Staff reporter Ireland’s most senior Churchman has assured priests that their dedication and resilience in difficult circumstances does not go unnoticed by the hierarchy and is a key point for discussion during meetings in Rome. Speaking at the opening Mass for the bishops’ ad limina pilgrimage to Rome, during which they will meet with Pope…
Northern pro-lifers are determined to make the protection of unborn children a key issue in the North’s coming election. Northern Secretary James Brokenshire announced elections for a new Assembly on March 2, following the collapse of the Executive after the resignation of Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister and the refusal of Sinn Féin to…
Corrymeela asked voters to consider ‘a worse alternative’ Inclusion and cooperation should be priorities in the North’s upcoming elections, Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation centre has said. In a statement following the announcement of the March 2 election, Corrymeela community leader Pádraig Ó Tuama said that while reconciliation is difficult, “the alternative is worse”. Insisting…
If you can help young migrants, you should do so immediately, Dromore’s Bishop John McAreavey has urged communities. Welcoming the Pope’s message for 2017’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees, Dr McAreavey, who chairs the Council for Justice and Peace of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, praised the Pontiff’s focused on the theme of ‘Child…
Staff reporter President Michael D. Higgins has led tributes to Nobel peace prize winner John Hume as the veteran peacemaker turned 80 this week. President Higgins described Mr Hume as “the moral architect of an inclusive peace process” that delivered the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. The president said that Mr Hume – who turned…
Two giants of the football world who relied on their Catholic faith for success in 2016 have received top honours at the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) inaugural Best Football Awards. Portugese legend Cristiano Ronaldo was named the world’s leading player at a star-studded event in Zurich, Switzerland, last Monday night, while manager of…
Martin McGuinness had no real choice but to resign as the North’s Deputy First Minister, according to a prominent northern priest. Expressing regret about Mr McGuinness’s poor health, Fermanagh’s Fr Joe McVeigh told The Irish Catholic, “I also feel he had no real option but to resign given the entrapment he was facing from the…
Priests visiting parishes in other dioceses must show documentation proving they are allowed to minister publicly when saying Masses, the head of the Irish Church’s child protection board has said. Following reports that two priests out of ministry because of abuse allegations had celebrated public Masses, Teresa Devlin, CEO of the National Board for the…
The head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has dismissed a threat of ‘fraternal correction’ of Pope Francis in connection with the ongoing Amoris Laetitia row. In an interview with Italian TV last weekend, Cardinal Gerhard Muller responded to the earlier threat issued by Cardinal Raymond Burke that a formal correction of the…
Staff Reporter Growth and decline are top of the agenda for the Irish bishops’ meetings with the Pope and senior Vatican officials next week, according to Archbishop Eamon Martin. This weekend sees Ireland’s bishops travelling to Rome for their first formal collective visit to the Vatican in over 10 years, with fewer than half the…
Greg Daly