Assisted suicide/euthanasia must be expanded to those with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, a former UK high court judge told MPs in Westminster yesterday. This shows that campaigners already want the planned law to go beyond the terminally ill with six months to live.

Sir Nicholas Mostyn, who has Parkinson’s, argued that under the current terms of the law passing through parliament, the vast majority of people would need to have terminal cancer to avail of an ‘assisted death’.

Mostyn said the suffering of Parkinson’s patients near the end-of-life was “intolerable”, with some unable to swallow or breathe.

The former senior family judge said that in his opinion there was no legal possibility of challenging the assisted suicide bill, once it became law, to include those with neurodegenerative diseases, as the European court of human rights had already ruled there was no specific right to die.

Mass-producing eggs and sperm in a laboratory to have a baby using your own skins or stem cells alone, or with those of three other people are scenarios under consideration by the UK’s fertility watchdog, which has concluded that the technology to enable such techniques could be on the brink of viability.

Bolstered by Silicon Valley investment, scientists are making rapid progress on in-vitro gametes (IVGs), i.e., lab-grown human egg and sperm cells that are created from genetically reprogrammed skin or stem cells.

Lab-grown eggs have already been used produce healthy babies in mice – including ones with two biological fathers. The equivalent feat is yet to be achieved using human cells, but US startups such as Conception and Gameto claim to be closing in on achieving it.

Last week’s HFEA meeting noted that estimated timeframes ranged from two to three years – deemed to be optimistic – to a decade, with several clinicians at the meeting sharing the view that IVGs appeared destined to become “a routine part of clinical practice”.

US Vice President JD Vance has told members of the annual March for Life in Washington DC “the sacred truth that every single child is a miracle and a gift from God”. He is only the second Vice-President to attend the event after Mike Pence. Vance is a convert to Catholicism.

The March has been held on the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that imposed abortion on all fifty US states and which was repealed in 2022 by justices appointed by Presidents George Bush, Snr., George W Bush and Donald Trump.

President Trump also showed his support for the movement by quickly pardoning 23 peaceful pro-life activists who had been controversially jailed under the Biden administration.

“For over a half century, this march has united tens of thousands of Americans from all walks of life to rally for the cause of life in our nation. It is the single largest gathering in the world to celebrate our movement; the victories we’ve fought so hard for and, yes, the victories yet to come,” Vance told participants of the March for Life.

“And I want to personally welcome all of you who have travelled from far and wide to our nation’s capital. Thank you for your dedication; and it is an incredible crowd, and it’s great to see you today,” the vice president said.

Church leaders in Syria are working closely with the country’s new leadership to ensure that religious freedom will be guaranteed and Christians will be able to play a full role in the country’s future.

Christians “do not want to define themselves as minorities”, for fear “they might lose their representation in the new constitution and state institutions”, a local contact told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

Almost 14 years of civil war ended last December when the Islamist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – previously affiliated with Al-Qaeda – toppled Bashar al-Assad’s regime, giving rise to much uncertainty about the future of Christianity in Syria.

While Damascus is in the spotlight and the former rebels under pressure to be more peaceful, and to maintain the positive image they have, unfortunately the lack of a strong central authority has allowed radical factions to impose extreme measures, such as segregated seating on public transport and forcing women to wear veils.

The appointment of Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Fine Gael, as the new Minister for Health has been met with caution by pro-life advocates.

The Pro-Life Campaign noted her unambiguous support for ‘pro-choice’ positions, backing a Yes vote in the 2018 referendum; voting for the euthanasia bill proposed by Gino Kenny in 2021; and, voting with the Government to block foetal pain relief for unborn babies, also in 2021.

In an April 2024 interview with TheJournal.ie Deputy Carroll MacNeill was asked about her views on abortion and a contemporaneous debate being held in the Dáil. She said she found the debate “very difficult” to listen to due to her own “difficult experiences” with pregnancies, including miscarriage. She said, “There really is nothing more intimate than a woman in a maternity hospital, at any stage of her pregnancy, with her baby or her unborn baby.”

