Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has officially requested that the Vatican become involved in mediating talks aimed at seeking a solution to the nation’s catastrophic economic crisis. Following weeks of resistance on the part of the president to any negotiations with his political rivals, even as dangerous food and medical shortages grow ever worse, Mr Maduro…
Staff reporter A proposal to reduce the time dedicated to religious education in primary schools will further undermine the “distinctive ethos” of Catholic schools, Dr Tom Finegan of The Iona Institute has said. Speaking to The Irish Catholic this week, Dr Finegan criticised pressures being placed on Catholic schools to become ever more secular through a…
Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre launches new website The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre has unveiled a new website towards communicating the full range of projects it undertakes in the Holy Land. Designed primarily as a means of keeping the 30,000 knights and ladies of the order worldwide informed, www.oessh.va is also aimed at anyone interested in events in the Holy…
Fr Hamel, 84, hailed as martyr for the Faith
Concerns have been expressed by the Christian community in Turkey after it was reported that a number of Christian churches were attacked during the failed military uprising of July 15. As people took to the streets in defiance of the army factions attempting to seize the country, it is reported that pockets of civilians damaged…
Bishop Denis Nulty of Kildare & Leighlin has called for a “re-imagining” of the Pledge to reflect the dangers posed to Irish youth from sports enhancing drugs in addition to alcohol. Addressing members of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart during their annual pilgrimage to Knock, Bishop Nulty referred to Ireland’s continuing…
Any “whittling down” of religious education in Catholic schools would be “unacceptable”, a leading academic has said. Speaking to The Irish Catholic this week as the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) finalised changes to the time afforded to certain subjects in primary schools, Dr John Murray of Mater Dei Institute’s Department of Theology…
Staff reporter Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has been appointed to the Vatican’s new Secretariat for Communications. The body, consisting of six cardinals, seven bishops and three laypersons and headed by Msgr Dario Vigano’, is responsible for, among other things, coordinating the work of the Vatican website, Vatican Television Centre, Vatican Radio, the Vatican newspaper and…
Msgr Kieran Harrington, vicar of communications for the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York delivers the invocation during the first day of the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Both the Democratic and Republican parties in the US regularly invite clergy of different denominations to open their conventions. Photo: Tannen Maury
Staff reporters Hundreds of young Irish Catholics are packing their bags to make the pilgrimage to Poland to celebrate World Youth Day with Pope Francis. Two million young Catholics are expected to throng the city of Krakow for July 26-31. Some 1,600 young pilgrims are travelling in coming days, 10 times the number who went to…
Paul Keenan
Greg Daly
Courtney McGrail