Young teens are living the results of a “perfect storm” of too much time online, lingering impact of Covid pandemic and the “rise of individualism”, a leading child and adolescent psychotherapist has warned.
Dr Colman Noctor, a psychotherapist at St Patrick’s University Hospital, Dublin was commenting on findings that today’s 13-year olds were almost twice as “at risk” of depressive symptoms, with girls especially at risk, than their counterparts a decade earlier.
Drawing on data from the longitudinal Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study the report examines findings about 13-year olds born in 2008 with findings from a cohort born in 1998.
Dr Noctor said he and colleagues were “overwhelmed” with referrals for support and treatment for children experiencing mental and emotional distress. An upward trajectory had begun around 2010 – around the same time as smartphone use spiralled – and accelerated since the pandemic, he said.
Support for Canada’s Euthanasia law is built on shaky foundations as most of those who back it appear unaware that it allows cases they do not support.
That’s according to a study whose results were just published in the British Medical Journal.
A survey found only 12.1% correctly answered at least 4 of 5 knowledge questions about the Medical Assistance in Dying [MAID] law; only 19.2% knew terminal illness is not required and 20.2% knew treatment refusal is compatible with eligibility.
73.3% of participants expressed support for the MAID law in general, matching a nationally representative poll that used the same question. 40.4% of respondents supported MAID for mental illnesses. Support for MAID in the scenarios depicting refusal or lack of access to treatment ranged from 23.2% (lack of access in medical condition) to 32.0% (treatment refusal in medical illness).
The study concluded that the gap between current policy and public opinion warrants “further study”.
“For jurisdictions debating MAID, opinion surveys may need to go beyond assessing general attitudes, and target knowledge and views regarding implications of legalisation,” it added.
The weakening of the European Union as well as social issues such as abortion were among concerns voiced by Pope Francis in a meeting with European Bishops last weekend.
Speaking to Crux, Father Manuel Barrios Prieto, secretary general of the Commission of Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), said Pope Francis, stressed the need “to maintain a strong dialogue with the European institutions.”
The pontiff, he said, was “very aware” of the status of the European Union, given the rise of far-right Euro-sceptical parties, and voiced concern over the current “fragility” of the EU, as well as the war in Ukraine and in Gaza.
“He also brought up the issue of abortion as an important concern for the Church,” Prieto said.
The Pope, Prieto said, “was concerned about a certain ‘culture of death’ that is present, and is also in Europe, and he called us to do something about this, to fight for life and the dignity of life.”
Debate over abortion has flared up in recent months following France’s vote in March to enshrine abortion as a fundamental right in its constitution – a decision that sparked widespread debate, and which the French bishops and the Vatican’s Academy for Life publicly opposed.
Legalising ‘assisted suicide’ would undermine the end of life care of all suffering with terminal illness, according to the Irish Catholic Bishops. Campaigners for euthanasia in Ireland already admit they want euthanasia for more than for those nearing death.
In a statement, the Bishops say the final weeks of terminal illness can be a time to experience human and spiritual growth.
“Faced with the reality of their own mortality, they can and do come to understand themselves better, and to experience the love of family members and friends. This can be a time when old hurts are healed and people find inner peace”.
They say a decision to end life prematurely cuts off any prospect of growth or healing and represents a failure of hope.
They add that consideration must be given to the impact of legislation as it “would contribute to undermining the confidence of people who are terminally ill, who want to be cared for and want to live life as fully as possible until death naturally comes”.
It would also undermines a fundamental principle of civilised society, “that no person can lawfully take the life of another”.
They also express “little confidence” that proposed restrictions would offer any real protection, particularly for those who are most vulnerable, including people with intellectual disabilities.
The Government rejected numerous amendments to controversial surrogacy legislation during the opening committee stage debate in the Seanad last Thursday.
Amongst the proposals moderating the scope of the bill, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly rejected that anyone wishing to avail of surrogacy services “shall be required to meet all of the same requirements and standards as a person wishing to adopt a child”.
He also rejected that the surrogate mother “must not be obliged by the commissioning adults or their agents to undergo an abortion”.
In reference to the amendment that “no single man shall be allowed to undertake surrogacy”, the Minister said that would be “unacceptably discriminatory”.
The Minister also rejected the proposal that “No one who was convicted of a child sexual offence either in or outside the State shall be allowed to participate in or avail of surrogacy services”.
The committee stage debate in the Seanad will resume Wednesday.
There are no circumstances where France would legalise surrogacy because it commodifies the bodies of women, and is contrary to their dignity, said French President Emmanuel Macron.
