The virtue of caritas (God’s divine love), given in baptism, is a force that can inspire the Christian politician’s work to better society, but its effectiveness depends on his fidelity to Christ.

That’s according to Pope Leo who spoke to elected officials and civil servants visiting Rome last week on a jubilee year pilgrimage from France.

Drawing on his Augustinian roots, the Pontiff urged the group to not try to separate their work from their deeper identity as Christians, but encouraged them instead to draw strength from their faith, and knowledge from the social doctrine of the Church.

“Its foundations”, he said “are fundamentally in harmony with human nature, with the natural law that all can recognize, even non-Christians, even non-believers. You must not therefore fear to propose it and to defend it with conviction”.

The Pope acknowledged the difficulties this could present for his interlocutors, as France has a very strong form of secularism that stridently excludes appeals to faith.

He said he was also aware “of the pressures, the party directives, the ‘ideological colonization’—to borrow an expression of Pope Francis—to which politicians are subjected”.

“They need courage: the courage at times to say, ‘No, I cannot!’ when the truth is at stake”.

Women postponing their first child is resulting in many not having the number of children they want, according to a leading sociologist. Ireland’s birth rate is now well below replacement level.

Carmel Hannan, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Limerick, said many reasons underlie “postponement”, and are often due to wanting to feel economically secure, she said. The higher the risks in people’s lives, the less likely they are to make long-term decisions.

“So, if you are in education or in a precarious job, or you don’t have a house, it is likely that having children will be delayed,” she said.

“On the other hand, we are facilitating people to have children at later ages because there is so much access to IVF treatments and other measures such as surrogacy.

She added that the more people postpone having children, “the less likely they will have their ideal family size.

“Sociologists have looked at the number of children people wanted to have versus what they had. The more educated you are and postpone, the more likely you won’t have the number of kids you wanted to have. You wanted three, but you ended up having one or two”.

Well known barrister and pro-life campaigner, Maria Steen, has launched a bid to become an independent candidate in the upcoming presidential election and will make a pro-family message central to her campaign.

She will need to be nominated either by 20 members of the Oireachtas or four county councils to appear on the ballot.

Writing in the Irish Catholic, she described the Office of the President as acting “as a guardian of the Constitution, and of the indefinable spirit of Irishness that imbues both that document, and our society”.

She noted that the Constitution rests on certain “fundamental and timeless principles” including “the promotion of the common good, with due observance of Prudence, Justice, and Charity”.

Central to her campaign will be the ones relating to family which, she believes, “should be shared, promoted, and cherished”.

Referring to the overwhelming defeat last year of the attempt “to write women, motherhood and home out of the Constitution” which she herself campaigned against, she vowed to give a voice “to those who feel that the values they cherish are not represented in society – in fact whose values are openly attacked by our political leaders, NGOs and of course the media”.

She wishes to stand for the mothers and the fathers of Ireland, recognising and appreciating their work in serving their families “both in the home and in providing for them through their work outside the home”.

The number of people in Ireland aged 85 and over is projected to almost quadruple in the space of 30 years, the Central Statistics Office has said in a new snapshot on the lives of the country’s older people, showing how the country is rapidly ageing.

The 85+ age bracket would see a rise from an estimated 104,300 in 2027 to 389,400 in 2057.

In addition, the CSO said the old-age dependency ratio — which expresses the number of people aged over 65 as a percentage of working age adults, aged 15-64 — is expected to increase significantly in that same time, from 25% in 2027 to 49.8% in 2057, meaning by 2057 for every retired person there will be only two working age people versus four now.

More children report seeing pornography online than two years ago, with more coming across it by accident and some aged as young as six – new research by the UK’s Children Commissioner finds.

New data from children aged 16 to 21 proves that despite major efforts to hold tech firms accountable for the content served up to children on their sites, more are seeing pornography online than in 2023, when the Commissioner published her first landmark research on the subject, ’A lot of it is just abuse’.

More than a quarter of children reported having seen it by age 11, with some reporting they have seen it ‘aged six or younger’. Many say it is now normal to see violent content that depicts acts that are illegal or soon will be.

More than half – 58% – had seen content featuring strangulation before turning 18, and many agreed it has affected their behaviour towards one another, with some particularly concerned about its impact on attitudes towards women and girls: 44% of the children surveyed agreed with the statement ‘girls may say no at first but then can be persuaded to have sex’. Girls were more likely to agree with the statement than boys.

