Cindy Wooden Pope Francis’ 2023 was a year of important trips made or postponed, a predecessor’s funeral and his own 10th anniversary as Pope, a call to the world to act on climate change and a call to the Church to strengthen its mission by learning “synodality”. The Argentine pope, who was born on December…
Pope Francis revealed his intention to be buried at Rome’s Basilica of St Mary Major, reflecting his intense personal devotion to Mary and the famed icon of Salus Populi Romani contained in its Borghese chapel. Francis thus will become the sixth pontiff to be interred in the basilica, joining Pius V, Sixtus V, Paul V, Clement IX…
Jonathan Luxmoore As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is celebrating its 75th birthday, the Vatican’s Permanent Representative in Geneva, Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, organised a symposium that aimed to focus on both human rights and care for creation. The December 8 symposium, co-sponsored by the Sovereign Order of Malta, Caritas in Veritate Foundation, and the…
I had known that the parish church in Tubbercurry turned 90 in 2023. I wasn’t sure of the date but had mentioned it at a pastoral council meeting and thought we should mark the event as the year was coming to a close. I called Bishop Paul and asked if he might be free to…
As each New Year dawns, we marvel at the passage of time. We take stock of our lives, and how far we’ve come, and how far we have yet to travel. Time inevitably brings change. Yet few of us, as individuals, have changed nearly as much as this Irish nation in which we live.
Every Christmas, a concept at the heart of the season is the birth of Christ as Saviour. ‘Christ the Saviour is born’ we sing in the carol Silent Night; ‘Saviour’s Day’ warbled Cliff Richard and on Christmas night.
Italian Prime Minister, Georgia Meloni, often described as right-wing, seems to have struck up a molto simpatico friendship with the British PM Rishi Sunak. There was much hugging and embracing by the pair when both attended a festival of ideas in Italy last weekend. The word is that the chemistry between them is excellent. Personal…
We must strive for the common good of immigrants and citizens alike, writes David Quinn What is the right Christian approach to immigration? There is definitely one approach that is all wrong, which to simply close our borders and never ‘welcome the stranger’, to always say ‘there is no room at the inn’. But after…
The View Christmas is becoming two separate feasts: for Christians it is the feast of the Nativity, the time when we remember and celebrate the birth of the Christchild in Bethlehem, with all that followed right up to the moment of the crucifixion and the resurrection; for others it is an unidentified festival – a…
Notebook We won the county final. The rural parish where I’ve been based since 2022 took on the big urban city clubs in the biggest county in Ireland — and we won. It was some achievement for a tiny parish like ours. Some may wonder who is this “we”. I haven’t been known previously for…
John L. Allen Jr.
Mary Kenny
David Quinn
Nuala O’Loan