The visit of Pope Francis to Ireland is being eagerly anticipated by the Church of Ireland Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe.
Bishop Kenneth Kearon has written to both the clergy of his own diocese and to the Catholic bishops to say the forthcoming visit of Pope Francis is important “for all Christians in Ireland,” and he gave thanks for the “great hope the visit brings to Christians of all denominations, in our complex and unsettled world.”
Pope Francis was “exercising remarkable Christian leadership on a global scale” and had an effect “few would have thought possible in a remarkably short time,” he wrote.
In support of the World Meeting of Families, he said, it was an “interest we all share. Families are at the heart of church and community in Ireland.”
In preparation for the visit Bishop Kearon has written to his diocesan clergy and readers “to take the opportunity to strengthen the warm ecumenical bonds that already exist between churches in this region”. Bishop Kearon also “felt it appropriate that each church send a message, possibly a letter or a visit, to their own local Roman Catholic parishes, assuring them of our prayers and good wishes at this time”.
He has also written to his fellow Catholic bishops “rejoicing in Pope Francis’s own ecumenical commitment on a wider front, and noted his warm personal friendship with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Most Revd Justin Welby”, head of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Government figures have denied that Minister for Health Simon Harris was considering introducing an interim law on abortion before the result of the 8thamendment referendum was deemed legal by the courts. However, he does want to allow doctors to directly refer women for abortions in the UK before the final passage of abortion legislation before the end of the year.
Reports emerged this weekend that Mr Harris wanted to decriminalise abortion and enable in law women to have abortions whose unborn children have received a diagnosis of a life limiting condition, and that he would do so before court challenges to the referendum result have concluded.
Government sources say it will seek to implement one piece of legislation, which will not be introduced until after the referendum result has been ratified.
However, Mr Harris is intending to commence certain aspects of the legislation earlier than others.
“The Minister is specifically looking at two areas: the ability for a doctor to give information and refer, and the decriminalisation of women. He hopes that both issues could be addressed and commenced this year. Abortion services would then commence in January,” the source said.
In a sign of goodwill, social media giant, Twitter, have created a special emblem to honour Pope Francis’ visit to Ireland that users can add to their posts. The emotion-conveying-image or emoji for short consists of the smiling face of the pope against an Irish flag backdrop. It can be generated under a number of hashtags including #PopeinIreland and will be launched on Tuesday.
Pope Francis, an active social media user with more than 17.7 million followers, is no stranger to his image being used for emoji purposes. Twitter has previously unveiled similar emoticons to mark his papal visits to the United States and Latin America.
Syrian man who came to Ireland in 2015 has been refused family reunification with his wife and sons because his marriage is viewed as polygamous under Irish law. The man divorced his first wife, but the divorce papers were not finalised before he married his second wife. He says that he is ‘completely against’ polygamy.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice said the Minister was unable to comment on Mr Jazmati’s case but added that the Supreme Court’s view is clear. A 2017 judgement found that only the first marriage of a Lebanese man with two wives was valid. This ruling “clearly established that recognition of an actually polygamous marriage ‘would be contrary to a fundamental constitutional principle and therefore contrary to public policy’.
“Therefore it not possible for the State to recognise any second or subsequent marriages entered into while the marriage to a first spouse is in being, and considered valid under Irish law.”
According The Irish Times, had Mr Jazmati sought asylum in the United Kingdom he may not have faced problems in reuniting with his family. While polygamy is illegal in the UK, as long as the marriage is recognised in the country where it took place and properly executed according to the laws of that country, the marriage is valid and the spouse is entitled to be reunited with one wife. The application is refused if the spouse applies for a second wife to enter the country. Similar rules also apply in Belgium, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway.
An op-ed in a state-run newspaper titled “Giving birth is a family matter and a national issue too” is the latest to encourage couples to have more children, and call for official action to enable young people to start families.
The full-page column was published in the overseas edition of the People’s Daily, mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party. It warned that “the impact of low birth rates on the economy and society has begun to show.”
The piece comes as the government revealed a new official postage stamp, which seems to hint that it may drop the remaining restrictions on the number of children people can have.
The one child policy was expanded to a two child policy in 2015 resulting in an immediate increase in births the following year. The jump was short lived however as 2017 witnessed a decrease in the number of births.
Millennials are now far less likely to count a close family member such as a brother or sister among their best friends, according to a new study.
Greater numbers going to university, as well as leaving home to live in large cities, means family ties are being weakened, contributing to a “growing problem of loneliness among” current 20-somethings, the report by the Intergenerational Foundation concluded.
The research compared survey data from those in their 20s in 2015, 2005 and 1995, indicating that overall well-being for this age-group has declined by 10pc over the past two decades.
The report said social media enabling young people to communicate more with their friends, at the expense of their family, may also be contributing to the slump in in-family friendships.
Based on data from the British Household Panel Survey, the study found that in 2015 millennials were 80.9pc less likely to have a family member as one of their three closest friends compared with 1995, and 55.2pc less likely compared with 2005.
However, despite the connecting power of technologies such as Facebook and Instagram, levels of close friendship overall have declined by more than 6pc in the past 10 years.
The experts said this indicated that even though young people were spending large amounts of time online, they were not necessarily using this time to form meaningful friendships.
Argentina’s senate has rejected a bill which would have legalised abortion without restriction in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. After the vote, pro-choice campaigners protested in the streets, starting fires and lobbing missiles at police.
Currently abortion is allowed in Argentina in cases of rape, or if the ‘mother’s health’ is in danger. This bill which represented a further expansion of the abortion law was rejected by a vote of 38 to 31, with the chamber’s 30 female senators evenly split on the issue.
Anti-abortion activists responded with jubilation. “It’s a joy to see that our society can be based on such an important principle as the defence of the most defenceless, the child,” said one.
The Pro Life Campaign in Ireland has welcomed the vote. PLC spokesperson, Cora Sherlock said: “There’s one marked difference between the abortion debate in Argentina and the recent one in Ireland. Thankfully the lies that were repeatedly told by many abortion supporters during the referendum debate in Ireland didn’t pervade the debate in Argentina to the same extent. The evidence of the negative after-effects of abortion on women and the fact that abortion kills an innocent unborn baby clearly resonated during the public debate in Argentina in recent weeks. The scaremongering and deep seated bias from large sections of the media didn’t win out on this occasion. That’s a great result for mums and their unborn babies and the right to life which is being disregarded in so many places at present.”
Egg freezing brings no help to 90 per cent of women who opt for it, with the vast majority leaving it too late, research suggests.
Less than one in three of those opting for egg freezing do so before the age of 35, despite the fact a lower age is “the highest discriminating factor for success,” obstetricians said.
Separate research shows that a paltry nine per cent of women who underwent the process for “social reasons” – such as the lack of partner, or career pressures – ended up returning to use their eggs. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists urged caution for women considering freezing their eggs for such reasons.
