this month. “I believe that the pope’s ministry is ad vitam. I see no reason why it should not be so,” the Pope said February…
Sisters of St Clare to leave Kenmare The Sisters of St Clare order are to leave Kenmare, Co. Kerry, after more than 160 years due to declining numbers. In a letter read out to parishioners on Sunday, February 12, the sisters said they “regrettably” couldn’t maintain a presence in the town. “As a congregation, we…
The future of religious life in Ireland is at a “turning point” as the number of women religious on the island of Ireland has halved in the last 20 years. There were 9,031 women religious on the island of Ireland at the turn of the millennium, but in the last 20 years that has declined…
Former Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Baroness Nuala O’Loan has called for an inquiry into the Omagh Bombing in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Ms O’Loan said that there can be “absolutely no doubt” that a full public inquiry in Ireland “is a necessary complement to the UK inquiry” announced two weeks ago.…
Accord has released its latest attendance figures for couples undertaking Sacramental marriage preparation courses throughout Ireland. The 2022 figure of 4,610 couples hosted through 297 marriage preparation programmes is equal to 2019’s pre-pandemic figure of 4610 couples hosted at 285 programmes. Speaking at St Valentine’s shrine in the Carmelite church on Whitefriar Street Monday, Director of…
Lined up to narrate the Concerts in Aid of the Capuchin Day Centre for the Homeless, former RTÉ presenter Aonghus McAnally has described Brother Kevin Crowley as a “living saint” and the work of the Capuchin Day Centre as more vital than ever. Speaking to The Irish Catholic newspaper about the event and its cause,…
As the European synodal assembly closed on Sunday, the gathered bishops praised the “frank” and respectful dialogue between bishops, priests, consecrated and lay men and women. Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin along with 13 other delegates from the island of Ireland attended the European assembly from February 5-12. In their final remarks released on February…
With the law to create exclusion zones around abortion clinics receiving Royal Assent February 6, pro-lifers have vowed not to take the measure “lying down”. This comes after a priest in England faced criminal charges for praying for free speech outside an abortion clinic after business hours. At least two others have faced charges for…
Ruadhán Jones