Vatican and Russian Orthodox Church strengthen links The Russian Orthodox Church has announced plans to strengthen cooperation with the Vatican in the area of monitoring Christian persecution in the Middle East and other areas. The announcement came ahead of a meeting in Havana, Cuba, on February 12 between Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council…
Ten questions based on Catholic Social Teaching for Catholics to ask candidates standing in the Assembly elections: What will you do to address the unacceptable levels of childhood poverty in Northern Ireland and the widening gap between rich and poor? What will you do to uphold the right to life of unborn children and adults…
Tributes have been paid to the former Archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Desmond Connell, “a just, holy, prayerful man, aware of his own failings” who died peacefully on Tuesday at the age of 90. Born in Dublin in 1926, and ordained by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid in 1951, Cardinal Connell would go on to become a…
Organisers of the World Meeting of Families in Dublin next year have expressed delight that 900 people have already expressed an interest in volunteering at the event. Fr Tim Bartlett, Secretary General of the World Meeting of Families 2018 (WMOF2018), told The Irish Catholic that while an official call for 2,000 volunteers had not yet…
Pakistani legislators have moved to curb lynchings and mob violence against minority communities via a bill amending a number of criminal laws. Under the reforms passed by the National Assembly, sectarian violence and forced conversions are outlawed while the deliberate use of words to hurt religious feelings, already an offence punishable by a year in…
An Irish film which follows the adventures of a young 13th-Century monk as he attempts to transport a holy relic from Ireland to Rome has been sold to a US distributor for €1.2million. The deal means that Pilgrimage, directed by Brendan Muldowney, will reach cinema screens later this year. Pilgrimage tells to the story of …
The president of the Conference of German Bishops has said the Pope’s Amoris Laetitia exhortation is “very clear” and new guidelines adopted by the conference on Communion for divorced-and-remarried Catholics are in line with that. Speaking in Rome, Cardinal Reinhard Marx dismissed the ongoing row among priests and prelates on Amoris Laetitia and said he…
Pope Francis’ decision to send a ‘pastoral delegate’ to the controversial Marian shrine at Medjugorje has been welcomed by a leading Irish promoter of the pilgrimage site. Archbishop Henryk Hoser of Warszawa-Praga has been tapped as the Pope’s special envoy to the Bosnia-Herzegovina shrine, tasked with acquiring “a profound understanding of the pastoral situation” in…
Three Indian cardinals have brought the case of Fr Tom Uzhunallil, the Salesian kidnapped in Yemen in March 2016, to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, Cardinal George Alencherry and Cardinal Oswald Gracias urged Mr Modi to do all in his power to seek the release of the Indian priest, who appeared weak…
A parishioner has left a Co. Antrim parish a legacy of more than half a million pounds, one of the largest donations ever received within the Diocese of Down and Connor. The parish of Glenavy and Killead received the generous donation from Peter McAreavey, who died peacefully in hospital in July 2015. Fr Colm McBride…
Mags Gargan
Paul Keenan
Courtney McGrail
Greg Daly