A US-based Jewish magazine, Forward, has named Pope Francis in a top 50 list of influential personalities for 2013. Along with its annual offering of the most influential Jewish Americans of the year, Forward name-checks the Pontiff for note due to his positive relations with the Jewish community. After eight months as head of the…

Ireland’s only lifestyle event for seniors traveling the country

America’s State Department has officially designated Boko Haram as a ‘terrorist’ organisation. The move has implications for how the United States and its military can now engage with the radical Islamist group in its global ‘war on terror’ and may signal an increase in the assistance offered to the Nigerian government in combating the group…

Pope Francis has donated €111,000 to aid the victims of super-typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. The monies will be made available through Cor Unum for the immediate needs of residents, in particular of Leyte and Samar islands, which suffered the full force of the typhoon which brought 315kph winds as it made landfall on November…

Crosscare holding a food appeal over the four weeks of Advent

The parliamentary inquiry into the mishandling of abuse by the Catholic Church in the Australian state of Victoria has issued a report scathing of the local Church. Betrayal of Trust, the final report of the cross-party inquiry, launched in 2012, covers incidents of abuse by clergy from 1960 to 1985 and details what inquiry chairwoman…

Attorney General, John Larkin QC said he favoured “taking law out of the equation so no prosecutions, no enquiries, no inquests, no civil proceedings”.

Seamus McEntee ordained on Feast of St Laurence O’Toole

India – A Catholic in Kerala whose hand was cut off by Muslims who accused him of blasphemy has been acquitted of the charge after three years fighting for justice. Professor T.J. Joseph had been targeted when he set a test for his students in which the Prophet Mohammed was listed in a sentence with…

"What we have to avoid absolutely is that religions engender fear, attitudes of exclusion or of superiority in people." This was the message delivered on November 18 by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue at an historic meeting in Vienna, Austria. That day saw the inaugural meeting of the King…