Married people are more likely to be happier than their divorced, separated and widowed counterparts, according to the latest figures from the CSO.
The Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2024 measured various indicators of well-being.
Married respondents were more likely to report high overall life satisfaction at 29.6pc, compared with 20.0pc of those who were separated.
Likewise, the separated and divorced were more likely to report low overall life satisfaction, with rates of 22.7pc and 25.4pc respectively, compared with 7.9pc of married respondents.
When it comes to feeling downhearted or depressed, 9.1pc of divorced and 5.3pc of separated respondents and 5.4pc of those who never married said they felt like this always or most of the time in the four-week period prior to interview. The comparable rate for married persons was 1.7pc. The rate for widowed respondents was 4.3pc.
Married respondents were less likely to report feeling lonely with less than one in ten (8.3pc) feeling so at least some of the time. The comparable rates for separated, widowed or divorced respondents was three times higher at approximately 30pc for each of these three groups.
Euthanasia cases in Spain increased 24 percent in 2023, according to the Government’s latest annual report.
Half of the 766 requests for euthanasia were approved, and 334 assisted suicides were completed.
In about 25 percent of the cases, applicants died before their request could be approved, and some patients voluntarily withdrew their applications for medical assistance in dying. The report did not detail why some applications for the procedure were rejected and others were accepted.
Under the euthanasia law, people experiencing “grave, chronic, or impossible suffering” caused by a “chronic and incurable disease” can apply for assistance in dying. Those requests are submitted by the patient’s doctor to a review committee that has the authority to issue a final approval.
Polonia Castellanos, president of Abogados Cristianos, a nonprofit legal defense group, says the 2021 law is “very poorly drafted” and “too ambiguous.” She says it can apply to almost anyone suffering from a chronic medical condition. She fears abuses can occur when a vulnerable patient suffering from a long-term illness is treated by a strongly pro-euthanasia doctor.
Euthanasia cases in the Netherlands rose by 10 per cent in 2024, according to official figures. Almost 10,000 people were euthanised last year compared to 9,068 in 2023. Since its introduction the number of Dutch opting for euthanasia has been rising rapidly, and the grounds under which it is offered have kept expanding.
There has also been a notable increase in the number of people choosing euthanasia for psychiatric reasons, with 219 such cases in 2024, up from 138 in 2023, and a dramatic leap from just two back in 2010.
This has prompted the regulatory body to call on doctors to exercise “great caution” when handling such requests.
Six cases in 2024 were found to have fallen short of due care. One case involved a doctor who granted euthanasia to a woman in her 70s, despite failing to consult a psychiatrist. The woman had suffered a spinal fracture and could no longer meet her obsessive-compulsive urge to clean, leading her to request euthanasia.
Damiaan Denys, professor of psychiatry at Amsterdam University Medical Center, expressed concern over the growing number of young people opting for euthanasia due to mental health issues, “especially in young people under 30”.
Two more priests were kidnapped in Nigeria, as Christian persecution continues in a country that is also experiencing exponential growth in Catholicism.
Rev. Fr. John Ubaechu, of Izombe, southeastern Nigeria, was taken captive on Sunday, March 23, on his way to the Priests’ Annual Retreat.
On the same day, a joint security team consisting of police, army, civil defense, and vigilante groups succeeded in securing the release of Fr. Stephen Echezona, who had been kidnapped earlier in the day.
Fr. Echezona was abducted while refueling his car at a petrol station in Ichida, southern Nigeria.
He was released unharmed after a security team engaged the armed criminals in a gunfight, and successfully overpowered them.
There is a real need for good news, because society is wallowing in despair and meaninglessness, the bishop of Derry Donal McKeown has said.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Dr McKeown said Catholics need to participate in cultural life. He urged believers to “get out there and engage in debates about creation, about human life, about AI, about all those things”.
To do this, he said, they need to embrace an intellectual faith that is different from mere piety, adding that the Church is not retreating: “it is actually re-shaping for mission, we’re not downsizing for the sake of downsizing, we’re doing it in order to be better, fitter, leaner and better able to engage with our society at the intellectual level and all other sorts of levels.”
