Letter from Rome US President Donald Trump spent most of last week desperately trying to spin his controversial summit with Vladimir Putin [pictured below] as a breakthrough, despite widespread impressions of near-total capitulation on the question of Russian interference in the 2016 election. “The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the…
Pope Francis will canonise a teenage boy during the Synod of bishops on young people in October. Nunzio Sulprizio will be declared a saint alongside Oscar Romero and Paul VI and four others in a ceremony on October 14. Sulprizio was born on April 13, 1817, in the Abruzzo region near Pescara. Both of his…
Some arguments for removing Ireland’s blasphemy law are dubious at best, writes Greg Daly The Constitution’s provisions concerning blasphemy are an embarrassment to Irish diplomats and would-be statesmen. Such, at least, seems to be the import of comments last month from Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan on plans to hold a referendum in October on…
WMOF 2018 The internationally-acc-laimed Irish dance troupe Riverdance will be amongst those performing for Pope Francis at next month’s World Meeting of Families (WMOF) in Dublin, organisers revealed on July 19. The group – which has been seen by some 25 million people worldwide – will be one of the key acts at a…
Inés San Martín An already noticeable edge to Argentina’s mounting abortion debate turned even nastier in mid-July with the release of a ‘Doom’-inspired video game called ‘Doom Fetito’ in which players scramble to procure an abortion-inducing drug by battling Catholic priests, Nazi-like police and pro-life women, and then ultimately kill ‘the boss’, meaning an…
New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan [pictured], has called for prayers that “the change in the US Supreme Court will move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.” Noting the lobbying that began by pro abortion groups as soon as Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy…
WMOF 2018 A new series of digital animations have been launched as part of ongoing preparations for the World Meeting of Families and the visit of Pope Francis. The new resource focuses on Amoris Laetitia, the document written by Pope Francis on love in the family. The Amoris Animations, the first created using Amoris…
Colm Fitzpatrick explores the power of home care The benefits of getting older are manifold and range from having more space for leisure to spending more time with family, but like any process, ageing is often accompanied with some crucial and difficult problems. One of the most common complications about getting older is an…
The visit of Pope Francis should be a moment when even those who feel alienated or hostile to the Church can reconnect, Archbishop Eamon Martin has said. He described the theme of the World Meeting of Families ‘the Gospel of the Family – Joy for the World’ as a message “not only for ‘faith-full’ Catholic…
Going to the Mountain: Life Lessons from my Grandfather, Nelson Mandela by Ndaba Mandela (Hutchinson, £14.99) Peter Hegarty With clear-eyed affection Ndaba Mandela recalls the man who brought him up. He first met his grandfather in Victor Verster prison shortly before his release in 1990. Mandela – Madiba, as he was popularly known – expected to spend his…
John L. Allen Jr.
Greg Daly
Chai Brady
Colm Fitzpatrick