The President was responding to Olivia Maurel, a young woman born through surrogacy and spokesperson for the Casablanca Declaration, who had written to him seeking his support for the universal abolition of surrogacy.
In this letter dated June 12, 2024, the President, through his chief of staff Mr. Rodrigue Furcy, referred to article 16-7 of the civil code which declares the absolute nullity of surrogacy contracts.
The letter recalls that “the President, on several occasions, has reaffirmed red lines” and adds that “there is no question of authorizing surrogacy in France, because it challenges the dignity of the body of the woman and its commodification”.
The letter adds that if the President cannot grant an audience to Olivia Maurel due to the constraints of the presidential agenda, he indicates that her request has been transmitted to Madam Minister Sarah El Haïry, the Minister Delegate for Youth, Childhood and Family, who “will keep her directly informed”.
In reply, Ms Maurel thanked the President of the French Republic for reaffirming the fact that surrogacy will remain prohibited during his mandate.
A summit advocating a worldwide ban on surrogacy has been hosted by the Vatican’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva. Ireland is about to pass one of the most liberal surrogacy laws in Europe.
Gabriella Gambino, an official of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, quoted Pope Francis saying surrogacy represents “a serious violation of the dignity and rights of women and children”, and the international community “must therefore feel called upon to reflect on the urgency of placing an absolute ban on all forms of surrogacy”.
The aim of the meeting, Gabriella Gambino explained in her introduction, was “to reflect on the urgency of an international response to the phenomenon of surrogacy.”
Aware of the fact that ‘procreative tourism’ generated by the divergence of states’ regulations on surrogacy “is still the cause of the transnational exploitation of women and children through this practice,” she said it is necessary “to deepen the possibility of a common commitment to ensure the universal safeguarding of the dignity and fundamental human rights of those involved.”
The period from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 saw 2168 abortions occur, an increase of 413 (23.53%) over the previous year.
There was also a 26% increase in late-term abortions, with 24 babies aborted at 20 weeks or over, up from 19.
There was a 69% increase in abortions for ‘non-fatal disabilities’ and an 11% increase in abortions for children under 18 years old.
Despite abortion being a devolved issue, English, Welsh and Scottish MPs in Westminster voted in July 2019 to impose an extreme abortion regime on Northern Ireland. No MPs representing the North voted in support of the change.
According to a spokesperson for Right to Life UK, the very large increase since that change “demonstrates that the introduction of an extreme abortion regime to Northern Ireland has likely resulted in the lives of many more babies from Northern Ireland being lost to abortion”.
‘Regulating’ surrogacy leads to its acceptance while ignoring the exploitation inherent in the practice, according to the Italian Minister for Family. Ireland is on the point of legalising surrogacy.
Speaking at an event in Geneva on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council, Eugenia Roccella said the “tendency to regulate surrogacy” paves “the way for a substantial acceptance” but “does not address all the ethical questions” and the forms “of exploitation created by the new market in bodies”.
The Minister noted the disparity in legal and ethical treatment: selling a newborn after birth “is a crime” but arranging surrogacy before conception “is legal in many countries”.
Italy is the first European country to consider a bill to ban surrogacy across its entire territory and classify it as a universal offense.
Another participant, Olivia Maurel, who was born through surrogacy said that she was “ordered, fabricated, custom-made, sold and bought”.
The human rights activist also stated that in surrogacy “there is always money involved” and “there is no ethical ways of selling children, there is no ethical way to rent a woman’s body”. Therefore, it is necessary to ban all kinds of surrogacy at an international level.
A leading Catholic bishop has called on world powers to demand that Pakistan protect the lives of persecuted minority faith groups under increasing threat from flagrant misuse of the country’s notorious blasphemy laws.
Bishop Samson Shukardin, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, said that unless laws are passed making it an offence to fabricate allegations of blasphemy, Christians and other beleaguered minorities will never feel safe in their own country. The bishop’s comments coincide with news that a Christian man from Sargodha in his 70s, had died in hospital ten days after being attacked by a mob acting on dubious blasphemy claims made against him.
Bishop Shukardin said such incidents would only increase unless the Pakistan authorities clamp down on people falsifying accusations and stop mobs taking matters into their own hands by terrorising victims, their families and neighbours.
In an interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), which supports persecuted and other Christians, Bishop Shukardin said: “It is very important that legislation is introduced whereby those found to have wrongly accused people of blasphemy are given sentences including jail terms.”
