Witnesses will no longer be required to swear before God or make an affirmation when filing affidavits under proposals agreed by Cabinet .

Under the present system, witnesses must swear upon a Bible or other religious book before a solicitor or notary public that the contents of their affidavits are true.

A non-religious litigant can make an affirmation which does not mention a higher being but only after they explicitly decline to take a religious oath.

Under the proposed system, witnesses can make a non-religious “statement of truth”, without having to declare if they believe in a god or not. This will also be done remotely without having to appear before a solicitor or notary public.

Welcoming the proposal, Law Society director general Ken Murphy said the oath and affirmation system places witnesses “in a position of embarrassment and indignity” and is “contrary to the right to privacy”.

Jurors and witnesses appearing in court will still have to take an oath or affirm and newly appointed judges will still have to swear before God.

Mr Murphy said, “given the diverse nature of contemporary Ireland” it would have been better to replace the oath-based system in its entirety.

As the city of Buenos Aires inches closer to legalising abortion, the Catholic bishops of the region have released a statement on the dignity of life.

This enables abortions in cases where its not explicitly criminalised by Argentina’s penal code, including pregnancies from rape or when the life of the baby is said to threaten that of the mother.

The latter point is contentious as critics say it is loosely applied and used to justify 88 percent of the abortions in the country. For some, it includes the “physical, psychological and social” health of the mother, and ranges from actually life-threatening medical conditions to a consensual relationship between two adults coming to an end.

The bishops of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, including Cardinal Mario Poli, handpicked by Francis as his successor in leading the country’s largest archdiocese, and Bishop Gustavo Carrara, who lives in the slums of the city, released a statement titled “Life is always dignified.”

In their statement, the bishops note that the protocol “contradicts the constitutional guarantees in favor of the most unprotected life,” and added they are not against the rights of women, but they are “in favour of life as it arrives, in every circumstance”.

The HSE considered allowing nurses to give the Last Rites to patients dying from Covid-19 as emergency preparations were made for a surge in deaths, internal documents reveal.

Minutes of a meeting of the Covid-19 Mass Fatalities Expert Group show the HSE considered the move after a discussion with its Chaplaincy Council on the need to avoid contact in clinical settings.

The records, released under Freedom of Information and marked “confidential”, state that the HSE and the Chaplaincy Council discussed “the possibility of nurses to be decreed to give Last Rites in some circumstances”.

In a statement, the HSE said it “worked in close collaboration with chaplains and a range of faiths during the Covid-19 pandemic”.

Despite the issue being discussed at the high-level meeting of the Covid-19 Mass Fatalities Expert Group, “nursing staff were not trained in the practice of giving Last Rites”, it added.

Belgian euthanasia law fails to protect the fundamental right to life, according to a legal brief filed with the European Court of Human Rights.

The filing on behalf of Tom Mortier identifies clear violations of the law in the case of his mother who was euthanized by lethal injection in 2012.

ADF International argues that International law has never established a so-called ‘right to die.’

“On the contrary, it solidly affirms the right to life – particularly for the most vulnerable among us,” said Robert Clarke, Deputy Director of ADF International and lead counsel for Tom Mortier.

“One look at the tragic facts of this case exposes the lie that euthanasia is good for society. The sick, suffering, elderly, and vulnerable in our society deserve the utmost respect and care. As this case reaches its final stage, we hope that it will bring Tom some small measure of justice, and help protect others”.

The Belgian law specifies that the person must be in a ‘medically futile condition of constant and unbearable physical or mental suffering that cannot be alleviated, resulting from a serious and incurable disorder caused by illness or accident.’ Tom’s mother was physically healthy, and her treating psychiatrist of more than 20 years did not believe that she satisfied the legal requirements of the Belgian euthanasia law. Nonetheless, she was euthanized in 2012 by an oncologist with no known psychiatric qualifications.

Mortier was informed the day after his mother had been euthanized with the explanation that she had been suffering with ‘untreatable depression’.

Belgium legalized euthanasia in 2002. In 2014, the law was amended to include children with no lower age limit. The youngest child to be euthanized in Belgium was only 9 years old. Between 2003 and 2018 the number of people euthanised grew by about 1000%.

Gardaí will be on duty on all approaches to Croagh Patrick this Reek Sunday to enforce Public Health guidelines due to Covid-19.

Groups closely involved with organising the annual climb have appealed to people to stay away.

In a statement they said that many of the volunteer stewards who know the terrain and the routine are themselves cocooning. “The logistics of members of the public or volunteer emergency services coming to the assistance of someone who had fallen would create unnecessary public health risk”.

