Computer science teacher and atheist Fachtna Roe said he views the statue as a symbol associated with oppression, cruelty and the humiliation of women and children, and its placement in the school caused him “offence and upset”.

In May 2015, he attempted to remove the statue as he viewed it as victimisation of him, but was opposed by the school’s caretaker and a scuffle ensued.

Mr Roe argued that the placement of the Virgin Mary statue in 2015 was done to make him feel inferior as a humanist in his place of work, and that the statue represents Roman Catholic dogma, which humanists oppose.

Mr Roe also argued at the Labour Court that there is no place in a vocational school for ‘religious dogma’.

The court found that Mr Roe has not established any facts from which an inference of discrimination could be drawn in the case.

A Catholic Afghan family in terror of the Taliban have appealed to Pope Francis to help them escape the country.

Afghan citizens are prohibited from converting to Christianity and there is only one officially recognised Christian church in Afghanistan, the Catholic chapel inside the Italian Embassy.

However, neighbours discovered and reported them two weeks ago.

As a result, the father of the family was arrested six days ago, while the rest of the family was forced to flee.

The family say the Taliban are going door to door asking whether any Christians live there or in that community.

Now a friend in Rome is trying to get a letter into Francis’ hands in which the family appeals to the pope and the international community to help them leave the country.

“These are days of terror and the idea of falling into the hands of soldiers terrifies me,” read the appeal.

“If they were ever to capture me or other members of my family I would rather die,” wrote the family.

With the Taliban going house to house looking for unmarried women, the letter said, it pleaded “to save us from this situation, which is endangering me and many other families, especially Christian girls.”

Pope Francis joined six Catholic prelates in a public service ad in which he called vaccination against COVID-19 “an act of love.”

“Thanks to God’s grace and to the work of many, we now have vaccines to protect us from COVID-19,” the Pope says. “They bring hope to end the pandemic, but only if they are available to all and if we collaborate with one another.”

The Spanish language ad with English sub-titles from the non-profit group Ad Council began circulating online and on TV on Wednesday. It’s the group’s first campaign to extend beyond the United States.

“Getting the vaccines that are authorised by the respective authorities is an act of love. And helping the majority of people to do so is an act of love,” Francis continues. “Getting vaccinated is a simple yet profound way to care for one another, especially the most vulnerable.”

Nearly 20 cases of sexually transmitted infections (STI) in children under the age of 14 have been recorded so far this year.

Figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre show that 18 STIs were diagnosed in the zero to 14 age cohort between January and early August.

There were 498 cases of HIV and STIs reported in the 15 to 19 age group over the same period.

Monaghan GP Illona Duffy told Newstalk Breakfast on Wednesday the figures are alarming.

“These are shocking figures and to hear that there are children under the age of 14 who have been diagnosed with sexual transmitted disease is a cause for concern,” she said.

“My presumption would be these are children who have been taken, perhaps, into care and been examined and, one would hope, are now being cared for because . . . it is illegal for anyone to have sex with children of that age.

Pro-Life TDs are to push for a number of legislative changes to the country’s abortion law as part of a planned review which is set to take place in the coming months.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly is due to appoint an ‘independent expert’ to review the law.

The selection process for the expert has yet to be finalised.

Some politicians want to see wider access to free contraception, a removal of the three-day waiting period, full decriminalisation, and legislation for exclusion zones.

Others, however, will push to retain the minimal limits already in place.

Independent TD Carol Nolan, is seeking a commitment “to promote and provide positive alternatives to abortion in light of the 13,000-plus abortions carried out to date. This is hardly the definition of ‘rare’ that was promised pre-referendum.”

She is also seeking a commitment to provide “foetal pain relief”.

The Offaly TD has also said she wants a commitment “to end the legislative pursuit of exclusion zones and a commitment to protect the constitutional values of free assembly, peaceful protest and free speech.”

Religious education teachers are becoming more concerned about the bullying of Catholic students in school.

That’s according to a report published by the national anti-bullying research and resource centre.

Teachers also told the researchers that there had been “hostility” from non-religious students towards students who expressed faith, and that “strong beliefs by students can be ridiculed”.

However, 88 per cent of those surveyed did not raise religious-based bullying because the report was about bullying in general.

The findings were part of a study of religious education produced by researchers at Dublin City University, Dr Amalee Meehan and Derek Laffan.

In a survey of 214 religious education teachers, 64 per cent said that studying religion should be mandatory for students in both the junior and senior cycle. However, the remaining 36 per cent did not think it should be compulsory.

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.”