News Roundup

Campaigners urge ‘No’ to Canadian euthanasia Bill

As a Bill to legislate for physician-assisted suicide was placed before the Canadian Parliament, pro-life groups urged legislators to vote ‘No’ on a law they describe as “dangerous”. The long anticipated Bill C-14 will now be discussed by elected officials with a June 6 deadline for a final decision.

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Pro Life Campaign calls for setting aside of ‘Citizens’ Convention’ on abortion

The Pro Life Campaign (PLC) has called on parties currently negotiating the formation of the next government to set aside the ‘Citizens’ Convention on abortion proposed by Fine Gael. “It is high time that the acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny took this idea off the negotiating table so that the question of a referendum is no longer allowed to further delay the vital process of setting up a new Government,” a spokesperson for the PLC said.

 

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Expelled Christian student to seek legal redress

A Christian student, Felix Ngole, who was expelled from his University of Sheffield course in Britain after he posted Facebook comments in support of the biblical understanding of marriage as between one man and one woman is to seek legal action after his appeal against that expulsion was rejected.

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Chinese same-sex couple loses marriage bid

A same-sex couple on China has lost a legal case which they hoped would let them marry under Chinese law. The case, heard before a court in Changsha City is the first recorded legal action of its kind in Chinese history. The case arose when the couple at the heart of the case were denied a marriage licence in 2015. Homosexuality was decriminalised in China in 1997.

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Sex selective abortion a ‘global problem’

 A new report released in the United States of America has revealed that abortion based solely on gender now “occurs globally”. Conducted by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the report details extreme male-female differences in all regions, including Europe and the US. In China alone, the report states, the male population outnumbers the female by 33 million.
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Archbishop Martin renews call for a ‘culture of life’ in Northern Ireland

Archbishop Eamon Martin, Primate of All Ireland has reiterated his call for parties in Northern Ireland to commit to the protection of the unborn. The call came as Archbishop Martin led the Northern Ireland Catholic Council on Social Affairs (NICCOSA) to its latest round of meetings with parties, this time with the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein.

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Mary McAleese criticises Papal Exhortation for ‘lacking imagination’

Ireland’s former president, Mary McAleese has criticised Pope Francis’ newly released Apostolic Exhortation on the family, Amoris Laetitia as “traditional” and lacking “imagination”. Mrs McAleese said she was personally disappointed with the document’s “overall failure to clearly address many of the challenges facing families within the Church today”.

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Parents on low to average incomes gain more benefits than they pay in tax – report

Parents with two children, and earning the average wage, gain more than they pay in taxes, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has revealed. According to data compiled by the organisation, once child benefit and other tax provisions are factored in, a worker with two children, on the average wage, takes home 100.3pc of his or her gross wage.

 

 

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Spanish Bishops decry transgender bathroom law

Bishops in Spain have described a recently passed law in the province of Madrid allowing transgender school pupils to access bathrooms of their choice as “unjust”. The prelates added that the law reflected a “totalitarian way of thinking: the absolutisation of the will that seeks to be the only creator of the human person”.

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Abortion issue threatens coalition talks

Acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s proposal for a citizen’s assembly on rejection of the constitutional 8th Amendment protection for the unborn is putting talks on forming a coalition government in jeopardy, it has emerged. Of the 15 Independent TDs now in talks to the Fine Gael Party, a number have said they will walk away if the issue is pushed to such an assembly, while one has stated she will withdraw support if the issue of abortion is not placed on the agenda for the next government.
 
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