The PLC note that, while her position is obviously pro-choice, she does not seem to be in a rush to further liberalise the law.

They also commended her as “a person of substance” willing to engage with the arguments in a more thoughtful way than others.

Members of Gen Z in their teens and twenties are much less likely to identify as atheists than their middle-aged parents in Generation X or their Baby Boomer grandparents, a study has found.

The youngest generation is also much more likely to say they are “spiritual” than those in the oldest groups.

It provides fresh evidence to challenge the assumption that spirituality is declining with each generation, finding that middle-aged members of Gen X, aged between 45 and 60, are the most irreligious generation, with 25 per cent identifying as atheists.

This is higher than the figure of 20 per cent for those aged over 65 from the Baby Boomer generation and also the figure of 20 per cent for those aged between 25 and 44, broadly within the millennial generation.

The least likely group to call themselves atheists, however, are those aged under 25, only 13 per cent of whom identify as such.

Islamist extremists attacked Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt last month, with the worst massacre claiming 47 lives on Christmas Day, according to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

Over the course of 2024 nearly 150 were killed in acts of terrorism.

The majority of deadly attacks took place in conflict-ridden Benue State, and violent atrocities also occurred in bordering Plateau State.

Father Isaiah Ter of the Gboko Diocese said the militants also “burnt down the eight Catholic churches of St. Mary’s Parish”, as well as “the parish house, clinics, schools and other houses.

“The parish priest and the assistant parish priest escaped and stayed in the bush for a whole day before they were finally rescued.”

At least 6,800 people were displaced as a result of the Christmas 2024 attacks.

According to government officials, more than 1.5 million have been driven from their homes in Benue State alone.

The opposition of every Democrat in the U.S Senate on Wednesday was sufficient to block legislation to require lifesaving health care for infants who are born after a failed abortion.

The “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,” would have guaranteed equal protection under the law for “any infant born alive after an abortion.”

The proposed legislation would have required all health care practitioners present during such a birth to “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a … health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age.”

Although a majority of senators voted to advance the legislation, the bill failed to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome the filibuster.

The vote was 52-47 in favour with every voting Republican supporting the bill and every Democrat in opposition. One Republican was not available for the vote.

Catholic emancipation was a “landmark civil rights achievement” and should be celebrated accordingly by the State, say leading academics.

The bicentenary of the historic 1829 milestone did not appear in the ‘Commemoration’ section of the programme for government which listed several events the new Government “could mark” in their 5-year term.

While it is implied that Catholic emancipation will be addressed as part of a 250th anniversary commemoration of the birth of Daniel O’Connell this year, Prof. Emeritus of History in UCD Maurice Bric told The Irish Catholic that he hoped a State commemoration of Catholic Emancipation would occur in 2029 as it is “such an important event in Irish history for a number of reasons, the main reason being it marks the repeal of the penal laws”.

Prof. Bric said that in addition Catholic emancipation is not “just a chapter in the history of Irish Catholicism, it’s part of the wider history of civil rights”.

The Government has been accused of a “profound ideological blind spot” after it announced no new supports to parents who wish to stay at home with their children.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic newspaper, Independent TD Carol Nolan said that it is “imperative” that “parents are not forced out of the home and essentially reduced to economic units of production”.

She said: “In terms of the provision of childcare, of course working parents and providers must be supported but it is equally important for Government to try and overcome its profound ideological blind spot on this issue with respect to parents who want to be supported while looking after their children in the home.

Writing in the Irish Catholic, columnist and barrister Maria Steen said that the wishes of many parents are being ignored.

“The voters made their position very clear when they rejected the attempt to remove from the Constitution the acknowledgment of the debt the State owes to women for the work they do in the home, yet the programme for government makes absolutely no mention of women who wish to stay at home with their children,” she said.