Sr Agnes Sasagawa, a Japanese nun whose purported visions of the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Akita included stark warnings for humanity and instructions to pray the rosary and repent of sin, died August 15 at age 93. Sr Sasagawa was a convert from Buddhism. A parish priest in Akita, Japan,…
Letter of the week Young priests giving hope Dear Editor, I’ve just returned from some time spent in Knock where I met several people who had forgotten the value of this newspaper – there are so many good articles. I find Fr John Harris’ articles so very good. Today many great blessings are bestowed on…
It is 2024. Ireland is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, one of the most educated populations, running a budget surplus with a stable democracy and solid tax-base, yet repeatedly we are hearing that Ireland’s state care system for children is in a state of crisis. Most recently, we learned that Department of…
The remains of Bishop Eamonn Casey, which have been interred in Galway Cathedral since his death in 2017, could be relocated after child sexual abuse allegations were revealed in the RTÉ documentary ‘Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets.’ The Diocese of Limerick, where the bishop first served in the late 1950s, told the Irish Daily Mail they…
Many people in Venezuela are currently paying particular attention to what the Pope and representatives of the local church are saying. While the position of the Venezuelan Church leaders is clear, Francis is being diplomatic. For more than a week now, Venezuela has been experiencing another serious national crisis following the announcement of President Nicolas…
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva cut the diplomatic ties between the two countries with the mutual expulsion of their ambassadors to Managua and Brasilia, carried out over the past week. Long-time allies who take part in international left-wing organisations like the São Paulo Forum – that gather…
David Solomon, a longtime professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and founder of what is now the de Nicola Centre for Ethics and Culture, recently entered the Catholic Church, according to a former student writing for Word on Fire. Solomon, who arrived at the university in 1968, came into the Catholic Church earlier…
The row over the sale of a very valuable site in south Dublin to a local GAA club has escalated with the local church publicly accusing a local rugby club of deliberately undermining the sale. Foxrock Parish, which manages the site – conservatively valued at €10 million – on behalf of a diocesan trust recently…
Poland’s most popular shrine could receive a record number of pilgrims in 2024, according to local media. The shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, at Jasna Góra Monastery in southern Poland, received as many as 4.5 million pilgrims a year before the COVID pandemic, when annual visitors dropped below 1 million. But pilgrim numbers have bounced back since…
Letter of the week Keep your lamps lit Dear Editor, I have just finished reading the history of the Catholic Church, and how the early Christians and Christianity in general, survived the persecutions of the first 300 years, is a testament to the words of Jesus to St Peter, “On this rock I will build…