There is a “genuine risk” that a referendum on removing a reference to the work of mothers in the home from the Constitution could be lost if it is not carefully worded, Minister for Children and Equality Roderic O’Gorman has said.

At the Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality yesterday, Mr O’Gorman came under pressure from members to publish his department’s proposed wording for such a referendum question, with progress on the matter described as “glacial”.

The Minister said he was “unclear” as to how his department and the committee might engage on wording. He said at this stage any referendum “is potential” and that no date had been set, though he wanted one to be held next year.

“There is fairly broad acceptance and agreement we need to change the Constitution but what we are going to do is not agreed,” he said.

The newly-established committee is considering how to implement the 45 recommendations delivered by the Citizens’ Assembly on gender equality last April, the centre piece of which was that Article 41.2 of the Constitution should be deleted and replaced.

Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly have delayed a decision which, among other things, would ban pro-life help from being offered on public streets near abortion facilities.

The vote was delayed after it failed to receive cross community support for an Assembly debate on the matter.

The “Abortion Service (Safe Access Zones) Bill” would make it a criminal offence to “influenc[e]… a… person [seeking an abortion], whether directly or indirectly” within “safe access zones”. This legislation would effectively criminalise any form of counselling, offer of material help or even prayer nearby an abortion facility.

Alina Dulgheriu, a mother who benefitted from the offer of pro-life support outside an abortion clinic, gave a statement on the behalf of the group “Be Here for Me”, urging politicians not to criminalise help:

“The support I received from peaceful volunteers outside the clinic where my abortion was scheduled changed my life. My daughter’s life was saved because of them. Please don’t criminalise offering help to women when they need it most.”

Sisters Lila Ammouri and Susan Frazier had been healthy and happy prior to their death, their brother says. Cal Ammouri, 60, told The Independent he last spoke to his sisters a few weeks before they travelled to Switzerland on 3 February, and there was no indication they were about to end their lives. He said he had been kept in the dark by US Consular services about the cause of death.

Lila Ammouri, 54, a palliative care doctor, and Ms Frazier, 49, a registered nurse, flew from Arizona to Switzerland via Chicago on 3 February without telling friends or family. When they didn’t didn’t show up for work at Aetna Health Insurance on 15 February, colleagues raised the alarm, fearing they may have been kidnapped or held hostage.

Their death was confirmed by the US Consulate in Switzerland on 18 February. Basel-Landschaft Public Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Michael Lutz told The Independent  the sisters had died via assisted suicide.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke on the phone with Pope Francis on Tuesday.

“[I] told His Holiness about the difficult humanitarian situation and the blocking of rescue corridors by Russian troops,” the president tweeted. “The mediating role of the Holy See in ending human suffering would be appreciated. Thanked for the prayers for Ukraine and peace.”

Minutes later, as he addressed the Italian senate, he reportedly quoted Pope Francis’s “very important words,” claiming the Catholic leader said: “I understand that you want peace, I understand that you want to defend yourselves, I understand that the military defend civilians, and that civilians defend their own homeland.”

Zelenskyy said his response to the pontiff’s words were: “Our people have become the army, when they have seen the evil that the enemy brings with him, how much devastation he leaves behind him, and how much blood he wants to see spilled.“

According to Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See, Zelenskyy reiterated his invitation for Francis to visit Ukraine, saying that he is “the most awaited guest in Ukraine.” Last week, a letter by the mayor of Kyiv inviting the pontiff to the city was leaked to the media.

Speaking in Rome on Thursday, Pope Francis said that what is happening in Ukraine is “unbearable” and this “shameful war” evidences a culture of “power and oppression.”

A group of former international, human rights, judges are asking the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), to recognise that eugenic abortion of children with Down Syndrome can and should be prohibited out of respect for the rights of disabled people.

The judges of the European Court of Human Rights, of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and UN experts published an article in Valeurs Actuelles on World Down Syndrome Day two days ago.

According to the Advocacy group, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), this step is unprecedented in the history of the European Court.

“It is the first time that former judges have acted in this way before the Court and that the question of eugenic abortion has been raised in such a direct manner. It must be said that the issue of eugenics is at the heart of the abortion debate in the United States, the United Nations and now in Europe”.

In the United States, twelve states have banned medical personnel from performing abortions when they are requested in a discriminatory manner because of a diagnosis of Down Syndrome. Some states also prohibit abortion on the basis of the child’s sex or “race”.

With millions trying to escape Ukraine, some insist on staying behind to help those who cannot flee. Among them are the diocesan workers, volunteers, priests and religious of the Kyiv-Zhytomyr diocese.

