When a suicide bomber attempted to enter a Catholic church in Pakistan in 2015, a 20-year-old volunteer security guard blocked him. “I will die but I will not let you go in,” he reportedly told the terrorist armed with explosives. The attacker then set off a bomb, immediately killing himself and the man now recognised as…
New UAE Apostolic Nunciature opens in Abu Dhabi The Substitute of the Secretariat of State, Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, presided over a ceremony to officially open the new Apostolic Nunciature to the UAE on Friday. The event took place on the same day as the world marks the International Day of Human Fraternity, which commemorates…
Cork school celebrates Ceist’s 15th anniversary On February 1, St Brigid’s Day, St Mary’s High School, Midleton in Co. Cork celebrated the 15th anniversary of the foundation of Ceist. To celebrate the occasion a representative group from St Mary’s visited the Presentation Sisters in the convent adjacent to the school. A spokesperson said: “Ceist post-primary…
The voices of the silent majority of parents who want to send their child to a local parish school must be heard in the ongoing debate on education, the head of a group representing Catholic schools has insisted. This comes following revelations that 78% of people support the Church having a role in continuing to…
The Ukrainian Catholic community in Ireland have been taking “enormous” solace in the concern shown by Irish people about the widely-reported threat Russia poses their country, Fr Vasyl Kornitsky, chaplain to the Ukrainian community has said. Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Fr Kornitsky expressed gratitude for “how supportive, how caring the Irish community has been”. “Every…
The relentlessness of 24 hour news cycles has created a sense of panic among young people, psychotherapist and author of Fragile, Stella O’Malley has said. Ms O’Malley said this has been particularly acute in the reportage of the climate crisis, the Covid pandemic, and more recently the Russian-Ukrainian crisis. This comes following a major report…
Staff reporter Prominent theologian and author Rev. Dr Vivian Boland OP has warned that the synodal process the Church is embarking upon may focus too much on “organisation and management”. Speaking to The Irish Catholic newspaper Dr Boland said it would be useful for the synodal process to consider the entirety of the Church rather…
Father Stuart Long, who was a priest of the Diocese of Helena, Montana, is set to be the main character in a motion picture starring Mark Wahlberg as the priest himself, with Mel Gibson playing the priest’s father. The film is set to release April 15, 2022, Good Friday. Father Stu, as he was affectionately…
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…
Chai Brady