Thousands took part in the annual ‘March for Life’ in Dublin City Centre yesterday, which was organised by the Pro-Life Campaign (PLC).

This year’s march was being held in response to the “extreme” recommendations in the review of the State’s abortion law which was published last week.

PLC spokesperson, Eilís Mulroy told the gathering that the Review was so extreme and one-sided that it guaranteed that abortion is now an election issue.

Ms Mulroy described the report as a “travesty and betrayal of women and unborn babies” and criticised the way it “undermines freedom of conscience protections for healthcare workers” and for the way it “misleadingly presents abortion, which ends a human life, as healthcare.”

Aontú leader and TD for Meath West Peadar Tóibín told the crowd:  “The number of abortions jumped a devastating 25%, just in the last year. In the four years that the law has been in place nearly 28,500 babies have been aborted. It’s the equivalent of 1,228 classrooms for children. It is the equivalent to the population of Kilkenny City”.

Two in five couples who got married last year opted for a Catholic ceremony, figures from the Central Statistics Office show.

Among mixed-sex couples, Catholic ceremonies were chosen by 42pc (or 9,376), followed by a civil ceremony at 5,767 or 26pc.

The popularity of these two forms of ceremonies has been in decline since 2014, when they accounted for 87% of all marriage ceremonies.

Humanist ceremonies accounted for 9% or 2,053 of all opposite-sex marriages and 17% or 104 of all same-sex marriages in 2022.

Data showed there were 23,173 legal unions during 2022, a rise of 35 per cent on the previous year, when lockdowns and other Covid restrictions were still in force.

Pope Francis has spoken out strongly against abortion and gender ideology during a visit to Hungary, citing both as examples of “ideological colonisation” during a speech.

The pope’s denunciation came during an address to civil authorities and other dignitaries in which he lamented “self-referential forms of populism” and “supranationalism” gaining traction in Europe.

 “This is the baneful path taken by those forms of ‘ideological colonisation’ that would cancel differences, as in the case of the so-called gender theory, or that would place before the reality of life reductive concepts of freedom, for example by vaunting as progress a senseless ‘right to abortion’, which is always a tragic defeat,” said the Pope, who is in Budapest for a three-day visit.

“How much better it would be to build a Europe centred on the human person and on its peoples, with effective policies for natality and the family — policies that are pursued attentively in this country — a Europe whose different nations would form a single family that protects the growth and uniqueness of each of its members,” the Holy Father said.

Thousands of pro-life supporters are expected to attend the March For Life in Dublin, this Bank Holiday Monday.

The Pro Life Campaign (PLC) has organised the demonstration of support with participants due to march from St. Stephen’s Green to Leinster House.

Speaking ahead of the event, spokesperson Eilís Mulroy referenced the large number of abortions carried out last year and the Abortion Review’s proposals to liberalise the law even further.

She said the purpose of the March will be to start “the pushback against these extreme measures and to call for positive supports for women in unplanned pregnancy”.

Speakers will include Dr Kirsten Fuller who will speak about the challenges facing pro-life doctors and the importance of upholding conscientious objection.

Amrita Kaur will share her positive experience of taking the abortion pill reversal which saved the life of her unborn child.

Peadar Tóibín, TD and Leader of Aontú will speak on the importance of politics in determining the future of abortion policy and the need for more pro-life TDs.

The voices of people opposed to the introduction of assisted suicide must be fairly heard, the chair of an Oireachtas Committee discussing the topic has insisted.

Chairman of the Joint Committee on Assisted Dying, Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae, told The Irish Catholic newspaper that it is of “vital importance” that the Committee does its work “in an extremely fair fashion, and that everybody, whatever their viewpoint will get heard”.

Independent Senator Rónán Mullen, who’s also on the Committee, told The Irish Catholic that it’s his sense that Mr Healy-Rae is determined to be “scrupulously fair” as Committee chair, and that it is his hope that there will be a “greater freedom” to engage with and listen to those coming before the committee, “including those with expertise in working with people in end of life settings, those with expertise in palliative care settings and so on”.

