Francis is trying to build a Church that is faithful to Christ’s teaching while ensuring that everyone can find a home, writes Michael Kelly Within minutes of the publication of the Pope’s landmark document on marriage and the family, the British-based left-wing newspaper The Guardian uploaded a message on social media confirming that the Pontiff…

“We have been called to inform consciences, not to replace them”. “Where love is concerned, silence is always more eloquent than words. It is an encounter with a face, a ‘thou’, who reflect God’s own love and is man’s ‘best possession, a helper fit for him and a pillar of support’, in the words of…

Bishops must answer Pope’s challenge on sex education, writes David Quinn Amoris Laetitia is a long and complex document with many parts dealing with diverse topics, but all relating in the end to the family, the Church’s concept of the family and how people can be led, sometimes bit by bit, to see the wisdom…

There were four speakers at the presentation of the Pope’s post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation in Rome last Friday, but all eyes and ears were on Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. Before turning to his prepared text he announced: “This text is beautiful, really beautiful in my opinion.” He went on to praise the accessibility and immediacy of the…

“If the Church cannot give life to families, she herself has no future” Fr Bernard Healy Much of the commentary about Amoris Laetitia will focus on the care of those in ‘irregular unions’. It seems a shame that the ‘hot button issues’ will take attention away from a vision that could be genuinely revolutionary in…

“What must be borne in mind is the fact that daily Mass is a (praiseworthy) devotional exercise”, writes Editor Michael Kelly Chaplains at universities and other third level institutions in the Republic were getting it in the neck this week. Atheist Ireland – a body which, oddly, seeks to present itself as the representative organisation…

The joy of love experienced by families is also the joy of the Church! writes Pope Francis It is not by chance that Amoris Laetitia (AL), “The Joy of Love”, the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation “on Love in the Family”, was signed on March 19, the Solemnity of St Joseph. It brings together the results of…

We need to think about and pray for our brothers and sisters suffering and dying for what we take so casually for granted, writes Fr Martin Delaney Recently I returned to my alma mater, the Irish College in Rome. Some years ago the college chapel was extensively renovated by the Slovenian Jesuit artist, Mark Rupnik.…

In the movie based upon Jane Austen’s classic novel Sense and Sensibility, there’s a very poignant scene where one of her young heroines, suffering from acute pneumonia, is lying in bed hovering between life and death. A young man, very much in love with her, is pacing back and forth, highly agitated, frustrated by his…

The Church teaches that Christ is made visible through the ordained ministry, writes Cathal Barry The redemptive sacrifice of Christ is unique, according to the Church, is accomplished once for all; yet it is made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Church. “The same is true of the one priesthood of Christ,” the Catechism…