Pope Francis has appointed Tuam-based priest Fr Fintan Monahan as the new Bishop of Killaloe. The announcement was made in Rome this morning. The Pontiff has also accepted the resignations of Bishop Martin Drennan of Galway and Bishop Seamus Freeman of Ossory – both for reasons of ill health. Bishop-elect Monahan (49) was ordained in…

A new documentary film on Knock and its apparition will open in Irish cinemas on August 26. Strange Occurrences in a Small Irish Village looks at all aspects of Knock, from the historic apparition of 1879 to the more than one million pilgrims who visit the shrine annually and the community welcoming the faithful visitors.…

The planned Citizens’ Assembly is intended to enable the Government to claim a spurious distance from the consequences of a referendum on repealing Ireland’s constitutional pro-life protections, Elphin’s Bishop Kevin Doran has said. Speaking at an event organised by Family & Life, Dr Doran, said that in his personal view, the assembly would be “nothing…

Fr Brendan McCarrick SAC with Bishop Brendan Kelly of Achony after Dr Kelly ordained him as a Pallottine priest at Fr McCarrick’s home parish of Mullinabreena, Co. Sligo, on Sunday, July 24.

Maynooth’s neo-gothic college chapel was the fitting setting for the investiture of five new knights of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem at the weekend. The solemn ceremony was presided over by Cardinal Edwin F. O’Brien, Grand Master of the order who had travelled from Rome for the occasion. The order, founded…

Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has officially requested that the Vatican become involved in mediating talks aimed at seeking a solution to the nation’s catastrophic economic crisis. Following weeks of resistance on the part of the president to any negotiations with his political rivals, even as dangerous food and medical shortages grow ever worse, Mr Maduro…