The EU should lift all national obstacles to the recognition of same-sex relationships, say MEPs, even though this is a not an area which falls directly under EU power.

In a resolution on the rights of LGBTIQ persons in the EU (adopted with 387 votes in favour, 161 against and 123 abstaining), the European Parliament emphasises that these citizens should be able to fully exercise their rights, everywhere in the Union.

The resolution states that marriages or registered partnerships formed in one member state should be recognised in all of them in a uniform way, and same-sex spouses and partners should be treated the same as their opposite-sex counterparts.

The resolution also urges all EU countries to accept the adults mentioned in a child’s birth certificate as their legal parents, regardless of their biological connection or whether surrogate mothers or third party gametes were used.

Following the European Court of Justice ruling “Coman & Hamilton”, which found that “spouse” provisions in the Free Movement Directive also apply to same-sex couples, the Commission should take enforcement action against Romania, where the government has not changed national legislation to reflect this ruling, MEPs ask.

The Parliament also called for further EU action (infringement procedures, judicial measures and budgetary tools) against Poland and Hungary.

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) star Neymar receives €541,680 gross per month extra if he avoids any “political or religious propaganda that could damage the image and unity of the club”.

That’s according to an investigation by Spanish news outlet El Mundo which leaked the forward’s contract with Qatari owned PSG.

It is understood that Neymar would receive €6.2 million (£5.28 million) a year simply as part of an ‘ethical clause’ included in his contract with the Parisian club.

The clause also requires the avoidance of any “negative public comments about the club, those who work there and those who support it” as the club wants an “exemplary behaviour, especially on the field” from the player.

The 29-year-old has previously made several references to his Christian faith. He grew up going to Peniel Baptist church in his native Sao Paulo with its lead pastor Newton Lobato revealing the footballer gives around €18,000 every year.

Neymar once said: “Life only makes sense when our highest ideal is to serve Christ”.

He has also been seen receiving trophies wearing a headband stating “100% Jesus”, such as the Champions league final celebration in 2016 when F.C Barcelona claimed the title.

A public consultation on the National Adult Palliative Care Policy was announced yesterday by the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly. Well-funded palliative care is generally presented as the best alternative to assisted suicide.

He was speaking during a visit to Our Lady’s Hospice & Care Services’, Wicklow Hospice, a group founded by the Sisters of Charity in 1879.

He said the Government is planning to update the National Palliative Care Policy for adults next year. “We are using an online survey to get the views of the public on how services for people with a serious and progressive illness are delivered, which will inform the policy update. Survey participants will be asked about their awareness of palliative care, their views on current services and future priorities for palliative care services. This survey can be accessed from today and will be open for six weeks closing on 25th October 2021.”

He added: “The survey will provide valuable information about the views of the nation on how care for people with a serious and progressive illness is delivered in Ireland and help to shape the development of the update to the Palliative Care Policy for adults”.

Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury and Archbishop of Wales, has strongly denounced assisted suicide just days after his predecessor reiterated his support for the controversial practice.

In a statement submitted to the British Medical Journal, Lord Williams warned medics that a change in the law would lead to “overstrained families” and “overstretched medical resources” exerting pressure on many patients to take their lives by assisted suicide.

He questioned whether the progress and provision of palliative care in the UK could survive “overburdened budgets” when enabling the suicides of people who required nursing and hospice care became the cheaper option.

Meanwhile, a former chair of the Danish Council of Ethics has published a stinging attack on legalised euthanasia in the British Medical Journal.

While euthanasia is often described as the ultimate expression of autonomy Ole Hartling is deeply sceptical as, he says, the wish to die arises against a backdrop of desperation, a feeling of hopelessness, possibly a feeling of being superfluous.

“Thus, it is under these circumstances that the right to self-determination is exercised and the decision is made. Such a situation is a fragile basis for autonomy and an even more fragile basis for decision making. The choice regarding your own death is therefore completely different from most other choices usually associated with the concept of autonomy”.

The start of construction on the new €500 million National Maternity Hospital (NMH) has been delayed after HSE board members rejected its proposed governance structure for fear it will give control of the facility to St Vincent’s Healthcare Group (SVHG).

It is thought that the latest impasse over corporate governance is not related to religious ethos. There is no evidence that the Sisters of Charity, who founded St Vincent’s, will have any influence over the proposed NMH.

The board’s audit and risk committee has repeatedly refused in the past six months to accept the formula for appointing directors to the board of a company called National Maternity Hospital at Elm Park DAC, which will operate the new facility on St Vincent’s campus in Dublin. The project cannot go ahead without the HSE board’s approval.

