Colm Fitzpatrick reports on the Pope’s visit to Morocco Greeted by King Mohammed VI, a steady rain, ululating women and cheering crowds, Pope Francis arrived in Rabat on March 30 for a 28-hour visit to Morocco. In a sign of great honour, the king rode in his limousine from the airport alongside Pope Francis…
Several years ago, in the question and answer period after a public lecture, a rather disgruntled young man asked me a question that carried with it a bit of attitude: “You seem to write a lot about sex,” he said, “do you have a particular problem with it?” My lecture had been on God’s mercy…
“You’ll have to do something for the young people, Father!” If a priest had a fiver for every time a good-hearted and well-meaning parishioner offered this piece of unsought advice, he wouldn’t think twice about changing the car. The fact is that youth ministry is difficult and there’s no substitute for hard work. There’s no magic…
Dear Editor, Mary Kenny describes how there has been “some comment” about Pope Francis being “disinclined” to have his papal ring kissed (IC 28/3/2019). I have been absolutely appalled at the amount of attention given in the Catholic press to the supposed ‘scandal’ of this. A short video appeared online of the pope pulling his…
The Notebook Fr Bernard Healy The alarm on my phone goes off at 5.50 am. I drag myself out of bed and try to say a prayer. After all, it’s Lent! Washed and dressed, I head downstairs and meet two of my companions here in Rome’s Irish College: fellow priests, one Nigerian, another Irish.…
We are all aware of the phrase ‘climate change denier’ – Mary Robinson said this week it was “evil” to deny the reality of climate change. We know, too, about ‘Holocaust deniers’ – ignoramuses, or worse, who claim that the crimes of the Third Reich did not occur, or that the numbers murdered were exaggerated.…
Archbishop Martin would have nothing to lose by speaking up, writes David Quinn In an address last week, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin criticised the “euphoria” that greeted the fall of communism in Europe some 30 years ago. He was quoting the recently deceased Belgian cardinal, Godfried Danneels. Archbishop Martin said Cardinal Danneels had been troubled…
The View As I sit to write, I am conscious that Brexit in all its manifestations is causing increasing concern across Ireland – north and south. It was all due to come to some sort of fruition on Friday March 29, but now it seems that fruition may occur on April 12, May 22…
Letter from Rome Elise Harris By the time he died at the age of 50, Greek Catholic Bishop Vasile Aftenie was crippled, maimed and, according to accounts of those who knew him, out of his mind due to torture endured while imprisoned by Romania’s communist regime. When he finally succumbed in 1950, Bishop Aftenie…
Parish-based formation could have academic advantages, Greg Daly is told Every cloud, as the saying goes, has a silver lining, and if there’s an unlikely advantage to Ireland’s currently tiny numbers of seminarians it’s that it’s giving hierarchy an opportunity to transform priestly formation in the country. For Fr Eamonn Fitzgibbon of Limerick’s Mary Immaculate…
Colm Fitzpatrick
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Michael Kelly
Mary Kenny
David Quinn
Nuala O’Loan
Greg Daly