The Direct Provision service for asylum seekers is “very unsatisfactory” and the system needs to be more respectful according to the Bishop of Clonfert. Bishop John Kirby, of the Bishops’ Council for Emigrants, spoke at a Mass in London celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Irish Chaplaincy Service in England, set up as Irish priests…
It is “ridiculous” for the State’s Minister for Children to be in favour of permitting the abortion of unborn children, according to the member of the Audit Committee of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs who resigned last week. Speaking to The Irish Catholic, former Deloitte Ireland chairman John Pittock said when Minister Katherine Zappone…
War in South Sudan has robbed young people of their childhood and given them challenges unknown to their peers in most other countries, said the head of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference. “My heart breaks at the thought that your childhoods are being taken away from you daily, but I know that you have not…
In the aftermath of two earthquakes in the span of two weeks in Mexico, Church-based relief agencies have been on the ground providing food, shelter and repairs. The magnitude 7.1 quake hit near Mexico City last week and killed more than 230 people and injured more than 2,000 in the crumbling wreckage. The earthquake follows…
Pope Francis has urged churches in Europe to step up efforts to combat intolerance, discrimination and xenophobia against migrants and refugees. The Pope’s words came in a meeting with national migration directors under the auspices of the Council of European Bishops Conferences (CCEE). He said he was saddened to see that Catholic communities in Europe were…
The Buddhist community in Bangladesh has announced it will downsize an upcoming religious feast to express solidarity with Rohingya Muslim refugees. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled ethnic violence in majority-Buddhist Myanmar during recent weeks. There are fears that, as in the past, the small Buddhist population of majority-Muslim Bangladesh could be subjected to…
The inclusion of the leader of a breakaway group among the signatories of a letter accusing Pope Francis of “promoting heretical interpretations” of Amores Laetitia, his exhortation on marriage and the family, has been described as “a tactical error” by a prominent papal biographer. Billed as the first ‘filial correction’ of a Pope since 1333,…
The most striking thing about Pope Francis’ meeting with the Vatican’s child protection commission last week was that he admitted that priests accused of abuse were moved about by their bishops, child protection campaigner and former commission member Marie Collins has said. At one point in his first ever meeting with the entire Pontifical Commission…
Holy See signs and ratifies anti-nuclear weapon treaty The Holy See has ratified and signed the new UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The high-level Vatican diplomat who signed the treaty told a UN conference that the Catholic Church supports efforts “to move progressively toward a world free of nuclear weapons”. Archbishop Paul…
An official of the Oblates Youth Service said they would be “cautious” booking with Ryanair again after their 79 strong group was stranded for hours in a French airport coming home from Lourdes. Over the weekend, after the Lourdes volunteers had been assisting the elderly and the sick for a week, the group’s flight…
Greg Daly
Chai Brady