Council of Experts calls for strategy for Ukrainian refugees

Berlin (KNA) The Expert Council on Integration and Migration (SVR) is calling for a long-term strategy for war refugees from Ukraine. Temporary protection will end for them in March 2025, said Jan Schneider, Head of Research at the SVR, in Berlin on Thursday. Sustainable follow-up solutions are needed, “otherwise several million people in Europe may […]

Do All African Bishops Recognize and Resist the Pope?

Above: Vatican City – April 16, 2015. Pope Francis meets with the bishops of Kenya who are on their ad limina visit in Rome, Italy. © L’Osservatore Romano. In the ongoing controversy regarding same-sex blessing, the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar has released a response to Pope Francis and Tucho “Spirituality and […]

The Term “Pastoral” as a Talisman Word

One of the expressions we hear most in recent years is “pastoral.” “Pastoral reasons” are used to justify some initiatives in the ecclesial sphere, as we have seen in Fiducia supplicans. “Pastoral motifs” are also behind many changes in liturgy and sacred music. It almost seems that pastoral care has become a sort of passepartout […]

Coping with the silence of God

Fr John Harris OP The movie, Silence, tells the story of how in the 17th Century two Portuguese Jesuit priests travelled to Japan in an attempt to locate their mentor whom it was rumoured had committed apostasy. Their task was to locate him to discover if this was true and if so bring him back… […]

In Short

Leitrim town gives thanks after tornado During Mass in St Joseph’s Church, Leitrim Village, the site of a tornado last year, Fr Séamus O’Rourke CC Carrick-on-Shannon gave thanks to the Lord for protecting the lives of those in the town. “Tonight, here in Leitrim village, we come together in thanksgiving for the Lord saving the… […]

‘Hurtful’ gangland funerals plague parishes

Priests have been encouraged to hold the line on improper requests at funerals, writes Chai Brady Living in a community in which every neighbour knows who to watch out for in order to steer clear of drug dealing and violence is an unfortunate reality. To allow a church to be used to idolise a person… […]

Freedom of expression in democratic Ireland

Freedom, in many of its manifestations, is under threat around the world, whether it be freedom of speech, freedom of assembly or freedom of thought and conscience.  We know only too well of the many instances in 2023 where governments shut down journalists and media and in some cases actually targeted journalists and campaigning citizens… […]