Next week will see the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 45th president of the United States of America. Few could have predicted, even six months ago, that Mr Trump would defeat the Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton. In fact, I spent election results night at a party hosted by the wonderful US Ambassador to…

A United Ireland is “the most practical and sensible way to resolve headaches over Brexit” writes Mary Kenny It’s being suggested in a much-discussed new book by Kevin Meagher that one of the solutions to current political problems is – a united Ireland. In A United Ireland – Why Unification is Inevitable and How it…

Times have changed since the last ad limina, writes David Quinn It is 10 years since the Irish bishops made their last ad limina visit to Rome. It will take place from January 15-25. Literally, an ad limina apostolorum means ‘to the threshold of the Apostles’. It is a pilgrimage to the tombs of Ss…

In a new interview published on January 8, Pope Francis says he came into the papacy not wanting to travel very much, but after his initial outing to the Italian island of Lampedusa in early July 2013, which is a major point of arrival for refugees trying to enter Europe, he understood he had to…

Antoni Guterres promises a revived United Nations, writes Paul Keenan How long, if at all, one wonders, do staff at the United Nations pause to wish one another “Happy New Year”? The question is posed from a knowledge that the multitudinous issues with which the international body concerns itself do not ebb and flow with…

“Far from emphasising submission, the message I picked up was about not conforming to received ideas. Do what you believe is right. Defend your values. Do not be afraid”, writes Mary Kenny The proposal to remove religion from the core curriculum of primary schools has been greeted by secularists as “a progressive step for Irish…

A backlash of stymied voices is developing, writes David Quinn One of the many things highlighted by the victory of Donald Trump in the US, and Brexit in the UK, is that a lot of people are sick and tired of political correctness. Those who are sick of it appear more likely to have voted…

So much of life, particularly today, constitutes an unconscious conspiracy against reading. Lack of time, the pressure of our jobs, and electronic technology, among other things, are more and more putting books out of reach and out of mind. There is never enough time to read. The upside of this is that when I do…

Fr Conor McDonough We must protect “the world (that) is more than just decay” writes Fr Conor McDonough as, “it is a place also of birth, of new beginnings” There is something immensely moving about the feast of Epiphany: bearded old men leave their dusty old books and journey by the light of a star…