The Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin has urged people to find time in the hectic schedule of shopping and Christmas preparation to pray. As he launched the Irish bishops’ 2016 online Advent calendar (www.catholicbishops.ie) this week, Dr Martin said: “As Advent is the season of preparation for the coming of our Lord, I…

More prelates intervene in Amoris Laetitia row The row centred on the Pope’s encyclical on the family, Amoris Laetitia, rumbles on. Following last week’s intervention by four cardinals seeking to question Pope Francis’ knowledge of Church teaching on the family, and the rebuke by the Pontiff and a subsequent invitation from Cardinal Blase Cupich of…

The number of homeless people sleeping rough in Dublin has risen by more than 50% since last year, according to Fr Peter McVerry. A count by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive last week found that 140 individuals were sleeping on the streets and in doorways, compared to 91 counted at the same time last year. …

Cuban expatriates hoping for a new chapter of freedoms in their country celebrate the death of Fidel Castro in Little Havana, a neighbourhood of Miami, November 26. Castro, who seized power in a 1959 revolution and governed Cuba until 2006, died November 25 at the age of 90. Photo: CNS

The Archdiocese of Dublin has issued an appeal for parishioners to donate foodstuffs to its Crosscare appeal for those in need this Christmas.  Commencing with Masses taking place this weekend, Crosscare is accepting donations for its collection of non-perishable food items and hygiene products to stock its seven food banks in time for the season.…

Inés san Martín Fidel Castro, Cuba’s communist leader who died on November 25 at the age of 90, was by far the most dominant figure in Cuba’s one-party state which he ruled with an iron fist for almost five decades before handing over the powers to his brother Raúl in 2008. A hero to the left across the…

A documentary examining the impact of the 1916 Easter Rising in Australia and on Ireland’s Archbishop Daniel Mannix, the then Archbishop of Melbourne, is now available on the RTÉ Player.  Michael, They’ve Shot Them was filmed by a Melbourne-based Irish production company founded by Eoin Hahessy and relates how the Rising and its aftermath fed…

Christians in post-ISIS Iraq face new challenges, writes Paul Keenan

Staff reporter Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh has described the opening of a new Irish missionary seminary in Dundalk, Co. Louth as a sign of the “New Evangelisation for Ireland”. Speaking as he officiated at the opening of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary last weekend, the Primate of All Ireland referenced the great legacy of Irish…

The North’s leading pro-life group Precious Life has submitted a massive 300,000-strong petition to Stormont urging legislators to keep Northern Ireland abortion-free. In a response to a recent petition on behalf of Amnesty International calling for abortion access to be extended to the region, which claimed 45,000 signatures, Bernadette Smyth of Precious Life joined with…