A decision by the Lord Mayor of Dublin to shelve the city’s annual live-animal crib in the run up to Christmas has been met with a flurry of complaints and alternative proposals to save the project.

Caroline Conroy, a Green Party councillor, told RTÉ she will give children a different, new experience at the Mansion House.

“This will bring more fun, excitement and interaction, It will be more inclusive for more people. It will be a winter wonderland‚” which would include choirs, sleighs and post boxes at the Mansion House in place of the crib with live animals.

Live animals, including donkeys, sheep and goats, have been part of the traditional crib display at the Mansion House for more than 25 years. The animals were supervised by members of the Irish Famers’ Association and the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The DSPCA said it was “disappointed” by the decision, adding that it would deprive inner-city children of a rare opportunity to see live farm animals, while IFA president Tim Callinan said he was “amazed and shocked”.

Former president Mary McAleese, asked the Lord Mayor “to reconsider the decision”, noting that next year would mark the 800th anniversary of the first live crib being set up by St Francis at Greccio, Italy.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown mayor Mary Hanafin has put in a bid to provide a home for the live crib, pointing out that the council has plenty of “available safe space” either around the harbour or near the shopping district.

Dermot Dunne, Dean of Christ Church, said the cathedral would “be very glad” to have the crib in its gardens. There was adequate space and it would “fit in very nicely,” he said.

Meanwhile, in a swipe at those who complained, Green Party councillor, Claire Byrne, suggested that next year a Fianna Fáil mayor can “put a real baby” in the live animal crib outside Dublin’s Mansion House “or whatever” they and opposition parties think “defines Christmas”.

A man has appeared in court charged with stabbing a priest at a chaplains’ house near University Hospital Waterford (UHW) in Ardkeen.

Anthony Sweeney (22), from O’Connell Court, Penrose Lane, Waterford City, appeared before a special sitting of Waterford District Court. It is alleged that he “scaled a wall” from the department of psychiatry at UHW and gained access to the nearby chaplains’ house, where three priests live.

Mr Sweeney is alleged to have armed himself with a peeling knife taken from the kitchen before going upstairs. The court heard he met a priest coming from the bathroom who he “stabbed six times” in the face and head, and four times in the back. The handle of the knife broke during the attack, Det Garda Liam Harty said.

He said the “violent” and “completely unprovoked” attack was interrupted by another priest, which prompted Mr Sweeney to flee by jumping from the upper floor of the house, injuring himself in the process. The accused discarded his shoes and socks and returned to his bed in the department of psychiatry, where he was arrested shortly afterwards, the detective added.

Women are suffering from reproductive coercion in Ireland, including being forced to have abortions, staff at the Sexual Assault Treatment Units (SATU) have said.

In one case, a girl, aged under 18, was locked in a room and given abortion tablets to force an end to her pregnancy.

SATU national director Dr Maeve Eogan said patients such as these can be found not just in SATUs, but across the health service including by GPs, emergency departments, and maternity units.

“Now, very clearly, there are lots of discussions about the crime of coercive control, but in addition, there is this concept of sexual coercion.

She said this can be linked to sex trafficking, but added: “There is a concern that it’s there as a form of domestic violence as well, and we need to raise awareness about it and raise awareness among health practitioners.”

A woman who was in an extramarital relationship with a man before he died has failed in her High Court attempt to be legally declared his cohabitant over the objections of the man’s wife.

In a ruling, Mr Justice Max Barrett said he did not agree with the applicant that the man had lived with her for at least five years in the lead-up to his death, which is required for being defined as a “qualified cohabitant” under the relevant Act.

The Act further requires that a married person has been living apart from their spouse for at least four of the previous five years. The judge did not see that this had happened.

Certain legal rights are conferred on long-term cohabitants when a relationship legally ends, either through a separation or death.

The man’s wife accepted the woman and her husband were in an intimate relationship and that he had been involved romantically with other women. However, the wife said she and her husband were never estranged and continued to cohabit as married partners until his death.

Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore said President Joe Biden’s was “gravely wrong” in pledging to pass a law through Congress that would establish a national right to abortion.

His comments come on the heels of Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia, Charles Chaput, who said Mr Biden “is not in communion with the Catholic faith” and that “any priest who now provides Communion to the president participates in his hypocrisy.”

Archbishop Lori, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said the president’s remarks, given during an Oct. 18 speech hosted by the Democratic National Committee, demonstrated how he continues “to seek every possible avenue to facilitate abortion, instead of using his power to increase support and care to mothers in challenging situations.”

“This single-minded extremism must end,” Lori said in an Oct. 25 statement, adding that the U.S. bishops “implore President Biden to recognize the humanity in preborn children and the genuine life-giving care needed by women in this country.”

A Government plan to increase the number of maternity hospitals providing abortion has once again been delayed as medics conscientiously object and alternative recruitment is proving difficult.

Earlier this year, the Department of Health said that 14 maternity hospitals would be doing abortions by the end of this year. However, at the moment, only 11 of the country’s 19 maternity units are doing so.

According to the HSE, five of the hospitals will not be providing abortions until next year at the earliest, while another two maternity hospitals are still in talks with the HSE to try to roll out the procedure next year.

The HSE said that “conscientious objection, recruitment, and infrastructure” was to blame for the slow roll-out.

The French Government is proceeding with a citizens’ convention on whether to legalise euthanasia and assisted suicide, despite objections near and far.

The issue is contentious, and Pope Francis himself denounced Emmanuel Macron’s initiative last week before holding private talks with the president in Rome on Sunday.

Macron wants reform of French law, which allows doctors to give terminally ill patients enough sedatives to lose consciousness, but not to prescribe or administer lethal drugs.

Although opinion polls show that about 90 per cent of French people are in favour of authorising assisted suicide for terminally ill people, Macron is wary. He has said he does not believe the polls, and is reported to be concerned about the potential to upset Catholic groups vehemently opposed to the idea. The Pope told a delegation of French politicians last week: “You can’t ask carers to kill their patients.”

Macron said he had spoken to the Pope about the issue when visiting Rome on Sunday, “telling him that I don’t like the word euthanasia”.

A new report in the United Kingdom is recommending legislation that will mandate the reporting of child abuse, and specifically says no exemptions should be given for sacramental confession, which could lead to a clash with a central tenet of Catholic teaching.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in England and Wales was announced by the British government in 2014 to examine how the country’s institutions handled their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse.

The final report of the inquiry recommended that people be required to go to the authorities “when they either receive a disclosure of child sexual abuse from a child or perpetrator, or witness a child being sexually abused,” adding that a “failure to report in those circumstances should be a criminal offence.”

Furthermore, it said mandatory reporting “should be an absolute obligation; it should not be subject to exceptions based on relationships of confidentiality, religious or otherwise.”

A 54-year-old Canadian man has applied for euthanasia because he fears becoming homeless.

Amir Farsoud, who lives in St Catharines, near Niagara Falls, is in constant pain from a back injury and says that his quality of life is ‘non-existent’. However, he says it would be bearable if he didn’t have to cope with the fear of homelessness.

Mr Farsoud lives in a shared rooming house but its owner has placed it on the market. He depends on social assistance and says he can’t find affordable accommodation.

“I don’t want to die but I don’t want to be homeless more than I don’t want to die,” he told CityNews.

“I know, in my present health condition, I wouldn’t survive it anyway. It wouldn’t be at all dignified waiting, so if that becomes my two options, it’s pretty much a no-brainer,” said Farsoud.

One doctor has already signed off on his application for MAiD; one more is required.

Asked if he would consider euthanasia if he had stable housing, Farsoud said it would still be “on his radar” but “years down the road”.