When the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni met Pope Francis, commentators expected a clash of views. Ms Meloni’s right-wing party is strongly committed to halting excessive immigration to Italy, while the Pope has always emphasised the Gospel directive to welcome the stranger. And since his parents were immigrants to Argentina, perhaps he also identifies with…

There is now a deep hunger for a political party which truly represents ordinary Irish people. The Rural Independents are about to embrace urban Ireland and launch a new national political party with that very aim in mind. It could yet prove remarkably popular. After all, voters who hold to Ireland’s traditional values and way…

Any serious and honest assessment must contend with the profound ethical costs that are involved in new genetic technologies, writes David Mullins Very many of the debates we have regarding the application of genetic technologies to embryonic human life revolve around conflicts between potential and promise, perils and pitfalls. A recent case in point can…

A high-level Vatican meeting hopes to end protests and brawls over liturgy changes in India, writes Ruadhán Jones When we describe fiesty debate over liturgical practices as ‘the liturgy wars’, we tend to mean a battle of words. But in one of the Church’s 23 self-governing Eastern Churches – the Syro-Malabar Church – protests over…

For those with ears to hear, every so often it’s actually possible to detect the sound of history’s tectonic plates as they shift. Such was the case Thursday, with a remarkable gesture by Pope Francis of inscribing a group of Coptic Christian martyrs into the Roman Martyrology, Catholicism’s official compendium of saints. The move was…

Judith Sudilovsky Faith leaders and activists for coexistence from across Israel gathered in prayer in front of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem May 10, in a week that once again saw yet another increase in violence between Israel and the Palestinians. The prayer march came after the May 2 death in prison…

The Oxford Dictionary defines the term “post-truth” as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief”. In short, people can believe whatever they want to believe as long as they feel it is right. This is a dangerous development for…

The woman in the pew just behind me smiled pleasantly at the “sign of peace” and I returned her friendly greeting. I didn’t know her well, but had occasionally encountered her locally. Later, after Mass, she spoke to me some more. An attractive lady in her 60s, she had recently been widowed, after many decades…

The rights to freedom of thought, expression and belief were accepted by countries as part of their international legal obligations under the UN Declaration of Human Rights 75 years ago. It was followed in 1957 by the European Convention on Human Rights. In the 50 years before the universal declaration, there had been two world…

Fr Kevin Mullan lived out his priesthood in the service of others writes Michael Kelly Like many people across the island of Ireland, I was sad to awake on Saturday morning to the news that Fr Kevin Mullan had died during the night. It brought to mind the words from the Second Book of Samuel:…