An attempt to force Pope Francis to resign is unravelling, but serious questions remain to be answered, writes Greg Daly Just hours ahead of the papal Mass in Dublin’s Phoenix Park a story broke that seemed to threaten Francis’ papacy. A former papal nuncio had written an 11-page memo in which he claimed that…
The View Although the scandals in the US concerning criminal sexual abuse by clergy cast a grey and dispiriting shadow over the World Meeting of Families, there were still many uplifting and inspiring aspects to it. I know that thousands of prayers have been offered by faithful Catholics in the hope that the Church…
Carlo Carretto was an Italian monk who died in 1988. For many years he lived as a hermit in the Sahara desert, translated the scriptures into the Tuareg language, and from the solitude of the desert wrote some extraordinary spiritual books. His writings and his Faith were special in that they had a rare capacity…
The Notebook Like most priests, from time to time I have organised ‘special’ Masses. Typically, these take place to mark a particular occasion or anniversary, held in a parish hall or school or other venue. One question those organising these Masses always faces is: “What readings will we use?” A wise pastor once suggested…
Dear Editor, In his address to the Holy Father on the occasion of the Pope’s recent visit to Ireland, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar delivered a master-class in state diplomacy and political expediency. However, while acknowledging the validity of some of Mr Varadkar’s statements, the overriding tenor of his speech was anything but edifying; more a master-class…
The Irish now favour a “more liberal, less dogmatic” Church, according to a new poll carried out by the pollsters Ipsos/MRBI. This turns out to mean, first of all, that many people favour an ending to celibacy in the priesthood and are for the ordination of women. I wasn’t aware that these practices were ‘dogmas’.…
Everyone who came away from an encounter with the Pope was uplifted, writes David Quinn My first reaction to the address by Leo Varadkar to Pope Francis in Dublin Castle was positive but since then it has become a lot less so. Indeed, I think the address, and the reaction of the Government to…
Sometimes all you can do is to put your mouth to the dust and wait. That’s a counsel from the Book of Lamentations and while perhaps not the best response to the recent revelations of clerical sexual abuse and cover-up in the Roman Catholic Church, it seems the only helpful response available to me as…
The Notebook Fr Bernard Healy During the past 10 years of parish ministry, I’ve often been asked how priests deal with the sheer variety of our work. There are days when you have to go from a funeral to a baptism, or from a wedding reception to a deathbed. At all times the priest…
One of the primary duties of the Pope is to confirm Catholics in their Faith. That is the principle motivation behind all papal travel. Irish Catholics experienced something of this during the momentous visit of Pope Francis at the weekend. Leading up to the Holy Father’s arrival, the media coverage was relentlessly negative. From fears…
Greg Daly
Breda O'Brien
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Mary Kenny
David Quinn
Michael Kelly