Italian euthanasia campaigners announced that they have collected a half a million signatures to force consideration of a referendum on the issue.

Any response to the petition would have to be introduced as a parliamentary initiative. Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s grand coalition has a narrow mandate to enact reforms, and is unlikely to seek to introduce such divisive legislation.

Health Minister Roberto Speranza, leader of the left-wing party Article One, has said that he was personally convinced of the need to change the law and hoped parliament “would find a consensus.”

However, any new bill would face strong opposition from both the Catholic Church and some politicians.

Maurizio Gasparri, a senator in Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, who is against the measures, said it was not up to Speranza to make a decision and said it was “improper” that the country’s constitutional court had effectively sought to bring in legislation through the back door.

“This tendency to suggest laws and say parliament must create them by a certain date leaves me perplexed. It must be a matter for parliament,” Gasparri said.

Evidence of Christian faith in Ireland today “has for all intents and purposes vanished,” according to the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin.

Archbishop Dermot Farrell made the comments in an interview with the 2021 edition of ‘Síolta’, the annual journal of the national seminary at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.

“The challenges facing me are pretty clear. We have an ageing clergy and very few vocations to the diocesan priesthood or religious life. There is a major decline in the number of people who actively practice and live their faith.

“Faith needs ritual, embodiment. One must see in people how faith is lived. Today the visibility of faith has for all intents and purposes vanished”.

He added: “Public commentary in the media in Ireland has not been positive in its understanding of the Church and its need for vocations, and for public support of those trying to preach the Gospel,” he said.

The head of the Polish bishops’ conference has accused governments of using the coronavirus crisis to restrict democracy and further their “authoritarian aspirations”, and urged Church leaders to begin reasserting their “autonomy and sovereignty”.

“We’ve witnessed an unprecedented treatment of the Church by the state – unilaterally suspending any kind of gathering and making Masses and liturgies unavailable,” said Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, the conference president. “Nothing like this has happened in the Church’s 2000-year history, not even during the wars, bombardments and plagues which often afflicted our country’s people.”

In an article for the Polish Church’s Catholic Information Agency (KAI), the archbishop said government restrictions had violated Poland’s 1993 Vatican Concordat and 1997 constitution, by failing to uphold Church rights or comply with legislative and consultative requirements.

“We were informed of decisions already taken, a few hours before they were announced, without any conversations about their legitimacy or proportionality, or any dialogue”, Archbishop Gadecki added. “The Church was treated worse than a commercial enterprise – as an area not necessary for life. Past governments never dared muzzle the Church in such drastic ways, displaying total disrespect for its role.”

Religious minorities are among the most persecuted people in China, according to George Soros.

The billionaire financier has been funding liberal political projects for years including the push to change Ireland’s laws on marriage and the right to life. Writing in the Wall Street Journal on Friday, Mr Soros said he considers Chinese Premier Xi Jinping “the most dangerous enemy of open societies in the world”.

He added that those of a religious persuasion suffer the most: “The Chinese people as a whole are among his victims, but domestic political opponents and religious and ethnic minorities suffer from his persecution much more”.

He highlighted the surveillance state as one powerful tool for effecting this: “I find it particularly disturbing that so many Chinese people seem to find his social-credit surveillance system not only tolerable but attractive. It provides them social services free of charge and tells them how to stay out of trouble by not saying anything critical of Mr. Xi or his regime.”

A Donegal parish that held First Holy Communions this past weekend became one of the first in the country to do so since numerous bishops publicly declared they no longer support Government guidance to forego them until the autumn.

Fr John Joe Duffy of St Michael’s Church in Creeslough celebrated the ceremony with 18 pupils from two local schools, plus immediate family.

“Personally I feel that September will bring an increase in the virus [because schools will be back]. We will be getting back into flu season and the Government is already talking about having to give booster vaccinations to the population,” said Fr Duffy.

