A leading figure in Catholic education in Ireland has said that only a small percentage of Irish parents would avail of schools under different patronage to the Catholic Church if offered the choice. Speaking on Spirit Radio, Fr Michael Drumm, chair of the Catholic Schools Partnership, pointed to figures compiled by the Irish Government during its 2011 Forum on School Patronage....
The Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, has written to Northern Ireland’s Members of Parliament to call for their opposition to the Assisted Dying Bill when it is debated at Westminster next week. Archbishop Martin, Primate of All Ireland, said in a statement today that he was prompted to contact MPs by “the destructive and...
Practising Catholics and Protestants in Britain have somewhat differing opinions on key moral issues, new research has found. In a study of data maintained by the market research group YouGov, it was revealed that differing traditions within British Christianity, while being universally more ‘traditionalist’ on issues than the wider population, differ among themselves to a...
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has upheld Italy’s right to ban human embryo donation for scientific research. The ruling comes at the end of a case brought by an Italian citizen, Adelina Parillo, who, having sought pregnancy via in vitro fertilisation in 2002 with her partner, Stefano Rollo, subsequently decided against trying for...
American abortion provider Planned Parenthood has been investigated by officials in the state of Alabama after an inspection uncovered a suspected case of sexual abuse which the group failed to report to authorities. According to Lifesite News, amid ongoing exposés of Planned Parenthood’s trading in human foetal body parts, an online news outlet, Yellow Hammer...
Nepal’s highest court has ordered an immediate halt to commercial surrogacy services there while it considers the legality of the practice. According to the Supreme Court, which issued an injunction on foot of a petition brought before it for an outright ban, while there is no current legislation controlling surrogacy for monetary gain, the practices...
People with religious faith tend to cope better with cancer on average, a new study published in the US journalCancer has found. According to the Daily Telegraph, the research, a meta-analysis of past studies that examined more than 44,000 patients, concluded that cancer sufferers who believed in a benevolent God had better physical health, greater...
A new report on assisted suicide reveals increased use of the procedure across all areas where the practice is allowed. Complied as Britain’s Parliament prepares for a September 11 debate on legislating for assisted suicide, ‘Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: A Guide to the Evidence’, from the Anscombe Bioethics Centre in Oxford, England, examined current practices...
A Catholic priest has insisted that the majority of parents in Ireland want the current system of school patronage to remain unchanged. Speaking to The Irish Times newspaper, Fr Brendan Hoban, a founding member of the Association of Catholic Priests criticised an apparent “presumption” within some quarters, not least the press, that there is a...
The largest provider of abortion facilities in the United States is facing a federal investigation and calls for its defunding following the release of two undercover videos allegedly showing members of the group negotiating the sale of foetal body parts. Two members of Planned Parenthood were captured on film by pro-life advocates posing as representatives of...
