Cardinal Zen hospitalised in Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen has been hospitalised in Hong Kong after his health deteriorated upon returning from Benedict XVI’s funeral in Rome. The 91-year-old cardinal wrote on his blog on January 31 that he is receiving treatment in the hospital after experiencing difficulty breathing. Cardinal Zen said that the doctors…
Pro-life TD to head Oireachtas committee on assisted suicide Kerry Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae has been appointed chair of the special Oireachtas Committee on assisted suicide and euthanasia. It was recommended in 2021 that the Committee be established to undertake an in-depth examination of the topic after an earlier piece of legislation, proposed by Gino…
New head for Vatican body overseeing selection of bishops Pope Francis has chosen Chicago-born Bishop Robert Prevost of Chiclayo, Peru, to succeed Canadian Cardinal Ouellet as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. The Vatican announced on January 30 the retirement of Cardinal Ouellet and the appointment…
EXCLUSIVE Many members of religious orders say they feel “hurt and dismayed” that a new initiative designed to promote vocations will not include them and only promote diocesan priesthood, The Irish Catholic has been told. It is understood that many religious congregations feel that the ‘Year of Vocations’, which is due to begin on April…
The Church in Ireland should pause its national synod until the conclusion of the global process, the Secretary General of the Vatican Synod has suggested. Cardinal Mario Grech recommended that Ireland “proceed at a slower pace” while the global discernment process is ongoing. The Church in Ireland should “wait for the conclusion of the universal…
Catholic schools are not interested in seeing radical gender ideology forced onto pupils, according to a leading voice in Catholic education in Ireland. Speaking on The Week that Really Was podcast, CEO of the Catholic Education Partnership, Alan Hynes, said that with regard to gender theory “we have to avoid teaching as fact stuff that…
The North’s Under Secretary of State has praised how Catholic schools promote reconciliation and integration, ahead of the Good Friday Agreement’s anniversary. Lord Caine joined the DUP’s Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and members of the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) in a visit to St Patrick’s Academy, Lisburn, to mark Catholic Schools’ Week. After the…
A senator’s call to differentiate in law between the killing of a child within the first 24 hours of birth and the first 12 months of life has been described as “alarming and chilling”, by Laois-Offaly TD Carol Nolan. This comes after Fianna Fáil Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee issued a statement regarding concealed pregnancies and births last…
Following a rampage of a radical Jewish gang in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City on the evening of January 26, the Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries in the Holy Land called on political and religious authorities to bring civil and religious life in Jerusalem back to “greater serenity”. “This is only the latest…
The in-person Irish delegates to the European phase of the synod process will be joined by ten online delegates representing different lobby groups and evangelisation initiatives. Primate of All Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin will lead a delegation of four to the assembly in the Czech capital Prague from February 5-12 including Nicola Brady, Chairperson of…
Chai Brady
Ruadhán Jones