Michael Higgins examines the life of a woman set to be the first native American saint Amidst all the sturm und drang that is the current reality for American Catholics in an election year, and amidst all the prolonged upheaval created by the lingering aftershocks of the clerical sex abuse crisis, it came…
Spain: Spain to reverse abortion legislation The new Spanish government of Mariano Rajoy has pledged to reverse abortion legislation introduced by the previous administration. In an announcement by Minister of Justice Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, the ruling Spanish People’s Party looks set to enact greater restrictions on the availability of abortion. The move would specifically target current…
Ahead of the Pope’s official visit to Mexico, Paul Keenan examines the country’s ongoing struggle against drug violence. Whether Archbishop Jose Guadalupe Martin Rabago’s appeal for a period of peace during Pope Benedict’s March visit to Mexico (see Page 19) will be acknowledged by the violent criminal fraternity there remains to be seen. The…
The Second Vatican Council remains a living issue, writes Francis X. Rocca Fifty years ago this October, Blessed John XXIII and more than 2,500 bishops and heads of religious orders from around the world gathered in St Peter’s Basilica for the opening session of the Second Vatican Council. Over the following three years, Vatican…
A euthanasia group was behind Britain’s commission on assisted suicide, writes Greg Daly A.S. Byatt caused a stir some years back when she publicly disparaged the phenomenal success of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, describing them as little more than a comfortable patchwork of clichés, unworthy of comparison with the writings of such fantasists…
The al Shabaab group may at last be fighting for its own survival, writes Paul Keenan Has the al Shabaab group in Somalia shot itself in the foot? The answer seems to be ‘maybe’ based on events since The Irish Catholic last reported (The enemy from within IC 11/8/11) on a group that has…
Letter from Rome The new head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will be appointed in April, writes Andrea Tornielli Next week, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will hold a plenary session in the Palace of the Holy Office. Everyone expected the name of Cardinal William Levada’s successor…
Senior Vatican officials will hear first hand of the experiences of Irish abuse victims at a major conference in Rome next week aimed at extending better Church guidelines worldwide to ensure abuse allegations are handled properly. Marie Collins, who was abused by Dublin priest Fr Paul McGennis, was one of the first people to come…
Nigeria: Christians flee Boko Haram violence Christians in the north of Nigeria are fleeing south following the latest attack by radical Islamists on their community. Having threatened to target Christians if they did not leave the predominantly Muslim north, the radical Boko Haram group launched a January 6 attack on the Deeper Life Christian…
Ten years on the Church has still not addressed the credibility gap left by the scandals, writes Phil Lawler Ten years have passed since the Boston archdiocese was engulfed in scandal, as the result of investigative reporting by the Boston Globe. Today, the faithful in Boston are still struggling to shake off the…
Paul Keenan