Following days of violence and backlash after US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the Vatican appealed for “wisdom and prudence” to prevail. The announcement sparked anti-US protests throughout Asia and the Middle East, including a four-day protest in the Palestinian territories, Reuters reported. An Israeli security guard in…
Expectations are high among refugees in makeshift camps in Cox’s Bazar days after Pope Francis met with 16 Rohingya refugees in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. On his way back to the Vatican, the Pontiff admitted he wept during his encounter with the Muslim refugees who have fled from religious persecution in Myanmar›s neighbouring Rakhine State. “I…
UK Catholic leaders urged the British government to accept more child refugees from northern France after reports that hundreds of young people are being forced to sleep outdoors in low temperatures. An English and Scottish bishop said the situation of migrants waiting in the French port of Calais for the opportunity to cross the English…
Bishop John Buckley from the Diocese of Cork and Ross said that schools and teachers can never have the same influence as family in children’s lives, and described a new book as being a useful resource for priests and lay people in preparing for the World Meeting of Families next year. Karen Kent’s ’55 Way…
The actions of Labour Youth in Maynooth have been condemned as “juvenile” and “disrespectful” after ‘F*** the Pope’ was posted twice from their official account. An image of the Communications Officer of Labour Youth, Liam Haughey, was posted with him holding a sign which read “I am pro-choice because… F*** the Pope”. The Labour Party…
The Irish Christian Friends of Israel have “wholeheartedly” welcomed the US president’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by moving the US embassy there. The ICFI say that Donald Trump is being portrayed as making the decision executively, and note that the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act is a public law that was…
Amnesty Ireland has refused a demand to return €137,000 donated by an American billionaire so it could campaign against Ireland’s pro-life laws. The November 17 instruction from the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) comes almost exactly a year after the ethics watchdog directed the Abortion Rights Campaign to return its grant, originally worth almost…
Archbishop accused of demoralising effect on priests People who come to Mass “are a dying breed” the Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin has said. He said: “I could spend all my time being concerned about the people who come to church, but they’re — you know I don’t want to be nasty —…
The Brexit impasse over the border and the North needs to be overcome as a matter of urgency, Bishop Donal McKeown has said. Bishop McKeown’s comments followed the breakdown of EU-UK talks after Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party rejected a plan for Northern Ireland to retain “regulatory alignment” with the Republic, thus effectively retaining the…
Chai Brady
Greg Daly