The parish priest of Gaza called on his flock to forgive even as the war refugees return to find a “tsunami” of destruction.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians started to make their way back to the northern Gaza Strip, but instead of returning to homes, there is mostly only rubble left, with Father Gabriel Romanelli, saying the entire enclave has experienced a “tsunami” of destruction.

During Sunday Mass, Romanelli invited those present to participate in an act of reconciliation and forgiveness, inspired by the teachings of St Pope John Paul II. “To forgive all those who, voluntarily or involuntarily, have failed, and ask forgiveness for our own shortcomings,” he recalled.

The Christian community of Gaza has mourned the loss of at least 57 people during the war.

At the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV called for the warring parties to lay down their weapons.

“Disarm your hands and, even more importantly, your hearts. As I have said before, peace is unarmed and disarming,” Pope Leo said. “It is not deterrence, but fraternity; it is not an ultimatum, but dialogue. Peace will not come as the result of victories over the enemy, but as the fruit of sowing justice and courageous forgiveness.”

An activist academic who has has long backed radically liberalising Ireland’s laws on surrogacy and assisted human reproduction has been appointed the chairperson of the board of the new fertility regulator.

The regulating body’s purpose is to police Ireland’s burgeoning fertility industry to ensure that exploitative practices do not become endemic.

Deirdre Madden, of the School of Law at University College Cork (UCC) is a specialist in healthcare law and ethics, holding a Master’s degree in surrogacy and a PhD in the law relating to assisted human reproduction (AHR).

Health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said: “Establishing the AHRRA [Assisted Human Reproduction Regulatory Authority] brings essential oversight to this important part of the health service.

“Professor Madden has extensive expertise in healthcare law and ethics, including assisted human reproduction and surrogacy, bioethics, patient safety, and healthcare regulation”.

Surrogacy is comparable to prostitution and should be banned, the UN’s most senior expert on violence against women and girls has urged.

Reem Alsalem, a United Nations special rapporteur, submitted a report to the body on Friday calling for an end to the practice, describing it as a “system of exploitation and violence”.

Ms Alsalem argued that there had been a “rush to normalise” surrogacy arrangements in recent years, driven by powerful lobbying groups that have created a false impression of the practice.

“There’s a very embellished view that it’s altruistic, that it’s a sign of love, that you’re doing something amazing because you’re providing an opportunity for others that don’t have the chance to become parents, but there’s very little talk about the dark side of surrogacy,” she said.

“Humans do not have a human right to have children. This argument that you have a right to form a family, and therefore you have a right to rent out a womb and then remove a child from their mother, it’s just insane how this has been allowed to happen.”

Faika El-Nagashi, a former Austrian Green MP who heads the European Athena Forum said the new LGBTIQ+ Equality Strategy 2026–2030 “places gender identity and ‘self-ID’ at the centre of EU equality policy, while neglecting the sex-based protections of women and girls”.

At a broader level, gay rights would be defined by attraction on the basis of gender identity, as opposed to sex.

Any government that tries to introduce age limits or resist the switch to gender, rather than sex-based, equality, could face action in the European Court of Justice, which has the power to assert the primacy of EU law over national legislators.

Both Ireland and the present EU proposal backs self-identification, in contrast to Britain, which requires a doctor’s approval to allow people, including children, to claim a gender identity different from their biological sex.

“Catholic schools can be Catholic. It’s perfectly doable to express the faith fully and be radically hospitable. But too often leaders, without formation, feel they must ‘dial down’ the Catholic elements — the prayers, the symbols, even the Gospel story behind their founding charisms.”

Folláine was launched this week in response to the 2018 GRACE report, which identified a lack of formation for Catholic school leaders. The service offers resources, retreats and mentoring to help principals “take on the mission” by becoming theologically literate, confident in their schools’ ethos, and clear about their vocation.

Their focus is on principals, deputy principals and boards of management, rather than teacher formation for teaching specific syllabi such as RSE or SPHE.

A key principle of Folláine’s work is ‘radical hospitality’ — Aíocht — inspired by Pope Francis and Catherine McAuley’s call to “let hospitality be your special charge.”

“We want to rebuild with honesty, integrity and clarity as Catholics,” Dr Moran said. “In The Irish Catholic Breda O’Brien spoke of a ‘thin Catholicism’ in our schools. We hope to thicken it up.”

There was an anti-Catholic bias in the drive by some to prevent Maria Steen from getting on the Presidential ballot paper, according to Ms Steen herself.

Writing in the Irish Catholic, Ms Steen described a cartel-like opposition from the main parties, left and right, and even among some ‘independents’ to someone from outside the establishment running for President.

“I think it is important that I note the anti-Catholic bias that exists within the establishment”, she said.

“I have never hidden my views or the fact that I am a practising Catholic. I go to Mass, say my prayers and try to raise my children to be good citizens. I don’t think that makes me extreme. I am pro-life; as a general rule, I think that we should not kill other human beings. I don’t think that makes me extreme. I think marriage is a good thing for individuals, for children, and for society and that children have a right – as far as possible – to be brought up by their own parents. I don’t think that makes me extreme”.

“And yet people like me are regarded with suspicion and treated by the establishment not merely as unfit for office, but as unfit even to be permitted to run for office”.

Children are best raised by two parents in a stable home for as long as possible, according to columnist, Fintan O’Toole, who has campaigned for many of the liberal changes in Ireland over the past few decades.

Speaking on the Irish Times podcast, Conversations with Parents with Jen Hogan, Mr O’Toole said he was actually “very conservative” in his views on relationships.

“Ideally, every kid should have a stable upbringing as much as possible, emotionally. We have just been talking how hard it is, and I have enormous admiration for people who’ve raised kids on their own. I just think how do you begin to do that?”, he said.

“Of course, there are children who have been raised by lone parents who have had fantastic experiences, but it’s easier if there are two people and it is easier for kids if those two people are the same two people for as long as possible”.

He added that if people do get married, “they should be faithful within marriage”.

A 75-year-old grandmother has been arrested and criminally charged for holding a sign near a Glasgow hospital that carries out abortions which read “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want.”

In Scotland, “buffer zones” are enforced within 200m of every hospital, forbidding harassment, intimidation, and “influencing” of anyone seeking to access abortion. A similar law exists in Ireland.

The women, Rose Docherty, has been charged with breaching the “buffer zone” around Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

Reacting to her arrest, Mrs Docherty said: “Everybody has the right to engage in consensual conversation. I held my sign with love and compassion, inviting anyone who wants to chat, to do so – and stood peacefully, not approaching anyone.

“I should not be treated as a criminal for inviting people to chat with me – lending a listening ear. Conversation is not forbidden on the streets of Glasgow. And yet, this is the second time I have been arrested for doing just that.”

A prohibition on surrogacy has been added to the Slovakian constitution after a proposal was passed by a super-majority of the Parliament.

The amendment, which was drafted by populist Prime Minister Robert Fico’s government, required a three-fifths majority. It went through with exactly 90 votes of the 150-seat National Council, that is, three-fifths of the total. Twelve conservative opposition lawmakers helped the ruling coalition win the vote.

The move also authorised adoption for married couples only, with rare exceptions, enshrined the existence of only two genders – male and female, in recognition of biological reality – and established a constitutional guarantee of equal pay for men and women for equal work.

The constitution had already defined marriage as “a unique union between a man and a woman.”