Church leaders risk sowing scandal and confusion, experts say, by allowing a female monk who has been living as a male for years – and who recently publicly announced her transgender identity – to continue presenting herself as a man. Christian Matson, a hermit living in the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky, went public with her…
After the leader of the Italian bishops recently appeared to throw cold water on a key constitutional reform backed by Italy’s conservative government, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni essentially told the bishops to back off, reminding them that “the Vatican state is not a parliamentary republic”. President Meloni made the comments in a May 30 interview…
Earlier this year, American social psychologist Jonathon Haidt wrote about ‘The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness’, arguing that the rise of smartphones has seen teenagers spending less time socialising, more time glued to their screens, with girls in particular most likely “to be sucked into…
Letter of the week The extreme hatred of all things Catholic… Dear Editor, Recently in the media was a story of a local elections candidate and her querying of Dublin City Council expenditure on a statue of the Sacred Heart at a city centre location. Hardly a huge hole in the council budget, the reason…
Episode 20: Catholic youth looking for community and depth Eoin McCormack, a parish catechist from a busy Dublin parish, is in The Confession Box studio this week to tell us what young Catholics are searching for and what challenges they are facing in a culture that has steadily walked away from traditional faith.
Pope Francis has awarded the Benemerenti medal for service to the Church to two Irish parishioners in the space of a week. Belfast Christian musician Rita Goldsmith and Tipperary sacristan Willie Fogarty were bestowed with the award in recognition of their “long and untiring service” to their respective Catholic communities. Rita Goldsmith was formally presented…
A May 25 attack on Christians in north-central Pakistan by an enraged Muslim mob, accusing a Christian man of having defaced the Quran, represents a “dark day” for the country’s Christian community, Pakistan’s top Catholic official has said. “I strongly condemn this incident. It’s a dark day for the Church in Pakistan,” Bishop Samson Shukardin…
A Catholic fraternity is taking the White House to court after it was banned from holding an annual Mass it has staged at a national cemetery for more than 60 years. The Knights of Columbus has held a Memorial Day Mass at the Poplar Grove National Cemetery in Virginia every year since 1960. But it is claiming religious discrimination after…
Rising temperatures, endless droughts, and devastating floods – an unrelenting cycle of extreme weather is pushing communities in Malawi into deadly hunger. In the Neno District of Malawi, farmer and father, Kosimasi has been struggling with the increasing consequences of climate change for many years. Unprecedented levels of rainfall have eroded the land and swept…
In London, the FA Cup Final was played at the weekend. As is traditional, the inspiring hymn Abide With Me was sung with gusto before the soccer action got underway. Sports fans know a thing or two about faith and hope. To give yourself fully to your favourite team is to be a true believer,…