Barcelona’s iconic Sagrada Família basilica has agreed to pay €36 million in back payments after going without a building permit for more than 130 years. The church, designed by architect Antoni Gaudí, has been under construction since 1882, but without any official permit. Until now, the building has only been marked on property registries as…
Hypocrisy is the leaven that causes men and women to be self-centred and indifferent to the world around them, according to the Pope. “This leaven is dangerous,” the Pope said in his homily during Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae. “It is a leaven that grows inward, a leaven that grows without a future because…
The diaconate in Ireland could help encourage vocations to the priesthood, a newly-ordained deacon has said. Prominent lawyer Brett Lockhart QC, who with eight other men was ordained a deacon earlier this month in Belfast’s St Peter’s Cathedral told The Irish Catholic that as the diaconate flourishes in Ireland, there will be a “better environment…
A senior Catholic priest considered a prime witness against an Indian bishop accused of rape has been found dead, with his family suspecting foul play. Fr Kuriakose Kattuthara (67) was found dead inside his room in Jalandhar on the morning of October 22, a week after Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar was bailed by the state…
“Without the Christians, the Holy Land is no more than a museum”. This was the stark message from Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo to a group of participants in The Irish Catholic annual Christian Solidarity Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in Jerusalem last week. Bishop Marcuzzo – who is an anxiliary bishop to the Latin Patriarch of…
Government spokespeople have been unable to support a claim by Justice minister Charlie Flanagan that some countries at the United Nations “have quoted Ireland’s blasphemy laws in defence of their own repressive regimes”. Mr Flanagan made the claim on Twitter on Sunday, October 21, calling for people to vote this Friday to remove Ireland’s constitutional…
Bishop Donal McKeown has likened Brexit to radical nationalist movements in Germany, France and the US under Donald Trump’s administration, saying the Church’s message is more appealing to “many young people”. The Church’s message focuses “very strongly on the whole idea of reconciliation and healing, it certainly has a huge contribution to make,” he told…
Primate of All-Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin has expressed the hope that his counterpart in Dublin Diarmuid Martin could give input to a key Rome meeting on abuse next year. Speaking to Crux at the Synod of Bishops, Archbishop Eamon said that the Dublin archbishop “has a knowledge and understanding of this issue which I think…
A bishop from Lebanon shared at the Synod of Bishops how his online catechesis program in Arabic has helped him unite young Catholics across the Middle East. “Thanks to the web I am able to connect many young people from the Middle East. We’ve also had conversions of young people who have recognised Jesus through…
Irish Cervical Cancer campaigner Vicky Phelan has been tapped to receive the Fitzgerald Bible Award for her role in the CervicalCheck scandal. Ms Phelan settled a High Court action against a US lab after her cancer was missed in a smear test. Chairman of the Fitzgerald Bible Bruff Award group Paul Dennehy said the award…
Colm Fitzpatrick
Chai Brady