“It was furthermore confirmed to us by a consultant in public health medicine that Reek Sunday fell outside the criteria laid out in the roadmap for reopening the country. The public health advice is clear and we absolutely abide by it.”

St Mary’s administrator Fr Charlie McDonnell said that, despite the absence of infrastructure at the mountain and the season being closed for 2020, people were still turning up to climb it with as many as 1,394 there on the weekend of July 12th this year. Similar crowds were there last weekend, he said.

However Archbishop of Tuam Michael Neary will still celebrate the annual Reek vigil Mass at St Mary’s in Westport on Saturday July 25th at 6:30 pm. It will be offered for the intentions of all who had wished to make the pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick’s summit.

Three fires were started at the site and an investigation into suspected arson is under way, Prosecutor Pierre Sennes said.

The blaze destroyed stained glass windows and the grand organ at the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral, which dates from the 15th Century.

It comes a year after the devastating fire at Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris.

But the local fire chief said the fire in Nantes had been contained and was “not a Notre-Dame scenario”.

The fire began in the early morning, with massive flames visible from outside the building. More than 100 firefighters brought it under control after several hours.

Newsagent Jean-Yves Burban said he heard a bang at about 07:30 local time (05:30 GMT) and saw flames when he went out to see what was happening.

“I am shook up because I’ve been here eight years and I see the cathedral every morning and evening. It’s our cathedral and I’ve got tears in my eyes,” he told Reuters.

Priests and parishes are busy with the “huge task” of rescheduling thousands of First Communions, with social distancing doubling the number of ceremonies involved.

It remains unclear if children making their First Communion will have to wear masks.

One Dublin priest told the Irish Independent that the current guidelines suggest wearing a mask, but added: “We haven’t directly suggested to parents or children that they should wear one. We leave it up to individuals to choose”.

Fr Gerry Corcoran is moderator of four parishes in Donaghmede-Clongriffin-Balgriffin. In Holy Trinity parish in Donaghmede, there are 210 children for holy communion and 168 for confirmation from the parish’s seven schools.

Fr Corcoran stressed that the ceremonies would be “minimalist”, with no choirs, reduced in size and with everyone carefully socially distanced within the church in compliance with Covid-19 restrictions.

The Governor of Louisiana in the US has called for three days of prayer and fasting for people affected by coronavirus at a meeting with state religious leaders.

During a press conference on Thursday to discuss the state’s response to COVID-19, Democrat John Bel Edwards said that he received a request for the spiritual practice during a teleconference with religious leaders from across the state which he engages in every three weeks.

Acknowledging the unusual nature of the move, he said prayer and fasting are “a spiritual diet and exercise that I as a Catholic Christian believe is very important, anyway”.

The governor said he will be fasting from lunch Monday through Wednesday of this week, and “praying for the people of Louisiana,” especially the sick, their caretakers, and the families of those who have died from COVID-19.

“So if you’re inclined, please join me and the First Lady and faith leaders of Louisiana, regardless of your denomination or your religion, and we would ask that you join us in prayerful reflection and fasting,” he said.

The Catholic Church’s marriage service has welcomed Government funding in Northern Ireland to support marriage and family life during Covid-19.

Accord Northern Ireland Catholic Marriage Care Service has received £40,293 from the Department for Communities, in partnership with the National Lottery Community Fund.  This funding will ensure that the charity can continue to support marriages, relationships and families during the Covid-19 crisis.

Accord’s NI Regional Director, Deirdre O’Rawe said; “The nature of the pandemic is having a significant impact on everyday life but its effects are very particularly felt amongst the most vulnerable in society. Accord NI is delighted to receive this funding and to continue playing a vital role along with other charities and voluntary sector agencies, in combating the impact of Covid-19 on marriages, relationships and families”.

Churches and clergy in Northern Ireland will not be forced to conduct same-sex marriage ceremonies, according to just published legal guidelines.

The regulations allow for officiants of churches to be appointed to solemnise same-sex religious marriages, with the consent of their governing authority.

However, they also put in place protections so that religious bodies (and individual officiants) “cannot be compelled by any means, including by the enforcement of a contract or a statutory or other legal requirement, to perform same-sex marriages or otherwise be involved in same-sex marriages.

The statement adds: “Equality law protections are also in place so that religious bodies and individual officiants will not unlawfully discriminate if they refuse to solemnise marriages because of the sexual orientation of the couple, and we have extended the protections to cover premises such as church halls and other buildings owned by (or on behalf of) a religious body, except where the premises are used solely or mainly for commercial purposes.”