The loss of religion and fulfilment go hand in hand according to a new global survey led by Harvard academics published this week.

Across 22 countries in six continents, over 200,000 participants for five years, the Global Flourishing Study attempted to glean just who in the world actually feels content.

While the questions asked of the survey’s participants were varied, ranging from financial stability to physical health, sense of purpose to childhood experiences and relationships, the report’s authors suggest a widespread correlation can be made between those nationalities who feel most fulfilled and those with the highest religious observance.

“Religious service attendance was one of the factors most consistently associated with present or subsequent wellbeing, across countries and across outcomes,” the report, led by Prof Tyler VanderWeele, outlines.

It highlighted the “declining religiosity of more economically advanced nations” suggesting: “We may need a reconsideration of spiritual pathways to wellbeing.”

There is appetite for a push in the Dail to stop children from preparing for the sacraments in Catholic schools, a Senator has said.

The Social Democrats proposed the move and received strong support from Sinn Fein among others.

However, Aontú Senator Sarah O’Reilly, said the proposal lacks popular support: “children don’t want it, teachers don’t want it, and parents don’t want it. So, essentially, the Social Democrats are bringing forward a motion that nobody has any appetite for,” the Cavan Senator said.

Aontu Deputy Paul Lawless, a former teacher, accusing the Social Democrats of pushing an “anti-pluralist” agenda.

“The Social Democrats are seeking to ultimately deny the rights of thousands of families across Ireland to educate their children in the ethos of their children,” Lawless said.

He added that while his party supports the divestment programme, the Government has faced difficulties because parents are “happy overwhelmingly with faith-based education, and are seeking to support that in the surveys and consultations that happen.”

Newly elected Pope Leo XIV has wasted no time in reaffirming traditional Catholic teaching that the family is based on the union of “a man and a woman”.

Leo was speaking to the Vatican diplomatic corps ahead of his formal installation Mass this Sunday.

He emphasised three simple, yet fundamental themes: peace, justice and truth.

He said it is the responsibility of government leaders to build harmonious and peaceful civil societies.
“This can be achieved above all by investing in the family, founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman, ‘a small but genuine society, and prior to all civil society.’”

He added: “no one is exempted from striving to ensure respect for the dignity of every person, especially the most frail and vulnerable, from the unborn to the elderly, from the sick to the unemployed, citizens and immigrants alike”.

A bill to legalise assisted suicide in Scotland has passed its first stage.

Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) voted by 70 to 56 to endorse the general principles of the bill in a wider margin than had been anticipated.

Opponents of the bill say a law change would send a message “that some lives aren’t worth living” and vowed to continue to fight against the plans.

It is still far from certain that the bill will become law. The legislation is opposed by several of Holyrood’s most influential figures and just seven MSPs need to change sides to defeat it.

During an “impassioned” five-hour debate, several MSPs made clear that they voted in favour despite having reservations over some of the details. They have indicated that they may withdraw their support if these concerns are not now addressed before a final vote.

New research says that parental divorce reduces children’s adult earnings and college residence while increasing incarceration, mortality, and teen births.

The paper by Andrew C. Johnston, Maggie R. Jones & Nolan G. Pope was just published by the US National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

The researchers used linked tax and Census records for over 5 million children to examine how divorce affects family arrangements and children’s long-term outcomes.

“Following divorce, parents move apart, household income falls, parents work longer hours, families move more frequently, and households relocate to poorer neighborhoods with less economic opportunity,” they write.

This bundle of changes in family circumstances suggests multiple channels through which divorce may affect children’s development and outcomes. In the years following divorce, they write, “we observe sharp increases in teen births and child mortality”.

“To examine long-run effects on children, we compare siblings with different lengths of exposure to the same divorce. We find that parental divorce reduces children’s adult earnings and college residence while increasing incarceration, mortality, and teen births. Changes in household income, neighborhood quality, and parent proximity account for 25 to 60 percent of these divorce effects”.

Leading politicians across the political spectrum have come out against a bill to legalise assisted suicide in Scotland.

The Scottish Parliament is due to vote on the general principles of LibDem MSP Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Adults (Scotland) Bill, which would introduce the right to assisted death for terminally ill, mentally competent adults.

The Scottish National Party First Minister, Deputy First Minister, and former First Minister, as well as the Scottish Labour leader have all announced their opposition.

Last week John Swinney, the first minister, said his religious convictions meant that, after “agonising” over the decision, he would vote against the proposals.

Kate Forbes, the Deputy First Minister, said she does not think “any amount of legal drafting can prevent people feeling pressured to die”.

Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon said she had concerns about patient-doctor relationships and about society’s attitude to death and caring for people at the end of their life.

In particular she cited fundamental concerns linked to coercion and to the ‘wide’ definition of “terminally ill” in the bill.

Past remarks of new Pope Leo XIV indicate clear support for Church teaching on issues of life, marriage and family while also skewering mass media portrayals as distorting the reality of those same ideals.

In a 2012 address to a synod of bishops in Rome on evangelisation, the then head of the Augustinian Order said “Western mass media is extraordinarily effective in fostering within the general public enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel – for example abortion, homosexual lifestyle, euthanasia”.

He also narrated his remarks for a video produced by the Catholic News Service, that featured accompanying footage from movies and TV including ‘Cider House Rules,’ ‘Million Dollar Baby’, and ‘Modern Family’, each of which positively portray those moral choices.

The now-Pope said mass media fostered so much “sympathy for anti-Christian lifestyles choices” that “when people hear the Christian message it often inevitably seems ideological and emotionally cruel”.

“Catholic pastors who preach against the legalization of abortion or the redefinition of marriage are portrayed as being ideologically driven, severe and uncaring,” Prevost added.

He called for a “new evangelization to counter these mass media-produced distortions of religious and ethical reality”.

A New York state bill that would legalize medical assisted suicide is “a disaster waiting to happen” according to Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

The State Assembly advanced the Medical Aid in Dying Act in an 81–67 vote last week. If passed into law, the legislation will allow terminally ill adults to request medication to end their own lives.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Dolan — the archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York — said: “For people of faith who believe in the sanctity of life from conception to natural death, the very idea of having a doctor give you a prescription to end your life prematurely is contrary to everything we cherish.”

“But one need not be religious to see that assisted suicide is a terrible idea. It is a classic Pandora’s box; once opened, its consequences cannot be contained.”

A Washington State law that threatens priests with up to one year in jail if they fail to report child abuse revealed to them in confession is being investigated by the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

The new law adds clergy to the list of mandatory reporters for child abuse even if it is learned of during “privileged communication”.

Moreover, it does so despite exempting all other mandatory reporters, such as nurses and therapists, when they come by such knowledge during communication that is “privileged”.

In a press release, the DOJ said one of its primary concerns is that the law “appears to single out clergy as not entitled to assert applicable privileges, as compared to other reporting professionals”.

The Washington State Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s Catholic bishops, put out a statement to assure Catholics that “their confessions remain sacred, secure, confidential, and protected by the law of the Church.”

“Catholic clergy may not violate the seal of confession — or they will be excommunicated from the Church,” the statement, signed by Seattle Archbishop Paul D. Etienne, added.