That’s according to an International Catholic charity, Aid to the Church in Need.

The charity has supported projects in the diocese for many years and has just given emergency aid of almost a quarter of a million euro due to the war.

Bishop Vitalii Kryvytsky, of the Diocese of Kyiv-Zhytomyr, is one of the many Church leaders in Ukraine who has refused to leave his flock. The Latin Catholic diocese encompasses the capital city of Kiev and the surrounding areas, which are coming under increasing pressure as Russian troops close in, in an attempt to surround the city.

Despite the immediate danger to the lives of all who stay, the clergy, led by the bishop, remain with their communities. Bishop Vitalii is adamant that at a time like this “we cannot be anywhere else”.

Anecdotal evidence indicates that more and more people have returned to Sunday worship following the lifting of Covid restrictions as the Catholic Church prepares to re-institute the obligation to attend Sunday mass.

Fr John Collins, co-priest at Swords (Drynam) in Co Dublin, told the Irish Times that mass attendance in his parish “is more or less back” to pre-Covid levels, though some elderly or vulnerable people have continued to watch online.

Come Easter, he said, he expects to be back to normal.

Encouraging reports also came from Fr John Walsh, curate at Buncrana in Co Donegal. “Numbers are up significantly,” he said, “and most are wearing masks.”

At their Quarterly Spring Meeting, Ireland’s Catholic bishops decided that from April 17th, Easter Sunday, attendance at weekend Mass “will once again be deemed an essential expression of faith”.

The little-noticed rule change is, arguably, the clearest sign yet that the Church believes the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic has passed, after two years during which almost every element of its activities was challenged.

Noting that “at the heart of the life of our parish communities is the Sunday Mass”, the bishops said they were encouraged “to see a return to full public worship in our parishes” and the resumption of all church and community life.

The French government is facing legal action at the European Court of Human Rights after censoring a publicity campaign featuring eighteen people with Down Syndrome.

The group behind the ad, Fondation Jérôme Lejeune had created a short infomercial about the joys and challenges of life with their condition, in order to tackle societal stigma, the organisation which has, for years, set the standard in research and care for people with Down Syndrome, supported the initiative and broadcast the message on several platforms in France. Yet, after a French public authority deemed the video to not be a “message of general interest”, and was “likely to disturb women’ who had abortions  the foundation were prevented from sharing their message on state television.

Fighting the ban, ADF International said it was “proud to support Fondation Jérôme Lejeune in calling out discrimination against people with Down Syndrome. Freedom of speech is the foundation of a democratic society, protected by international human rights law. Why censor somebody for speaking out about their life with a disability? We hope that the court will recognise that these voices are of immensely high value, and make a stand for the rights of persons with disabilities across Europe,” said Jean-Paul Van De Walle, legal counsel for ADF International.

One Diocese received emergency aid of €53,500 for priests and religious.

Writing in response, Bishop Yosafat Hovera of Lutsk said under the conditions of war, Ukrainian society has been facing challenges with danger related to life, property, and basic means of existence.

“However, seeing the support of the international community, we do not feel left alone with our difficulties. Priests and consecrated people, enduring all the problems caused by the war, keep supporting parishioners, refugees, and soldiers who protect our country and everyone searching spiritual and material help.

Another recipient of aid, Nil Yuriy Lushchak, O.F.M., Auxiliary Bishop of Mukáchevo, said they “have been helping refugees for more than a week, supporting people at the borders, and collecting food for Kiev and other cities where it is difficult.”

Fr. Mateusz Adamski of the Kyiv-Zhytomyr Diocese, wrote to say: “We as the Church of Christ are with our people who are in danger, in need, vulnerable, frightened, wounded and weak.  We are trying to get those who are in severe humanitarian crisis and serve them by delivering water, food, medication, evacuating IDPs to the safe place.”

An Oxford College has been warned it could be unlawfully discriminating against Christians after it had previously cancelled a conference booking amid “ill-founded complaints” from students.

Worcester College, led by David Isaac, the former head of the equalities watchdog, apologised for hosting a Christian Concern training camp and cancelled a second booking after students complained they were “distressed” by the event.

But an independent review has found that no evidence for allegations including “aggressive leafleting” by attendees, who were alleged to have approached students to discuss LGBT ‘conversion therapy’.

The inquiry, by lawyer Michael Stewart, found that the college staff were not even able to find a copy of the leaflet.

The Free Speech Union has now written to Mr Isaac calling for him to apologise and to reinstate the booking for the next Wilberforce Academy conference in September.