The shooting of Catholic school children in the US State of Minnesota yesterday is being investigated as anti-Catholic terrorism.

In a post on X, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Kash Patel, said the FBI “is investigating this shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics”.

The shooter — armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol — approached the side of the church at Annunciation Catholic School and shot through the windows toward the children sitting in the pews during Mass just before 8:30 a.m.

There were 2 fatalities, an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old. In addition, 14 children and 3 adults were injured.

The shooter has been named as Robin Westman, a male born as Robert Westman who identified as transgender.

He posted a YouTube video before the attack, which showed an anti-Christian motivation for the murders and an affinity for mass shooters, Satanism, antisemitism, and racism.

Christian ministers in Gaza City have decided to ignore evacuation orders and remain with the people they are ministering to ahead of an imminent Israeli ground assault aimed at defeating Hamas fighters in the area.

In a joint statement, the Greek and Latin Patriarchs of Jerusalem reference hundreds of civilians who have long taken refuge in church compounds, “many already weakened and malnourished due to the hardships of the last months”.

“Leaving Gaza City and trying to flee to the south would be nothing less than a death sentence. For this reason, the clergy and nuns have decided to remain and continue to care for all those who will be in the compounds”.

The Patriarchs say reports of heavy bombardment continue to be received, adding: “It seems that the Israeli government’s announcement that ‘the gates of hell will open’ is indeed taking on tragic forms”.

They appeal “to the international community to act for an end of this senseless and destructive war, and for the return of the missing people and the Israeli hostages”.

The rate of natural population increase has continued to decline in Ireland, according to the latest figures from the CSO, with more elderly and fewer children.

There were 54,400 births and 35,800 deaths in the year to April 2025, leading to a natural increase of 18,600. This represents a fall of 800 (-4%) from 2024, and well down from a high of 48,800 in 2010.

861,100 people were living in Ireland aged 65 and over in April 2025. Their share of the population rose from 14.1% in April 2019 to 15.8% by 2025, an increase of 159,700 people.

There were 55,200 babies under the age of 1 year, a decrease of 19,700 (-26%) from the 2010 figure of 74,900 infants.

There were also 290,100 children aged between 0 and 4 years, down 3,100 (1%) in the past 12 months and a decline of 68,100 (-19%) from the 2012 figure of 358,200.

Lastly, there were 330,000 children aged between 5 and 9, a decrease of 30,700 (-9%) from the 2017 figure of 360,700 children

The United Nations special rapporteur on violence against women and girls has called for a total prohibition of surrogacy in all its forms.

Reem Alsalem’s new report also raises significant concerns about the practice of egg donation.

The report stresses that surrogacy reinforces patriarchal norms, reduces women to their reproductive functions, and exposes children to serious violations of their human rights.

Among its key recommendations are: the eradication of all forms of surrogacy at the international level; Adoption of a binding international treaty banning surrogacy; Implementation of a legal framework inspired by the Nordic model of prostitution law: penalizing buyers, agencies and clinics, while decriminalizing women; Prohibition of advertising and surrogacy agencies; and, Strengthening international cooperation to combat the trafficking of women and children linked to surrogacy.

An international anti-surrogacy coalition of more than 150 experts and associations from across political and cultural backgrounds, welcomed the report.

“This is an unprecedented recognition at the highest international level: surrogacy is not an act of love but a form of violence and exploitation. This historic report paves the way towards its global prohibition,” declares Olivia Maurel, spokesperson for the Casablanca Declaration.

Scotland’s prosecution service has said it will take no further action against a 75-year-old woman who became the first person charged under the country’s new “buffer zone” law. A very similar law exists in Ireland.

Rose Docherty was arrested in February outside Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital while standing with a sign reading: “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want.” Though she was charged under Scotland’s Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Act, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) confirmed it would not pursue the case.

Docherty called the decision “a victory for common sense”, reports BBC Scotland News. “I just did what I thought was right,” she said. “To be warned for having stood on the streets of Glasgow offering to have a conversation if anyone wants to come and speak to you – it just seems preposterous.”

The initial arrest of Ms Docherty caught the attention of the Trump administration and she was visited by White House officials a month after her arrest.

A spokesperson from the US state department applauded the decision, adding: “The United States stands with all those fighting for free speech and religious liberty.”