Dear Editor, I could not help but applaud Bishop Kevin Doran’s words in support of Pope Francis against those critics who claim the Holy Father is spreading confusion. His explanation that the Pope is trying to get people to understand that we cannot set ourselves up as the consciences of others struck me as very…

Dear Editor, Bishop Kevin Doran’s intervention in support of Pope Francis over Amoris Laetitia (IC 15/12/2016) is encouraging, and surely to be welcomed by all parties, especially given how it would take particular effort to claim the bishop lacks either intelligence or orthodoxy. Ever since the synod process began in 2014, a vociferous online fringe…

Dear Editor, Fr Conor McDonough’s column of December 15 – ‘In praise of books at Christmas’ – reminded me of an older notebook in your paper where one Maolsheachlann O’Ceallaigh wondered about what middle ground there is between, say, introductory books on St Thomas Aquinas and scholarly articles on the Angelic Doctor (‘Beyond Catholicism 101’…

Dear Editor, Derry’s Bishop Donal McKeown seems to be showing far more common sense on Brexit’s reality (‘New Brexit report on Ireland asks crucial questions – Derry bishop’ IC 15/12/2016) than do Britain’s parliamentary members and lords. In welcoming the Lords’ report on Brexit’s possible impacts on Northern Ireland, the bishop rightly says he is…

Dear Editor, I was pleasantly surprised to read in your paper of December 15 that almost 40% of people in the Republic of Ireland plan to see Pope Francis when he visits Ireland. With curiosity likely to increase over the next two years, I would expect the 11% who are undecided to come to think…

Dear Editor, No doubt there will be some think Bishop McAreavey over the top in describing as “outrageous” the Dáil’s failure to condemn as genocide the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, but I am not among them. The bishop is absolutely right to call the scope of the Dáil motion on the activities…