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.”
The United States has issued its strongest warning yet to the UK over exclusion zones which have been used to target silent prayer and peaceful expression outside abortion facilities.
Ireland passed legislation in 2024 enacting the very same prohibitions of free speech within 100m of clinics and hospitals that administer abortions.
In a comment to the Daily Telegraph, the US State Department accused the UK government of committing an “egregious violation of the fundamental right to free speech and religious liberty.”
“It is common sense that standing silently and offering consensual conversation does not constitute harm.”
The comment comes in response to cases in which individuals – some elderly – have been arrested, charged, or even criminally convicted for simply for praying silently or offering consensual conversations within large censored zones outside abortion facilities.
Under current legislation in England & Wales, “influencing” a person’s decision to access an abortion facility, within 150m of the facility, is a crime carrying a potentially unlimited fine.
In Scotland, similar legislation exists, censoring the area within 200m of all hospitals.
A Swiss clinic that offers assisted suicide claims it has changed its policies after an Irish woman killed herself with their help without any of her family knowing.
Maureen Slough, a 58-year-old mother and retired civil servant from Cavan who had a history of mental illness, ended her own life at the Pegasos clinic in Switzerland in July. Pegasos will enable people to end their lives even if they are not ill in any way.
Her partner Mick Lynch and daughter Megan only found out when a WhatsApp message arrived afterwards from Pegasos.
She was then cremated, and the urn containing her ashes was posted home like an Amazon package.
In response to queries from the Irish Independent, the clinic said it has now changed its procedures for unaccompanied applicants.
It says it will no longer accept unaccompanied applicants with living family members unless they provide copies of their next of kin’s passport and allow representatives of the clinic to meet them in a video call.
The Government is facing growing pressure to explain why it continues to demand €26.2 million from the Legion of Mary to contribute to the Mother and Baby Homes redress scheme. The Department of Children is sticking to its position despite key findings advising against the action.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, former Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl TD criticised the Government’s stance, saying: “I fail to see however why the department views the Legion of Mary/Regina Coeli as a relevant organisation when neither the Commission of Investigation nor the independent negotiator found against them or recommended that they should contribute to redress.”
The Regina Coeli Hostel in Dublin, run by the Legion of Mary from 1930 to 1998, was examined by the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, but found it unique among the 18 institutions examined. It operated not as a mother and baby home, but as a hostel offering shelter to homeless women, including unmarried mothers, women struggling with addiction, mental illness, or poverty.
Moreover, unlike most institutions of the time, mothers were allowed to stay with their children indefinitely and to keep them. Records show that between the 1930s and 1980s, the percentage of mothers who kept their babies rose from under 30pc to over 87pc, although much of this was due to changing attitudes and more financial support from the State.
The Taoiseach has paid tribute to Daniel O’Connell for achieving Catholic Emancipation at two separate events on Aug 6th marking the 250th anniversary of his birth.
At the unveiling of a commemorative plaque at his birthplace, Micheal Martin underlined how deeply the anti-Catholic Penal Laws affected the people, such that “open practice” was banned, Catholics were “excluded from education, politics and professions” and attempts were made “to try to force the conversion of Catholic landed interests, such as the O’Connell’s, to the established religion”.
Reversing this was “the great cause of Emancipation” which O’Connell took up and he extended the arguments to a universal freedom of religion.
At the State Commemoration at Derrynane, O’Connell’s “tireless advocacy for Catholic Emancipation” was recognised.
The Taoiseach noted his rootedness in faith which, he said, he became much more personally and deeply committed to as he grew older.
He said O’Connell took up “the cause of Catholic Emancipation with all of the fire and determination he brought to his legal work”, and its achievement in 1829 “resonated throughout the world”.
A booklet accompanying the event also underlined the specific religious core of his work, mentioning the word “Catholic” no fewer than 19 times.
