The High Court has ruled against allowing assisted suicide. Earlier today, the three-judge sitting of the Court rejected an appeal by Marie Fleming, who was arguing that Ireland’s ban on assisted suicide was a breach of her rights under the Constitution and under the European Convention on Human Rights. In its ruling, the...
The Government’s Constitutional Convention is set to convene later this month to discuss changing the voting age and the length of the term of the presidency. The issues will be examined by the Convention’s 100-member panel during a two-day assembly on Jan 26 and 27 at the Grand Hotel, Malahide, Dublin, the Irish Examiner reports....
Pope Benedict has said that Catholic bishops must have “the courage to contradict the prevailing mindset” of modern culture. He said the faith “will constantly be in conflict with the prevailing wisdom of those who cling to what seems certain”. He made the remarks in his homily for the Feast of the Epiphany. The Pope...
The Government is to meet Catholic Church leaders next week as part of the “structured dialogue” process for only the second time since it was elected. It is expected that the Government’s proposal to legalise abortion and proposals to divest Catholic-run schools to other patron bodies will be on the agenda. Recent unrest in Northern...
Catholic schools in France have been warned to remain neutral on the issue of same-sex marriage by the country’s Education Minister, Vincent Pellion. Mr Peillon has written a letter to all of the country’s 8,300 Catholic school principals, claiming that they have the responsibility to maintain “neutrality” regarding the debate over homosexual marriage in their...
The 1968 papal encyclical Humanae Vitae was “a prophetic document” which predicted the catastrophic consequences for society of the sexual revolution, the Bishop of Portsmouth, Philip Egan (pictured), has said. Humane Vitae reiterated the Catholic Church’s traditional teaching on sexual morality and artificial contraception. In a pastoral letter issued for the Feast of the Holy...
The US State of Kansas is suing a man to pay support to the child conceived using sperm he donated to a couple looking for a child of their own. William Marotta donated sperm to a lesbian couple under a written agreement that he would not be considered the father of the child nor...
The Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has said that it is to conduct a “review” of Ireland’s abortion law and it is inviting submissions. Submissions must be sent by next Thursday. The Commission says in its document inviting submissions that it will “review the relevant human rights that pertain in situations of pregnancy where there...
Proposals to redefine marriage are illegitimate because “neither Church nor State invented marriage, and neither can change its nature,” Cardinal Francis George (pictured), the Archbishop of Chicago, has said. He was responding to an initiative in the US state of Illinois to legalise same-sex marriage. An attempt is being made to move the proposal before...
People who are‘spiritual’ without having a specific religious affiliation are at greater risk of developing mental health problems than those who have a specific religion or those who have no religion, a new study suggests. Researchers at University College London found that those who claim to be spiritual but not religious were more disposed...
