A Catholic bishop in the Philippines has called for a strong response from the government to fight poliovirus, following an announcement last month from health officials that the once-eradicated disease has made a reappearance. “It is very sad that there is a re-emergence of polio after having eliminated it for many years,” Bishop Broderick Pabillo,…
Tributes have been paid to Bishop Éamonn Walsh for his “pioneering” work in ensuring child safeguarding within the Church in Ireland. The Vatican announced in a communique on Monday that Pope Francis had accepted Dr Walsh’s retirement as an auxiliary bishop of Dublin. He turned 75 last month. Bishop Walsh served as the Apostolic Administrator…
Questions of Faith In today’s world, plenty of people have lucky charms; it might be a football that their father gave them when they were a child; a special pen that is always used in exams; or a lucky coin that is kept in one’s wallet or purse. The belief that objects or practices have…
A charity that helps women in prostitution has defended a law they campaigned for aimed at targeting sex buyers despite few convictions, saying there has been a “marked increase in Garda activities” since it came into effect. Ruhama welcomed a Garda statement that in mid-September they interviewed 38 individuals they suspected to be sex buyers…
Lawmakers in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca have approved a measure to decriminalise abortion, despite vocal Church opposition. The measure passed the Oaxaca state legislature, 24-10, amid shouts in the session from boisterous supporters and opponents. It allows for abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Oaxaca becomes the second Mexican jurisdiction to…
Sister Wendy’s 100 Best-loved Paintings compiled by Sr Wendy Beckett (SPCK, £25.00) This is both the latest and the last book of the celebrated TV art critic, Sr Wendy Beckett, who died last Christmastide at the age of 88, on the feast of St Stephen. She was not, as many seemed to think, a nun…
Letter from Rome Speaking to a network of religious sisters that helps human trafficking victims, Pope Francis last Thursday told them to work closely with the local Church, because this is necessary for their project to be successful. “I want to reiterate that the journey of consecrated life, both female and male, is the path…
Everyday Philosophy Tribalism in politics and ethics is an easy thing to criticise. By ‘tribalism’ I’m specifically talking here about tribalism about opinions: changing your beliefs in order to better conform with a group that you identify with in some way. This criticism is mostly right: I think this sort of tribalism is usually bad.…
Greed and the “narrowness of vision” of caring just for our own town, city or country are part of an ‘old culture’ that must be changed to avert disaster, according to the keynote speaker at the Faith and Life Convention in Belfast over the weekend. Dr Michel Camdessus, former Director of the International Monetary Fund,…
Police in South Korea are investigating a doctor who mistakenly performed an abortion on the wrong woman in August. The mix-up was due to an inadvertent switch of medical charts and a failure to confirm the patient’s identity before the procedure, CNN reports. A Vietnamese woman pregnant with a 6-week-old baby entered a gynaecology clinic…
Colm Fitzpatrick
Chai Brady
Peter Costello
Ben Conroy