The Vatican has rejected allegations of corruption in its awarding of contracts which were made by a leading cleric who is now papal nuncio to the United States. The move comes in response to the publishing, in the Italian press, of two letters penned in 2011 by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, at the time the…
Delegates from over 100 countries are meeting in Rome to ensure a global Church response to abuse. Michael Kelly reports. If bishops around the world courageously embrace robust child safeguarding policies, the Church can lead the way the Rome conference on abuse has been told. While the Church has failed dramatically to respond properly…
Critics of Catholicism often ignore the vital role of the Church’s humanitarian work, writes Greg Daly It’s rare that I lose my temper, but I got indignant a few weeks ago when a friend declared that the Catholic Church has nothing to offer today’s world. Normally, I’d dismiss such nonsense with a shrug,…
The Pope visits Cuba in March. Paul Keenan examines the island nation’s recent record. What to believe about Cuba? Since the ‘retirement’ of Fidel Castro, the island nation’s leader of 47 years in favour of baby brother Raul in 2008, it was tempting to believe that the change of regime — albeit kept…
Michael Higgins examines the life of a woman set to be the first native American saint Amidst all the sturm und drang that is the current reality for American Catholics in an election year, and amidst all the prolonged upheaval created by the lingering aftershocks of the clerical sex abuse crisis, it came…
This year’s Eucharistic Congress is a chance to ponder the depths of this mystery which is at the heart of our Christian faith, writes Rik Van Nieuwenhove The Synoptic Gospels and St Paul unanimously witness to the fact that the Eucharist was instituted by Our Lord himself. This took place during the celebrations of…
Professor William Reville examines the controversial philosophy of David Benatar My colleague Dr Tom Moore, senior lecturer in the biochemistry department, UCC, gave a public lecture at UCC on January 18 that attracted a lot of interest. Tom described a proposal outlined by the South African philosopher David Benatar in his recent book,…
Rory Fitzgerald looks at the origins of St Valentine’s Day St Valentine’s Day is not what it once was. Many historians believe that until the Middle Ages it was associated, not with romantic love, but with ideas of sacrifice and agape — or the love of God. However, the feast day can still…
Mags Gargan looks at a programme that promotes diversity in schools ‘The biggest success of all was the attitude change in the students. This programme opened their eyes to a world of cultures and languages,” says Melissa Boyer, of the experience of St Joseph’s Girls National School in Dublin’s Finglas on participating in…
Niamh Harley describes her experience of Medjugorje At the start of last year, I was picked to go on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje as part of a school group. We decided to go as we had heard very good reports. Medjugorje was described as ”a place like nowhere else”; not sure what this…
Paul Keenan
Michael Kelly
Greg Daly
Rory Fitzgerald
Mags Gargan