Dear Editor, As the pontificate of Pope Francis continues through its first year, it is becoming ever more certain that the right man for the Church of our times was chosen by the conclave in March. The personal style Francis has brought to the papacy has appealed to all who believe in the caring and…
Category: Opinion
The media ‘obsession’ with abortion and gay marriage
David QuinnThere was an unhealthy focus on the Pope’s interview, writes David Quinn
Pope speaks to world crying out for mercy
Michael KellyPope Francis understands the art of communication and the golden rule that what is heard really is the message, writes Michael Kelly
Pope’s remarkable style
Pope Francis is barely six months in office and his pontificate is having a remarkable effect on people both inside and outside the Church. The Holy Father has an extraordinary ability to find simple words to pose fundamental questions about the world in which we live, about the Church and about the life of faith.…
New media and the new evangelisation
Two of the most searched items on the internet are pornography and religion. Questions are often raised about the Church and the internet. Throughout YOUCAT there are many reasons why young Catholics are ‘needed’ in the area of translating the message of faith into a language of their peers. Paul VI wrote about the need…
Revisiting the illegal adoption case
Mary KennySometimes the best option is adoption, writes Mary Kenny
Reconciliation is key
The fact that peace is more than the absence of war is so self-evident it hardly seems worthwhile pointing out. Nevertheless, the truism bears repeating in the particular context of the Northern peace process. By any objective measure the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and the ceasefires that precipitated the accord have been a stunning…
‘Rebel priests’ may reinvigorate the Church
Open debate and free discourse are healthy, so maybe it’s good that we are witnessing “rebel priests”, such as Fr Iggy O’Donovan, Fr Gerard Moloney, Fr Tony Flannery and Fr Brian D’Arcy making their opinions known, even when this invites Vatican disapproval. I am not sure if the correct word really is “silenced”, since…
Disappearing Roots
"Home is where we start from.” T.S. Eliot wrote that and it describes an experience that can be felt both as a freedom and as a heartache. I cite my own case: I grew up in a second-generation immigrant community on the Canadian prairies. My grandparents’ generation had been the first settlers in that…
Pope’s Assisi visit will put focus on St Francis
Before the papal election Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio hadn’t given a thought to what name he would choose if he was elected Pope. The very idea hadn’t even entered his mind. Even immediately after his election he still hadn’t thought what name to choose. Then a good friend of his, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, Archbishop Emeritus of Sao…