A Catholic bishop in the Philippines has called for a strong response from the government to fight poliovirus, following an announcement last month from health officials that the once-eradicated disease has made a reappearance. “It is very sad that there is a re-emergence of polio after having eliminated it for many years,” Bishop Broderick Pabillo,…
Tributes have been paid to Bishop Éamonn Walsh for his “pioneering” work in ensuring child safeguarding within the Church in Ireland. The Vatican announced in a communique on Monday that Pope Francis had accepted Dr Walsh’s retirement as an auxiliary bishop of Dublin. He turned 75 last month. Bishop Walsh served as the Apostolic Administrator…
A charity that helps women in prostitution has defended a law they campaigned for aimed at targeting sex buyers despite few convictions, saying there has been a “marked increase in Garda activities” since it came into effect. Ruhama welcomed a Garda statement that in mid-September they interviewed 38 individuals they suspected to be sex buyers…
Lawmakers in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca have approved a measure to decriminalise abortion, despite vocal Church opposition. The measure passed the Oaxaca state legislature, 24-10, amid shouts in the session from boisterous supporters and opponents. It allows for abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Oaxaca becomes the second Mexican jurisdiction to…
Police in South Korea are investigating a doctor who mistakenly performed an abortion on the wrong woman in August. The mix-up was due to an inadvertent switch of medical charts and a failure to confirm the patient’s identity before the procedure, CNN reports. A Vietnamese woman pregnant with a 6-week-old baby entered a gynaecology clinic…
A pro-life group have welcomed the Garda Commissioner’s statement that ‘safe access zones’ to abortion providers were unnecessary, but said politicians’ reactions were “deeply alarming”. The Pro Life Campaign criticised some prominent TDs who decidedly ignored and belittled the statement which said further legislation wasn’t needed. Pro Life Campaign spokesperson Eilís Mulroy said: “What these…
First US head of CDF group dies age 83 US Cardinal William Levada, former head of the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation and retired archbishop of San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, died on September 26 in Rome. He was 83. When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, he named then-Archbishop Levada to replace…
Trócaire and an iconic Dublin parish stand to lose thousands of euro after a cash-in-transit security company in financial difficulties has been revealed to have used client money to prop up its accounts. The chief operations officer of Business Mobile Security Services (BMSS), which trades under the name of Senaca, asked the High Court this…
China harvesting organs from minority groups, activists say The Chinese government is harvesting organs from religious and ethnic minorities, a human rights organisation told the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva last week. The China Tribunal, which calls itself an “independent, international people’s tribunal” that investigates allegations of organ harvesting in the country, said…
Clergy have called for peace following the attack last month on Fermanagh businessman Kevin Lunney, which saw the Quinn Industrial Holdings director abducted, beaten, and dumped at a Cavan roadside. At a Mass in support of Mr Lunney in Kinawley, Co. Fermanagh, Fr Maurice McMorrow described the attack on the 50-year-old father of six as…
Chai Brady
Greg Daly