We must be careful to avoid turning laity into mini-priests, writes Ruadhán Jones We reported last week that dioceses are pushing ahead with lay-led funerals, a move that is welcome in some respects and a sign of painful decline in others. The painful decline in the number of vocations to the priesthood is an ongoing…

Chris Altieri “This business will get out of control,” intoned the inimitable Fred Thompson as Rear Admiral Joshua Painter in the film adaptation of Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October, after an F-14 had crashed on the deck of his aircraft carrier that was also carrying CIA analyst Jack Ryan, hero of that story and…

Lucian Chauvin BUENOS AIRES – Pope Francis may be nearly 7,000 miles from Argentina, his native land, but it certainly does not feel that way as the country gears up for a presidential election on October 22. While the Pope has strived to stay on the sidelines of political debates in Argentina, deciding against visiting…

After 37 years as a priest, I realise there is one area of my life and ministry where I could be diagnosed with scruples. This scrupulosity occurs when it comes to what priest and parish have to offer and ensuring that every family and individual gets treated exactly the same. Whether they come to Mass…

When former president Mary McAleese was asked – on The Late Late Show – about the prospects for a united Ireland, she was judicious in her reply: she would stick by the Good Friday Agreement, which stipulated that it must happen by democratic consent. But, she added, the demographics “were going in the right direction”.…

Forgiveness is an endangered virtue in our society, which seems addicted to the cancellation of people judged to hold unacceptable views. Instead, something like Orwell’s ‘Two Minutes Hate’ is triggered, where people foam at the mouth in anger in programmed ways. However, something unusual happened on Twitter recently, (I refuse to call it X, which…

We can’t forget that in our lifetime, the Government actually criminalised going to Mass, writes David Quinn Dr Tony Holohan became probably the most famous face in Ireland during the Covid-19 pandemic. As the country’s Chief Medical Officer, it was he the Government turned to in order to steer us through the crisis. He chaired…

Christian democracy means putting the human person at the centre of our political action writes Manfred Weber MEP The world has been in crisis management mode for more than a decade: we experienced a global financial crisis and a pandemic. Now we are witnessing what it means having a bloody and ruthless war right on…

As first reported by Loup Besmond of La Croix, Pope Francis apparently is considering imposing pontifical secrecy on the upcoming Synod of Bishops on synodality, not simply on opinions and votes, as was past practice, but on all issues addressed during synod discussions. The stated aim would be to protect the frankness and honesty of…

Fredrick Nzwili Two weeks after the military seized power in Gabon, a Catholic priest there said ordinary people feel more secure and hopeful, even as some analysts warn of a “contagious coup pandemic” in the former French colonies in West and Central Africa. On September 4, General Brice Oligui Nguema was sworn in as the…