A close confidant of the Pope has revealed how he felt touched by the ability of the Pontiff to reach across the sectarian divide in the North. Austen Ivereigh, who has co-authored a book with Francis as well as being acknowledged as one of the Argentine Pope’s most authoritative biographers, said his recent experience in Belfast…
A cardinal who had served as an aide to now-retired Pope Benedict XVI and was present for his meetings with survivors of clerical sexual abuse said he never found in him any shadow or attempt to hide or minimise anything”. The depths of human sin and depravity “distressed him intimately, and he sometimes remained silent…
The city of Louisville, Kentucky, is paying a local police officer a $75,000 settlement after he was suspended for praying outside an abortion clinic, according to the firm representing him. Officer Matthew Schrenger was off-duty when he stopped to pray with his father on the public sidewalk outside the EMW Women’s Surgical Center nearly a…
The Society of the Divine Word (SVD) welcomed Saturday new Frs Clement Kwabena Narcher, Joseph Mensah and Liwei Huang, with Archbishop Farrell exhorting the men to go forward “so that the Gospel may reach the ends of the earth”. Speaking at the ordination in Mountview parish, Archbishop Farrell said the new Fathers have been “availing of…
A Supreme Court ruling dismissing an appeal by the Minister for Education against two homeschooled students excluded from the Leaving Cert calculated grades scheme has been welcomed by home-schooling parents. Wicklow-based Jaclyn Ascough, who has spent more than 20 years homeschooling her seven children – three of which she still teaches – said the ruling…
Fr Giuse (Joseph) Tran Ngoc Thanh, OP, was killed in a knife attack on Saturday. Fr Tran was attacked January 29 at a mission of Dak Mot, about 40 miles northwest of Kon Tum. He was hearing confessions before the last Mass of the evening, according to Ordo Praedicatorum on Facebook. The Diocese of Kon…
Pope to meet students as part of synodal process Highlighting the importance of a Church that truly listens, Pope Francis will participate in a virtual meeting hosted by Loyola University in Chicago with students from North, Central and South America. The February 24 virtual meeting, titled ‘Building Bridges: A Synodal Encounter between Pope Francis and…
Staff reporter Aid to the Church in Need’s recent call for prayer for Myanmar was in recognition of the “extraordinarily dangerous” situation the Faithful find themselves in there, Director of ACN Ireland, Michael Kinsella told The Irish Catholic. The pontifical foundation invited Catholics on January 27 to observe a day of prayer on February 1 the…
Catholic bishops in the Holy Land invited their Orthodox counterparts to contribute to the consultation process leading to the 2023 Synod on Synodality. In a letter dated January 24, the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land (ACOHL) explained that Catholics in the region were taking part in the local stage of a two-year synodal path launched by…
Pope Francis’ leadership has been key to improving diplomatic relations between Ireland and the Holy See, an expert in Vatican diplomacy claims. Victor Gaetan told The Irish Catholic that, according to sources in Rome, it was “the Irish Government’s willingness to work with Pope Francis that inspired it to re-open its embassy in 2014”. Mr Gaetan, author…
Chai Brady
Ruadhán Jones