APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO IRAQ 5-8 MARCH 2021

Brendan Hoban, writing in the Western People, casts an eye back over the recent visit of Pope Francis.

‘Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket.’ The Fall: The leaves. The colour. The deep pile carpet. The Fall. Words can be such a distraction. They can…

Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” It was to this teaching…

The issuing of his 11 page letter by former nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano raises many questions; as many about his own motives as about what he alleges.
Two articles, one in the National Catholic Reporter and the other in The Washington Post attempt to fill in the background to the issuing of the letter and the influence that conservative catholic media organisations played.

The Washington Post article says “news this week that Catholic journalists were involved in editing and distributing a Vatican diplomat’s explosive and largely unverified letter calling for the pope’s resignation reveals an influential and tightly knit conservative Catholic digital media network that’s been particularly active during the tenure of its nemesis, Pope Francis.”
The article offers two ways to view these journalists;
quoting a ‘conservative lay leader’ who says ““This whole episode seems like total Fake News … The allegations of sexual abuse coverup “have to be investigated, wherever they lead. But the way this came out, it really struck me: ‘They’re really out to get Francis.’ ”
and from ‘one commentator in the conservative Catholic media sphere’;
“They’re not trying to be objective,” the person said. “They are trying to evangelize; they’re trying to spread the good news, spread the message as they understand it. They are activists.”

Cui bono? Who benefits?

Pope Francis releases a video message accompanying his prayer intention for October, the missionary month, in which he calls for the promotion of greater integration of the lay faithful, especially…

The Irish Bishops’ Conference has issued the following directions in the light of current public health authority advice in Ireland, north and south, aware that these might have to change at very short notice.