There has been a major spike in gonorrhoea and other Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in Ireland in the past year, according to new figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC).
Some 6,748 cases of gonorrhoea were reported up to 23 December 2023, a 70pc increase compared to the 3,976 cases recorded in 2022.
A number of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) saw an increase last year too – including chlamydia, herpes and syphilis – but gonorrhoea cases saw the most drastic change in just 12 months.
Most cases were reported by men (5,200), in particular men who have sex with other men.
According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the continent is experiencing a “concerning rise” in STIs.
While there was a decrease in reported STI cases in Ireland and other European countries during the pandemic, latest figures reveal that Ireland has one of the highest incidence rates of gonorrhoea in Europe.
The US State Department’s decision to not designate Nigeria and India as having engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom has been subject to sharp criticism.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government agency, said both countries repeatedly meet the legal standard to be designated as a Country of Particular Concern and there was “no justification” for omitting them from its annual religious freedom watchlist.
Other advocates of religious freedom expressed concerned that the Biden administration is turning a blind eye to the facts on the ground.
The situation of religious or belief communities in Nigeria has been dire for several years, with the focus on atrocities perpetrated by the Islamist Boko Haram and the Fulani militia.
The violations in India, on the other hand, has been receiving very little attention. This is despite concerning reports on atrocity crimes against Muslim and Christian communities.
At least 132 Catholic priests and religious were either arrested, kidnapped or murdered during 2023, according to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
This represents an increase from 124 in 2022. These are, however, the confirmed cases, the number could be higher since in some countries reliable information is difficult to obtain.
Of these, 86 were clergy arrested or detained at some point during 2023. Some of the priests and religious had already been arrested or abducted before the year began but remained in custody or were missing for some or all of 2023. This compares to 55 who were under arrest at some point during 2022.
Nicaragua and Belarus lead the list of authoritarian regimes that have resorted to detaining priests and religious in order to punish the Church for speaking out against injustices and human rights violations or merely for trying to operate freely.
A leading American Bishop is urging Catholics to oppose an effort to make ‘assisted dying’ legal in the state of Minnesota.
In an article on the website of Word on Fire, Winona-Rochester Bishop Robert Barron said the proposed law caused him to reflect on a billboard he saw in California when that state was considering legalising assisted suicide in the mid-2010s: “My life, my death, my choice.”
The bishop said the billboard caused him to think of St. Paul’s exhortation to the Romans: “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
“Did the billboard get it right, or did St. Paul? Does my life belong to me, or is it a gift from God? Is my death a matter of my personal choice, or is it under God’s providence and at his disposal?” Barron asked.
Barron wrote that the premium placed on bodily autonomy in modern society misses the point that the intentional taking of an innocent life is always wrong, no matter what the perceived benefits may be.
In a huge change to the code of ethics that governs doctors in Ireland, newly published guidelines no longer include a prohibition against the deliberate killing of a patient. The prohibition had been and age-old principal of medical ethics with roots going back to ancient Greece, so this represents a seismic shift.
The absence means that if the Government were to legalise euthanasia, as seems to be the intention, the ethics code for doctors would no longer provide a barrier. The Minister for Health oversees appointments to the Council and GPs were not consulted ahead of the change being made.
The 9th edition of the Guide to Professional Conduct & Ethics for Registered Medical Practitioners in Ireland went into effect last week.
In a section on “End of Life care”, the previous version of the code included a paragraph (46.9) that said: “You must not take part in the deliberate killing of a patient”.
The new version of the code now omits that same prohibition.
The Pope has called for a universal ban on the “despicable” practice of surrogate motherhood, as he included the “commercialisation” of pregnancy in an annual speech listing threats to global peace and human dignity.
Addressing ambassadors to the Holy See, Francis said the life of the unborn child must be protected and not “suppressed or turned into an object of trafficking”.
He added: “I consider despicable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs.”
Francis also called for the international community “to prohibit this practice universally”.
The Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) echoed the Pope’s remarks.
FAFCE President, Vincenzo Bassi, said: “For many years, Catholic family associations in Europe have been at the forefront of efforts to protect children and women against any attempt to legitimise this practice, and we will continue to work with the many different people and organisations that support the Casablanca Declaration”.
The US Supreme Court will hear an appeal against the Biden administration’s attempt to override an Idaho law and force ER doctors to perform abortions.
The Court also granted an emergency stay allowing Idaho’s life-saving law to remain in effect while SCOTUS decides the case.
In 2020, the state of Idaho enacted a law that puts the lives of women and their unborn children first, preventing physicians from ending an unborn child’s life unless doing so is critical to save the life of the mother.
In 2022, the Biden administration sued Idaho claiming it can impose a federal law to force ER doctors to perform abortions.
International human rights law firm, Alliance Defending Freedom, says the White House is engaged in an unlawful abuse of power.
“The government has no business forcing doctors to harm their patients or violate their duty to provide life-saving care to all, including unborn children,” said ADF’s Erin Hawley.
A Nigerian priest based in Ireland has warned that Christians in Nigeria have been “left alone to survive” by the international community, following attacks over Christmas that left almost 200 dead and hundreds more injured.
The rampage on 20 Christian villages in Plateau state started on Saturday, December 23 and continued into Christmas day.
Fr Innocent Sunu CC in Ss Peter and Paul parish in Athlone comes from the north-east of Nigeria where Christian persecution by Islamist militants has continued for decades.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Fr Sunu – who has been the victim of Islamist attacks but managed to escape uninjured – said: “What we go through in Nigeria is not something new and the mainstream media does not report it, sometimes we try and come out and say what has been happening but no one seems concerned. Everybody reads what happens in Nigeria as if it is just passing news.
“The international community has not put any pressure on the government, or on enemies of Christianity to make them know what they are doing to us is really barbaric. I feel we have been neglected, ignored, we have been left alone to survive by ourselves,” he said.
A Chinese bishop has reportedly been arrested after objecting to decisions made by a communist-sponsored leader in his diocese without his approval.
Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou last week, according to Asia News.
The 61-year-old bishop is not recognised by the Chinese government, because he has refused to register with the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA), the Communist-party controlled church.
The Chinese government has instead named Fr. Ma Xianshi, a member of the CPCA, as the head of the diocese.
Shao has been routinely detained around holidays, in order to block him from celebrating Mass on major liturgical feasts.
In this case, however, he was taken into custody over Christmas, but arrested a week later, after he penned a letter objecting to changes in the diocese made by Fr. Ma while he was away.
His current whereabouts are unknown.
The number of students attending multi-denominational schools at post-primary level exceeded the numbers enrolled in Catholic schools for the first time during the current academic year illustrating the amount of school choice at this level.
Figures from the Department of Education showed there were 201,102 pupils attending multi-denominational schools across Ireland in September, representing 48.3pc of the total.
At the same time, there were 199,292 students in Catholic schools, accounting for 47.8pc of all enrolments at secondary level.
Multi-denominational schools in Ireland outnumbered Catholic secondary schools for the first time in 2018 but until now, enrolments in Catholic schools had still remained higher.
The change was driven by a 4pc increase in enrolments over the past 12 months in multi-denominational schools, with pupil numbers up 7,747.
In contrast, the growth in student numbers in Catholic schools was smaller, at 0.8pc, with a net increase of just 1,519.
