Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez gestures at a news conference after the first Cabinet meeting at Moncloa Palace in Madrid, 2020. Spain’s ruling coalition wants historic clerical sexual abuses to be investigated in the country, and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said he will first meet with abuse victims. “We’re going to talk and…
Returning Light: 30 Years of Life on Skellig Michael by Robert L. Harris (Harper Collins Ireland, €13.99 / £14.99) This is a tale about a remarkable location, a remarkable monastery and a remarkable person. The remarkable location consists of two huge pinnacles of rock reaching skywards from the sea-bed of the North Atlantic 11 and…
Pope Francis’ leadership has been key to improving diplomatic relations between Ireland and the Holy See, an expert in Vatican diplomacy claims. Victor Gaetan told The Irish Catholic that, according to sources in Rome, it was “the Irish Government’s willingness to work with Pope Francis that inspired it to re-open its embassy in 2014”. Mr Gaetan, author…
Victor Gaetan tells Ruadhán Jones about the inner-workings of papal diplomacy and evaluates Pope Francis’ contribution The Catholic Church as an institution has a curious structure. Its foot soldier, the parish priest, is visible in almost every community in Ireland. And yet, as Victor Gaetan tells me, “so much good that the Church does around…
Cardinal Reinhard Marx offered a personal apology to abuse survivors on Thursday, in the wake of a report criticising the handling of cases in his archdiocese of Munich and Freising. Speaking at a live-streamed press conference in Munich, southern Germany, the 68-year-old cardinal said that the treatment of victims was “inexcusable,” reported CNA Deutsch. “I am attributed responsibility in…
“After 39 years it is time to hand it over to someone else.” These are the words of a 80-year-old parishioner who has been in charge of the parish shop for half her life. A Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) member for over 12 years recently said, “If I don’t do it, who else will do…
Personal Profile When Declan Lawlor was coming of age as a young man at college in the 1980s, the Church in Ireland was beginning to ebb and the secular tide was rising. Declan’s own faith was drifting, but Our Lady intervened, drawing him first to Medjugorje and then to the Legion of Mary. After this,…
Pornography is the biggest addiction in the world today, and by a wide margin. Mostly it afflicts men, but is also a growing addiction among women. Much of this of course is driven by its easy and free availability on the internet. Everyone now (not least our own young children) has immediate access to it…
Dr Vivian Boland OP’s latest offering is a reminder to a forgetful Church of its true nature, and the role God, Mary and all the saints play in it, writes Jason Osborne Nearly one hundred years ago, German theologian Karl Adam released what would become one of the most highly regarded and influential books on…
Staff reporter The North’s Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) this week announced the timeframe for a phased release of data from the census held across the region last year. The agency said that the first results on raw population statistics will be published by June, with further Census 2021 results published in stages until summer 2023. The…
Ruadhán Jones
Fr Ronald Rolheiser