He said that for Derry, he hoped that the opening of the St Paul’s religious bookstore in Derry would help that task.
There has been a 1.15% increase in the global Catholic population, going from approximately 1.39 billion Catholics in 2022 to 1.406 billion in 2023.
Africa has registered the greatest growth, with the Catholic population on the continent increasing by 3.31%, from 272 million in 2022 to 281 million in 2023. It currently represents 20% of the world’s Catholic population.
Meanwhile, the Americas continue to be the region of the world with the highest proportion of Catholics, accounting for 47.8% of the global total. This increase is moderate, with a growth of 0.9% over the period.
In Asia, the Catholic population grew by 0.6% while Europe, home to 20.4% of the world’s Catholics, remains the least dynamic with its Catholic population increasing by only 0.2% between 2022 and 2023, reflecting a near-stagnant dynamic.
In Oceania, the Catholic population experienced an increase of 1.9%, with a total population of just over 11 million Catholics in 2023.
The Irish Government has handed over €2.3 million of taxpayers’ money, since 2022, to the world’s leading pro-abortion group, International Planned Parenthood Federation.
The bombshell news was contained in a reply to a Parliamentary Question by Independent TD Carol Nolan.
In response, the Pro-Life Campaign’s Eilís Mulroy called the revelation “astounding”.
“Planned Parenthood is the single largest provider of abortions in the US. In addition, many of its practices are deeply questionable. There is credible evidence that Planned Parenthood has been involved in the sale of the body parts of aborted babies. Meanwhile, its international affiliate International Planned Parenthood Federation is the main supplier and promoter of abortion worldwide”, she said.
Deputy Carol Nolan was also scathing in her criticism of the Government’s move.
“Not content with directing millions in taxpayers funding to abortion and ending innocent lives here in Ireland, the Government is now actively blurring the lines for abortion access abroad and promoting an ideology that is inextricably linked to its practice. How much death is enough?”
A retired church pastor has denied charges that his protest against abortion near a Derry hospital was illegal despite taking place within a so-called ‘safe-access zone’ which forbids even silent pro-life vigils or prayer near facilities that conduct abortions.
The 76-year-old clergyman disputes the charges on a point of devolution and under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights [ECHR].
Clive Johnston, from Belmont Road in Sion Mills, is a former president of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland and will be represented by former Attorney General John Larkin.
He is charged with protesting in a ‘safe access zone’ at the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine, “with the intent of, or being reckless as to whether, it had the effect of influencing a protected person whether directly or indirectly in connection with the protected person attending the premises” on July 7th last year.
Article nine of the ECHR “provides a right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion”.
A separate court will hear arguments that the matter should be a devolved one and any legislation imposed by Westminster upon Northern Ireland, as this was, is invalid.
New figures from the NI Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) suggest there will be more pensioners than schoolchildren in Northern Ireland by 2030.
The Nisra figures show that between 2022 and 2030 the pensioner population will have grown from 315,000 to 356,000. The South will reach this cross-over point at about the same time according to CSO statistics.
The number of children, aged 15 and under in the North, will have fallen from 389,000 to 349,000.
The reduction is driven by long term trends of increased life expectancy and falling birth rates.
A rapidly aging society is likely to have significant implications for public services.
The impact on schools will be felt over the next decade.
A Co Antrim school principal, Leanne Smyth, told the BBC that the number of pupils in her school is down more than a third compared to 19 years ago.
A seminarian abducted on March 3 from a parish rectory in the Nigerian Diocese of Auchi was murdered by his abductors, an official of the diocese has confirmed. A priest he was abducted with has been released.
Father Peter Egielewa and Andrew Peter were kidnapped from the rectory of St. Peter Catholic Church in Edo state when gunmen attacked both the rectory and church, destroying doors and windows, and led the abductees into a nearby forest.
A Church statement confirmed the safe release of Father Ekweli, ending 10 days of captivity, but noted that the 21-year-old major seminarian, Andrew Peter, “was gruesomely murdered by the abductors”.
The local Bishop, Gabriel Ghiakhomo Dunia, called on country’s security agencies to stop the deteriorating security situation, adding: “Life has been hell for our people in recent times.”
