He campaigned for peace in Myanmar, the former Burma, the troubled Southeast Asian country that has always been torn by conflict in its 70-year history. All the more so now, as the country – much loved and often cited by Pope Francis – is torn by civil war after the military coup of 2021, and…
A recent release from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that the number of marriages post-Covid have been on the decline. In 2024, Ireland saw 20,348 marriages registered, including 668 same-sex unions, marking a 3.8% drop from 2023 and a 7.7% decline since 2014. Overall the marriage rate was 3.8 per 1000 people, down from…
Brazil celebrated 525 years of the first Catholic Mass in the country on April 26. Fr Severino Pinheiro da Silva Neto OFMCap, Chaplain for the Brazilian Community in Dublin said it is important to remember the day as it “reminds us of our identity, shows us who we are as it points at our origins.”…
Pietro Parolin is a diplomat of great caliber. His star in the diplomatic service of the church and in the development of realpolitik and pragmatic strategies has been shining for many years. Just to give an example, in 2006, Inside the Vatican magazine named Parolin one of the ‘Top Ten’ of the year, citing his…
In Gaza ‘the situation is shameful, catastrophic, we have to say it… the dignity of those 2.3 million people, is not taken into the slightest consideration. We cannot think that they are all colluding with terrorism and crime’. This sentence, is just the latest in a long series of sharp accusations that the Latin Patriarch…
The Philippines madehistory on April 27, Divine Mercy Sunday, by becoming the first nation in the world to consecrate itself entirely to Jesus through divine mercy. While African bishops consecrated their continent to divine mercy in 2016, the Philippines is the first individual country to take this step. Fr James Cervantes of the Marians of…
There’s a very catchy jingle that was repeated over and over again on radio commercials and ringtones during the recent Islamic holy month: “Ramadan fi masr haga tanya,” meaning something like “Ramadan in Egypt is something else.” It was certainly true, and the same might be said for the celebration of Easter which is about…
Beauty will save the world, and the Church too: Portuguese Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, until now (in Bergoglio’s pontificate) Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for culture and education, truly believes this. Beauty, says and expresses the 60-year-old cardinal in his vision and pastoral praxis, will save the Church in its relationship with the world,…
The World Council of Churches (WCC) has expressed deep sorrow and concern over the tragic loss of civilian lives in a recent drone strike in Gedeb, Amhara region, Ethiopia, on April 23, 2025. More than 100 civilians, including women and children, were killed while attending a community gathering at a primary school. This attack adds…
The Parish of the Annunciation, Rathfarnham celebrated this week 150 years since the foundation of the Church of Annunciation. To mark the important milestone, a Jubilee Mass celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin Paul Dempsey took place on April 27. Celebrating the Mass alongside Bishop Dempsey were Fr Martin Cosgrove PP and Fr Michael Coady…
Renata Steffens