The Vatican has rejected allegations of corruption in its awarding of contracts which were made by a leading cleric who is now papal nuncio to the United States. The move comes in response to the publishing, in the Italian press, of two letters penned in 2011 by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, at the time the…
Delegates from over 100 countries are meeting in Rome to ensure a global Church response to abuse. Michael Kelly reports. If bishops around the world courageously embrace robust child safeguarding policies, the Church can lead the way the Rome conference on abuse has been told. While the Church has failed dramatically to respond properly…
Critics of Catholicism often ignore the vital role of the Church’s humanitarian work, writes Greg Daly It’s rare that I lose my temper, but I got indignant a few weeks ago when a friend declared that the Catholic Church has nothing to offer today’s world. Normally, I’d dismiss such nonsense with a shrug,…
The Pope visits Cuba in March. Paul Keenan examines the island nation’s recent record. What to believe about Cuba? Since the ‘retirement’ of Fidel Castro, the island nation’s leader of 47 years in favour of baby brother Raul in 2008, it was tempting to believe that the change of regime — albeit kept…
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…
Paul Keenan
Michael Kelly
Greg Daly