The chaplain where tragic Jastine Valdez [pictured] attended college has said the tightknit community of students is devastated by the news of her death. Sr Bernadette Purcell – who has spoken to Jastine’s mother – said the family is “devastated” by what happened to the 23-year-old but said she believed “their Faith will help them…
Former Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave has left more than €33 million in his will, including €6,000 for Masses to be said for his soul. The Dublin politician, who died last October aged 97, had inherited the property from his father, WT Cosgrave, the first prime minister of the Irish Free State, and refused to sell it…
A theology scholar has said Minister Simon Harris expressed “serious ignorance” about Church teaching after criticising a bishop’s decision to stop an atheist politician from being a Confirmation sponsor. After reports that Minister of State John Halligan was barred from being a sponsor because of his atheism and public promotion of repealing the Eighth Amendment,…
An Australian archbishop has become the most senior Church cleric to be convicted of covering up child sex abuse, and faces up to two years in prison. Archbishop Philip Wilson of the Diocese of Adelaide will be sentenced next month after being found guilty of the crime in Newcastle Local Court in Sydney. He pleaded…
Chilean prelates guilty of concealing abuse must be held to account for their actions, and cannot simply be allowed to “resign and walk away”, leading child protection campaigner Marie Collins has said. Noting how Chile’s entire hierarchy has offered to resign following an investigation into clerical abuse and cover-up in the South American country, Mrs…
Mourning the deaths of protesters in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the Vatican’s observer at UN agencies in Geneva urged people on both sides to let “wisdom and prudence prevail”. Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic spoke at a special session of the UN Human Rights Council dedicated to discussing “the deteriorating human rights situation in the…
Former Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan has appealed for Pope Francis to visit the North during his trip to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families this summer, saying he could bring ‘healing’ to the region. Her suggestion, however, met with a cool reaction, with Vatican officials seemingly feeling it would be difficult to include a…
Letter from Rome Arguably, no single thing any Pope ever does is more consequential than choosing the cardinals who will elect his successor. When a Pontiff reveals his picks for new members of the Church’s most exclusive club, therefore, it always delivers a powerful statement not only about where the Church is today, but…
Pro-life campaigners have reacted with scepticism to the SDLP’s decision to retain its pro-life policy while allowing members to campaign for pro-choice policies. The party decided at a conference on Saturday to adopt a formal position of being pro-life, but with individual members allowed to choose their own stance on abortion as a matter of…
The founder of the suicide prevention charity Pieta House has said it is important to remember the human stories behind mental health statistics. New figures have revealed that almost 17,000 children between five and 17 are waiting over a year to see a psychologist. The charity’s founder Joan Freeman said that many parents and children…
Chai Brady
Greg Daly
John L. Allen Jr.