Changes are needed to tackle the rapid decline in births, according to Pope Francis. All across Europe, including Ireland, fertility rates are well below the replacement level of 2.1.

Speaking at a conference in Rome organised by the Italian government to discuss the country’s declining birth rate, the Pope recommended two solutions to the crisis, one institutional and the other social.

“At the institutional level,” he said, “there is an urgent need for effective policies, courageous, concrete and long-term choices, to sow today so that children can reap tomorrow. A greater commitment is needed from all governments, so that the younger generations are put in a position to realise their legitimate dreams.”

It is also important, the Pope added, to promote “a culture of generosity and intergenerational solidarity”.

This would involve, he said, “reconsidering habits and lifestyles” and “renouncing what is superfluous”, in order to “give the youngest hope for tomorrow.”

Towards the end of his speech, the Pope laid his prepared remarks to one side and spoke off-the-cuff on the subject of society’s treatment of the elderly.

“Lonely grandparents, discarded grandparents: this is cultural suicide”, he said.

“Have children, lots of them,” Pope Francis concluded, “but also look after your grandparents.”

Fifteen Catholic families are able to return to the Christian quarter of a suburb of Damascus, thanks to the reconstruction of their homes with the help of the Pontifical charity, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

The move will secure the Christian presence in the place where, according to one tradition, the Apostle Paul was converted.

The Darayya suburb of Damascus became a centre of the uprising against the Assad government, with rebel groups and government troops clashing in heavy fighting for four long years. By the time an agreement was reached to end the war, 90 percent of the city had been destroyed.

“In the years after 2016, many Muslims were able to return to the city and rebuild their homes. But many of the 150 Christian families who had lived there never returned, as their homes had been razed to the ground. Many have now moved to neighbouring towns, and some have emigrated to Europe or Canada,” explains Marco Mencaglia, project director of ACN.

The international charity recently committed to financially support the reconstruction of the homes of 15 Catholic families to secure the Christian presence in Darayya.

A US federal grant program that provides security funding for mosques, synagogues and churches will receive $400 million more than it had the previous year amid rising threats, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The total available for 2024 now stands at $700 million.

The money can be used to set up security cameras, build fences, strengthen windows, and hire security guards, among other things.

Catholic churches have experienced security concerns ever since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, allowing states and the federal government to restrict abortion.

Since then, dozens of churches have been subject to vandalism, including the beheading of statues and satanic graffiti, among other attacks.

In December, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) urged lawmakers to include more funding for security for houses of worship.

The USCCB says there have been more than 300 acts of destruction at Catholic churches since May 2020.

Thousands took part in the annual March for Life in Dublin on Monday with speakers calling on the Irish public to ‘think pro-life’ before voting in the upcoming local and European elections.

Eilís Mulroy of the Pro Life Campaign said the number of abortions carried out in 2023 will exceed 10,000, representing a “massive increase”.

She called on the participants to vote only for candidates who are committed to reducing the “soaring abortion rate.”

Independent TD, Carol Nolan, called the rapidly increasing abortion numbers “devastating” and the amount of taxpayers’ money spent on providing abortion “grotesque”. Yet, she said, “the veil at last is finally being lifted and more and more people are starting to ask questions about what our leaders in government are presiding over.”

“Nothing – no law, no public policy and no peer pressure from neighbours or colleagues can remove our right and indeed our responsibility to advocate publicly for those who are most vulnerable, especially at the beginning and at the end of life”.

A call has been made for the State to appoint a Minister with specific responsibility to combat loneliness as it emerged that “Ireland is actually the loneliest place in Europe”.

Green Party Senator Pauline O’Reilly said official figures show that 20 per cent of Irish people have reported feeling lonely most or all of the time, the highest level in the EU, where the average is just 13 per cent.

“Even the figure of 13 per cent is fairly shocking,” she said, adding that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has a commission on social connection to address loneliness which it has described as a “pressing health threat”.

Ms O’Reilly called for the appointment of a Minister specifically to deal with loneliness. The Greens want every local authority to “prepare a local strategy to combat loneliness through the use of libraries, public buildings, sports partnerships and public participation networks”.

And she said loneliness should be measured annually. “We do not want to wait five to six years when this is such a threat to public health.”