Senator Mullen also welcomed the clarification from the Committee that it has full freedom to recommend against the introduction of assisted suicide if it sees fit.

A 5-year-old boy was reportedly beheaded when Islamists attacked a village in southern Kaduna State, Nigeria, leaving dozens of people dead.

In the April 15 attack, the killers descended on Runji village in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area (LGA) of southern Kaduna State, leaving 33 people dead, among them 14 children.

Condemning the attack in a Tuesday, April 18, report, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) called on the international community to put pressure on the Nigerian government to end the killing of innocent civilians in the West African country.

CSW’s press and public affairs team leader, Kiri Kankhwende, said he finds it regrettable that attacks continue on Nigerians in Kaduna and Benue States unabated as the international community does little to help.

There were emotional scenes at Dublin Airport as a group of women arrived to show their appreciation for Irish nuns who taught them in Cameroon during the 1980s.

The 21 former students from Our Lady of Lourdes Secondary School for girls in Mankon touched down in Ireland yesterday afternoon.

The group, who called themselves the “Pacesetters”, include members who earned PhDs and Masters with careers in engineering, nursing, medicine and more.

The class of 1986 were met by seven nuns from the Holy Rosary Sisters, who were former principals and teachers at the school.

Dr Claire Minang, said the nuns taught them “self-confidence and they made us understand that we matter, that we are enough as women in this masculine world.”

“We got out of there with so much more, knowing that we could be whatever we want to be”.

The former principal of the school, Sister Mary Neville, who spent 30 years in Cameroon said of the occasion: “It’s marvellous, it’s hard to believe, it’s extraordinary.”

She added that the reunion was “absolutely, very, very special.”

The abortion law review has been criticised over the research it cites to justify removing the three day waiting time for abortion.

The review author referenced a 2021 study of 475 women which found only 11 (or 2% of the total) did not return for a second consultation. However, the official figures from the HSE were overlooked. Those show that of approximately 23,000 women who made an initial abortion appointment, 3,951 did not return for an abortion. This represents 17% of the women compared to the 2% figure cited in the review’s report.

Commenting, Pro Life Campaign spokesperson, Eilís Mulroy, said it’s “absolutely incredible” that the report could recommend such a drastic change based on “an outlier study of a small sample of women, yet it ignores the overall national evidence made publicly available by the HSE”.

She added: “Inexplicably, the author of this much-vaunted ‘independent’ report ignored the official national statistics from the HSE, but instead cited a study based on data collected by the pro-abortion campaigning group START.”

There has been a call from Czech MEPs for the country to explicitly ban commercial surrogacy to protect vulnerable women and children.

Two MPs Zuzana Ožanová and Helena Válková argue that current legislation does not sufficiently reflect the trade behind surrogacy. Although the objection to human trafficking is unanimously recognised by society, the objection to surrogacy is not.

The number of altruistic surrogacies worldwide constitutes only about two per cent of the total number of surrogacy cases, studies show. A ban on commercial surrogacy would thus practically eliminate this practice in the Czech Republic.

Surrogacy is a profitable trade that has several negative impacts on the lives of women and children, Ožanová and Válková argue. “Especially abroad, there have been cases of children being abandoned in the end or clients who did not take them over from the surrogate mothers. Typically, this was a consequence of genetic defects in these children.” The two MPs also point to the possibility of children being lost from sight and disappearing abroad, which is currently being investigated by Ukrainian authorities.

News reports suggesting that a new RSE curriculum would override ethos of Catholic and other faith schools has been described as “frightening” by the Catholic Secondary Schools Parents Association [CSSPA].

“We also find it frightening that … this Education Department under Norma Foley has not engaged with parents as partners – we find this absolutely frightening.

“We don’t know what is coming and how whatever is coming, is coming in September. Teachers have not been trained.”

Mr Whelan said gender and so-called ‘ethical’ pornography were not part of the review when it was conducted.

“I want to know what the Government means about [ethical pornography],” he said.

“Our schools are places of great acceptance of young people. What is frightening is that the minister, without consultation, is going to bring into schools these battlegrounds on these culture wars.”