In their annual reports, chaplains in Ireland’s 12 prisons have called for new recruitments, as services are squeezed due to the “intense needs” and the often “challenging” nature of the work. While the appointment of a head prison chaplain has been a “great boost”, the 2020 chaplains’ reports highlighted ratios as high as one chaplain…
Following the sudden collapse of a multi-storey building with people trapped inside, many Catholics around South Florida have fled to a common refuge: the comforting presence of Mary. So it was that several schools in the Miami Archdiocese reacted to the June 24 fall of the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside by praying the…
The bodies of at least 27 children from mother and baby homes, workhouses and hospitals were donated to Queen’s University Belfast for medical research, a children’s rights campaigner has found. The Times reported that the information was compiled using the Freedom of Information Act by Eunan Duffy, an adoptee from a Newry mother and baby…
Hosting a day of prayer for Lebanon with Catholic and Orthodox leaders July 1, Pope Francis said that the country should no longer be used to serve “unscrupulous interests”. “Stop using Lebanon and the Middle East for outside interests and profits,” the Pope said. “The Lebanese people must be given the opportunity to be the…
A Polish Catholic archbishop sanctioned by the Vatican has defended his election as a village mayor. Archbishop Sławoj Leszek Głódz told Radio Zet on June 29 that his role as mayor of Piaski, in northeastern Poland, did not conflict with canon law. Canon 285 of the Code of Canon Law says that “clerics are forbidden…
Vatican secretary of state urges Catholic Church in Germany to unite Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, urged German Catholics to put aside visions and individual needs, noting, “the community must take precedence”. Addressing several German bishops during a church service June 29, Cardinal Parolin referred to Pope Francis’ 2019 letter on the Synodal…
Parents urge Chile president to veto bill Pro-family organisations in Chile are urging President Sebastián Piñera to veto completely the recently passed “System of Guarantees of Children’s Rights” bill. “Today the children of Chile are more defenceless than ever, thanks to the irresponsibility of parliamentarians who, knowing the content of the bill, gave it their…
Pope Francis continued to have a “satisfactory” recovery from colon surgery, and by today (Wednesday) doctors had removed his intravenous drip, the Vatican press office said. After undergoing the surgery late on Sunday at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, “the post-operative progress of His Holiness Pope Francis continues to be regular and satisfactory,” the Holy See communique…
Bishop Tom Deenihan has said he is “troubled” that the Government has intervened to cancel First Holy Communion and Confirmation ceremonies, despite assurance from State officials that places of worship are safe. He also said that parents who are disappointed by the move should make their feelings known to politicians. The Bishop of Meath was…
As parishes transfer more schools to non-religious patrons, the law must be changed to allow remaining schools to be unapologetically Catholic. Bishop Tom Deenihan told The Irish Catholic there is a need for the Government to remove a controversial law on school admissions that risks preventing Catholic schools from catering for the needs of those…
Ruadhán Jones
Michael Kelly
Chai Brady