Following Monday’s shock announcement that the Vatican has requested the US Catholic Bishops to delay voting on new standards for bishop accountability, survivors of sexual abuse and bishop accountability activists decried the move as “totally unacceptable”. Terence McKiernan, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, called the move a “pre-emptive strike” by the Vatican against US bishops as they…
Politicians must act to assist workers as technology continues to transform jobs across Europe, said a committee of the European Union bishops’ commission. Work is sustainable only “if it does not harm or destroy the livelihood of others and if it uses generously and equitably the gifts of creation”, said the social affairs commission of…
Church-based charities are fighting to “ensure” refugees faced with homelessness in a direct provision centre in Dublin find accommodation before time runs out. Clondalkin Towers houses almost 250 people, with 70 of them having received their refugee status. Residents were told in October that the centre’s management company Fazyard Ltd would be closing the facility…
Almost 70% of respondents on The Irish Catholic Facebook page believe that the Irish presidential inauguration ceremony should no longer have a religious nature and instead become secular. The results come in the wake of a poll which said: “Michael D. Higgins has been inaugurated as the ninth President of Ireland. The event started with…
Refugees are “very scared” as they face been uprooted from their community or even being made homeless according to a representative of the centre’s residents. Naima Chaudhry, who is from Pakistan and has spent two years in the asylum process, said that the residents of Clondalkin Towers direct provision centre are fearful of the future,…
Midnight Mass was a top choice among the public when asked for favourite Christmas traditions to feature on this year’s Christmas stamps, according to An Post. Out of six traditions picked by the public through polls and messages shared online, there were “two very strong religious images” according to Anna McHugh, An Post’s head of…
The Archbishop of Armagh has said the suffering endured by the Irish – Catholic and Protestant – during WWI should act as an impetus for political leaders today to build a just and lasting peace in Northern Ireland. Archbishop Eamon Martin became the first senior Catholic leader to speak at an Armistice Remembrance Service when…
The new umbrella group, Suma de Actores Sociales (SUMAS), is calling Mexican citizens to stand up against efforts by president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador to legalise abortion, euthanasia and marijuana. SUMAS was launched in Mexico City and unites 700 organisations around the country. Juan Dabdoub Giacoman, a founding member, said the new group seeks “to…
A leading pro-life group has said the announcements that the Welsh and Irish governments will provide free abortions to women from the North of Ireland are a “shocking and outrageous attack” on unborn babies and the democratic process. The Welsh government announced on November 9 that they will provide free abortions for women from the…
Catholic bishops have urged help for half a million Congolese deported from neighbouring Angola under a crackdown on informal diamond mining. The bishops said they were alarmed by news of human rights violations by Angolan security forces and said the expulsion of “successive waves” threatened peace along the two countries’ 1,300-mile border. “Thousands of children,…
Chai Brady
Colm Fitzpatrick