Pope Francis raised questions about aspects of President Barack Obama’s health-care law as the two met for the first time during an official visit to the Vatican by the US President. A statement issued by the Vatican Press Office said that the Pope and the President discussed “questions of particular relevance for the Church in...
Under 16s in the UK will be available to pre-order the morning after pill under new NHS guidelines, despite concerns from the Government and others that it will encourage promiscuity. According to the Daily Telegraph, the guidance for GPs and chemists says that under 25s – including girls under 16 – should be able obtain...
British Prime Minister David Cameron has come out against legalising assisted suicide, saying that it could lead to elderly people being “unfairly pressurised” into ending their lives. According to the Daily Telegraph, Mr Cameron plans to allow a free vote on a bill to legalise “assisted dying” introduced by Labour’s Lord Falconer, but will vote...
The US Supreme Court has heard oral arguments in a landmark religious freedom case that will determine whether businesses have to provide health insurance for contraceptives and abortifacients. The case was taken by Hobby Lobby, a family-owned chain of arts and crafts shops, challenging the Obama administration’s ‘HHS mandate’, which requires employers to cover contraceptives...
The bodies of thousands of aborted and miscarried babies have been incinerated as medical waste in UK hospitals, with some used in “waste-to-energy” plants which generate power for heat. According to the Daily Telegraph, an investigation carried out by Channel 4’s Dispatches programme revealed that at least 15,500 bodies were incinerated by 27 NHS trusts...
The deputy president of the UK Supreme Court has said that Christians with traditional beliefs should be given “reasonable accomodation” in law. According to the Daily Telegraph, Baroness Hale, Britain’s most senior female judge, said Britain was “less respectful” towards people with religious views than many other countries, despite its long Christian tradition. During a...
The Pro-Life Campaign have criticised the Irish media for not doing enough to inform parents of babies with life-shortening conditions about perinatal hospice care. Responding to the coverage of cases such as that of ‘Ricki’ and ‘Niamh’ who are planning to go to England for an abortion after they would told their baby has a...
A new study of divorce and separation cases in the Irish courts has found that men are vastly less likely than women to be made the primary carers of their children; and tend to come off worse in the post-separation division of assets, especially if the man is a stay-at-home father. The study, reported in...
The OECD have recommended that the government introduce state-subsidised childcare in order to incentivise parents to return to the workforce. According to the Irish Independent, Herwig Immervoll of the OECD said that childcare costs were “a barrier to women in labour market participation across OECD countries” but that in Ireland they served as a “particularly...
A new report from the UK-based Christian think tank Theos has aimed to articulate principles for understanding and discussing religious freedom in a secular society. How To Think About Religious Freedom, authored by Nick Spencer, argues “not that religious freedom must be honoured above all other principles but that, in the fluid balance of principles...