The committee, chaired by Brendan Lenihan, a former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, has argued that the Hospital board’s composition, as planned, would not adequately protect the public interest and would give SVHG effective control.

Because of the standoff over governance, a motion for approval of the project has not yet been put to the main board. Its next meeting is scheduled for September 24.

Assisted suicide would “skew the meaning of medicine”, according to an English bishop in charge of pro-life issues.

Baroness Molly Meacher’s private member’s Assisted Dying Bill is set to get its second reading – where it will be debated in the House of Lords – on October 22.

The proposed legislation would allow terminally ill patients in their last six months of life to avail of assisted suicide with the permission of two doctors and a judge.

“Those in favour of the bill are making good use of language to confuse the issue and call it a compassionate and caring approach to redefine the question and obscure the actual reality and consequences of such legislation,” said Bishop John Sherrington, an auxiliary for the Diocese of Westminster.

“Catholic teaching opposes assisting suicide, since life is a gift to be cared for and preserved until its natural death. The Church is clear that we cannot directly choose to take the life of another, even if they request it,” the bishop wrote in an open letter.

Only about one in eight Scots agree with Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, that changing the law to let people change their legal gender based only on their own say-so should be an urgent priority, according to a poll. Legally changing your gender based only on your own opinion is already the law in Ireland.

The First Minister confirmed last week in her Programme for Government that she would press ahead with gender recognition legislation, which is expected to allow people from the age of 16 to switch to a new gender if they have been living in it for three months.

But a Panelbase poll of 2,003 voters in Scotland for The Sunday Times suggests that just 13 per cent see it as something that the SNP-Green government should address as a pressing matter. By contrast, 68 per cent think economic growth should be an urgent priority.

Doctors at a hospital in Birmingham aborted a healthy baby instead of his sickly twin.

The incident occurred at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation and has come to light via a Freedom of Information request by The Independent.

The anonymous mother decided to abort one of her children because the baby was diagnosed with restrictive growth, with one of the twins having a problem with his placenta and failing to receive enough nourishment, causing his growth to be stunted.

However, during the abortion, doctors ended the life of the ‘wrong’ twin.

Chief medical officer at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Trust, Dr Fiona Reynolds, said: “A full and comprehensive investigation was carried out swiftly after this tragic case and the findings were shared with the family, along with our sincere apologies and condolences”.

“The outcome of that thorough review has led to a new protocol being developed to decrease the likelihood of such an incident happening again.”

A feminist group has raised fears that ‘pledge packs’ for schools may lead to the imposition of gender ideology on children. Gender ideology teaches that a person’s self-declared gender, including that of children, can be totally independent of their biological sex.

The packs will initially be sent to 22 secondary schools by Dublin Comhairle na nÓg — Dublin city council’s youth council — and contain a pledge inviting staff and students to “provide a safe space for LGBTQIA+ students to communicate their issues”.

Laoise Uí Aodha de Brun, founder of ‘The Countess’, said that although taking the pledge would be optional for each school and individual student, the introduction of the packs would create a “coercive” atmosphere in which conforming to “gender ideology” would become the norm.

“Even back in the days of the Pioneer Pledge, when children took their confirmation at school, that was not mandatory. But I remember well the social pressure to stand up and to pledge. And, in fact, everyone did because it was the ‘done thing’. Just because this is being dressed up as progressive, it’s not progressive when anyone who is awake and thinking critically can see that gender identity ideology is very harmful to women, children, and same-sex attracted people,” she said.

The new pledge asks students and staff to participate in “training in queer sexual health”, and “understanding LGBTQIA+ issues”. It also requests that schools review their anti-bullying policies, and add a section on gay and trans students.

The packs will be sent to the schools in the week beginning September 20. Twenty-six schools were asked to be involved, but four declined.

Mexico’s Supreme Court has unanimously voted to decriminalise abortion.

The ten judges declared unconstitutional a law in Coahuila, a northern state, that imposes up to three years behind bars on women who undergo an abortion and the doctors who perform it. The ruling applies across the country. “Here ends the unjust criminalisation of women,” declared Arturo Zaldívar, the Chief Justice.

The loosening of abortion restrictions is the culmination of a small but growing wave of piecemeal liberalisation in Mexico, where almost all of the 32 states have outright bans, with narrow exceptions such as rape, fetal malformation or risk to the mother’s health. In 2007 Mexico City, the capital, passed a law allowing women to terminate their pregnancies on any grounds during the first 12 weeks. Since 2019 three other states have followed suit.

The National Action Party reiterated its opposition to abortion. “We are in favor of the defense of life from conception and until natural death,” the party said in a statement. It asked that conscientious objection be protected “for ethical, moral, or religious motives.”