The recently passed bill to create abortion buffer zones not only bans peaceful protest but also criminalises silent prayer, according to a leading pro-life campaigner.

The Health (Termination of Pregnancy) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023 passed through the Oireachtas last week and is now in the process of being signed into law by President Michael D Higgins.

The passing of the bill means that there will be a 100 metre exclusion zone outside all hospitals, GP practices, and family planning clinics that are offering abortion.

“You can now be fined up to €2,500 or spend six months in prison for silently praying in these areas,” said Sandra Parda, spokeswoman for Life Institute.

She added that the law is about “targeting and silencing anyone who seeks to help women who may feel that abortion is the only choice they have,” and that it is “shameful to see this being approved by legislators.”

The Seanad has passed legislation to prohibit pro-life gatherings near hospitals and clinics that administer abortion.

The so-called Safe Access Zones Bill had previously been passed by the Dáil, and will now go to the President to be signed into law.

The Bill will prohibit any anti-abortion presence, including silent prayer, within 100 metres of facilities that could be providing access to abortion.

Independent Senator Rónán Mullen said Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly, had nothing to be proud of.

“He has got an easy win for himself by caving in to an activist group and by attacking the peaceful expression of dissent on abortion”, he said.

He called on the President to consult the Council of State about referring the bill to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality.

He also urged peaceful protesters to challenge the legislation.

“People should continue to witness respectfully and not to be intimidated by a Government that wants to silence people”.

In a statement, the Pro Life Campaign described the Bill as “draconian” and said it “will do nothing to help women in unplanned pregnancies. Instead, it seeks to smear pro-life citizens and introduces sweeping measures which undermine everyone’s fundamental rights.”

The civil war in Sudan is “a forgotten conflict with no winners” and “one of the greatest humanitarian catastrophes of our time”, two bishops have said in a joint Anglican-Roman Catholic statement.

The conflict, whose first anniversary fell last month, continues to have “devastating consequences” for the people of Sudan, the statement, published on Wednesday, says.

It was issued by the Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Revd Nick Baines, the C of E’s lead bishop for foreign affairs, and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference’s lead bishop for Africa, the RC Bishop of Lancaster, the Rt Revd Paul Swarbrick.

“With attention turned elsewhere, Sudan remains largely overlooked — a forgotten conflict with no winners that is already one of the greatest humanitarian catastrophes of our time,” they write.

The Bishops point to the resulting hunger crisis, quoting a report from the World Food Programme which states that 10.5 million people — equivalent to the population of London — have been displaced, and more than 25 million people need humanitarian aid.

“Nearly 15,000 have already been killed, and 26,000 more have been injured, with women and children bearing the brunt of unspeakable violence,” the Bishops say.

Pope Francis’s top diplomat said a recent vote by the European Parliament to style abortion as a ‘fundamental right’ constitutes a “radical attack” on human life.

“When life is attacked in such a radical way, you truly have to ask what kind of future we want to build,” said Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, adding that the situation has produced “great sadness in the depths of my heart”.

While it was considered largely a symbolic result, given that amending the European Charter of Fundamental Rights would require the consent of all 27 member states and both Poland and Malta have already indicated that they won’t approve the change, the result indicated widespread support for the move. There were 336 votes in favour, 163 against and 39 abstentions, while the vote also came with the backing of French President Emmanuel Macron who has just overseen France become the first country in the world to make abortion a constitutional right.

Every Irish MEP present voted in favour of the change.

An ‘assisted dying’ Bill before the Scottish Parliament normalises suicide and rejects our “common responsibility” to protect human life, the country’s Catholic Bishops have warned.

In a pastoral letter, they said: “We are called to care, not to kill.”

The Bishops wrote to parishioners: “At a time when suicide is on the rise in Scotland and we are doing our best to reduce it, what message are we sending to those who are vulnerable when we say that suicide is okay provided it is overseen by a doctor?

“Assisted suicide, which allows us to kill our brothers and sisters, takes us down a dangerous spiral that always puts at risk the most vulnerable members of our society”.

Catholics across Scotland were asked by the Bishop’s Conference to contact their MSPs to urge them “to reject the dangerous proposal”. The letter also said the legislation “would devalue life and put immense pressure on the most vulnerable to end their lives prematurely”.