Spanish bishop dismisses Joe Biden’s claim that Pope said he can receive Communion Bishop José Ignacio Munilla of San Sebastián, Spain, strongly criticised US President Joe Biden’s claim that Pope Francis personally encouraged him to continue receiving Communion despite his open support for abortion. “These incredible statements reveal the moral character of those who are…
Personal Profile Timmy Manley admits that he was initially roped into joining his local Legion of Mary praesidium – but now, 62 years later, he continues to serve in the lay apostolate. The Watergrasshill and Glenville branch of the Legion was started in 1952, one the earlier ones to start in Co. Cork, Mr Manley…
When a person who holds opinions not beloved by media folk is called onto a current affairs show, it can feel like being called to the principal’s office for a ticking off. I’ve been there. It felt like that when Mary Wilson interviewed Anna Sochanska, the Polish Ambassador to Ireland, on Morning Ireland (RTÉ Radio…
Dear Editor, I read with interest Jason Osborne’s article ‘The changing face of funerals’ [The Irish Catholic – October 28, 2021] arising from his interview with Joseph Behan (Hibernian Funerals), in particular Mr Behan’s comments on cremation. For hundreds of years cremations were frowned upon and even illegal going back as far as Charlemagne in 789. It was…
Following Wexford Festival Opera’s conclusion on Halloween, Irish National Opera (INO) raised its curtain on Beethoven’s Fidelio at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre earlier this week with further performances tomorrow and Saturday, November 12 and 13. Around 1802 Beethoven became acquainted with the play, Léonore, by French author Jean Nicolas Bouilly. Reading it in a German translation…
Study shows endangered species can reproduce without mating California condors, a critically endangered species, can reproduce without mating, according to a study by conservation scientists at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. During a routine analysis of biological samples from the California condors in the zoo’s breeding programme, the scientists found that two condor chicks…
We often hear the claim, sometimes in homilies, that contemporary culture has lost a sense of sin. But what if it’s not so much the loss of the idea of sin, but the loss of the idea of forgiveness that we witness all around? The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche – famous for his oft-quoted phrase…
The Doré Illustrations for Dante’s Divine Comedy by Gustave Dore (Dover Art Library, £12.99) Gustave Doré (1832-1883): Master of Imagination Hardcover by Erika Dolphin and others (Flammarion, £31.96) William Blake: Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’, the Complete Drawings edited by Sebastian Schutze (Taschen, £29.00) Four centuries ago Italy, indeed the whole of Christian Europe, was absorbing the news that the…
Notebook I spent four days on retreat last month. I wasn’t alone. The retreat was organised by our diocese (Cork and Ross) and most of us who were able went along. Our retreat took place outside the diocese, so we had to cancel weekday Masses in our 68 parishes. This wasn’t universally popular; it seems…
Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop-elect Francis Duffy to succeed the retiring Archbishop of Tuam Michael Neary, it was announced today, November 10. The archbishop-elect was “surprised and humbled” by the announcement, he told the congregation gathered at the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Tuam, Galway. In his address, he added…
Ruadhán Jones
Brendan O’Regan
Michael Kelly
Peter Costello
Chai Brady