“I feel that now over the summer months is one of the safest times to hold Communions and Confirmations. This is one of a number of reasons I have for pressing ahead with the Communions after the Bishop of Raphoe, Alan McGuckian, said it was okay to do so.”

Fr Duffy has been supported by parents from local schools including those in Scoil Mhuire National School and Glassan National School.

The Government’s continued commitment to introduce so-called ‘safe access zones’ around hospitals and clinics providing abortion has been described as “farcical” by a Laois-Offaly TD.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Carol Nolan TD accused the Minister for Health of being “openly terrified of the pro-choice lobby” over the issue.

Minister Stephen Donnelly had said he was still “fully committed” to introducing such legislation despite media reports that the plan had been shelved.

Ms Nolan said: “The Government position on exclusion zones would be farcical if it were not so serious. It represents the triumph of political pandering over respect for constitutional and civic values and it needs to be abandoned once and for all.

“He needs to stand up for the core values of free speech, recognise the peacefulness of pro-life supporters and stop insisting that he will introduce blatantly discriminatory laws to appease an aggressive and misleading campaign that falsely caricatures pro-life vigils without evidence or substantive reasons.”

Catholic dioceses across China hosted celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) this year, while pilgrimages to China’s national Marian shrine were forbidden.

“Every community, every diocese has done congresses, performances, theaters, and even pilgrimages to the places of the Communist Party history,” said Fr. Bernardo Cervellera.

Bishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing hosted a watch party at the bishop’s residence for President Xi Jinping’s July 1 speech marking the CCP centennial. Forty priests and Church members attended a symposium in Jiangxi province to study how to “implement the spirit” of Xi’s speech. And Catholics in Hubei held a flag-raising ceremony and celebration of the Party, according to the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association website.

“But they are forbidden to go on pilgrimage to Our Lady of Sheshan, which is the national sanctuary for Our Lady in China,” the priest said.

The right of doctors to conscientious objection has been upheld by a court in the US.

Numerous faith-based hospitals and medics had objected to a Biden administration mandate requiring them to provide abortions and gender-changing procedures.

The plaintiffs argued that the procedures are potentially harmful and doing them would violate their conscience and medical judgment.

A federal court in Texas agreed and declared a nationwide injunction against the mandate.

The Biden administration is expected to appeal.

A US federal court rejected a lawsuit by a former Catholic-school guidance counselor who broke her contract by entering a same-sex union in violation of Church teaching.

Judge Richard Young of the Southern District of Indiana ruled that the former Roncalli Catholic High School counselor, Lynn Starkey, qualified as a minister of religion; thus, the archdiocese and school were exempt from federal workplace discrimination prohibitions, regarding her termination of employment.

Young wrote that “the court concludes the ministerial exception bars all of Starkey’s claims.” He granted summary judgement to the archdiocese in the case, ruling in favor of their petition to dismiss Starkey’s lawsuit.

Luke Goodrich, VP and senior counsel with Becket, the firm that represents the archdiocese in the case, stated on Twitter that the decision was a “big win” for religious freedom.

Becket, he said, “argued that Catholic schools exist to teach the faith to the next generation, and they can’t do that effectively if the law forces them to employ teachers who oppose core aspects of the Catholic faith.”

Pro-life activists must not be allowed have a presence outside centres facilitating abortion, according to one prominent abortion rights campaigner. No country in Europe has a national law banning the practice.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1, Dr Mary Favier claimed, without evidence, that the purpose of pro-life vigils was to intimidate patients and staff, and exclusion zones were necessary as a result.

She said such legislation would send “a really important message” that there was support for the legal availability of abortion. Once the legislation was in place it meant that if protesters turned up at a GP’s surgery, staff could “pick up the phone” and call the local Garda station who could then act.

“I’m not saying that people can’t protest, they can, but in an appropriate place, not where services are being provided,” she added.

She was speaking after a report in the Examiner said the proposed legislation had been shelved by the Government, despite it once being classed as a priority.

The Health Minister quickly denied the report and said that he remained fully committed to bringing in a new law.