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The former Bishop of Raphoe, Irish Jesuit Alan McGuckian SJ was installed as the new Bishop of Down and Connor on Sunday afternoon, 14 April 2024 in Saint Peter's Cathedral, Saint Peter's Square, Belfast. Saint Peter's Cathedral Choir and the Down and Connor Schola Cantorum performed the music throughout the liturgy under the direction of Mr James McConnell. You can watch the ceremony here. Cardin... Read More

Gospel of 18 April 2024 John 6:44-51 Jesus said, 'No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I... Read More

Pope Francis has appealed for the release of prisoners of war, prayed for their freedom and denounceed the tortures many of them are subjected to. Speaking off the cuff, at the end of the General Audience with pilgrims in St Peter's Square on Wednesday, Pope Francis said: "Our thoughts, at this moment, the thoughts of all of us, go to the peoples at war.. We think of the Holy Land, of Palestin... Read More

On Tuesday, the All-Part Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Pakistani Minorities Pakistani Minorities, a cross-party parliamentary group focused on the situation of minority communities in Pakistan, marked the anniversary of the murder of a Christian boy, Iqbal Masih, in 1995, at the age of 12. Iqbal Masih was a child labourer and activist who campaigned against abusive child labour in Pakistan. When ... Read More

As UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt arrived at the IMF's Spring Meetings on Wednesday, CAFOD issued the following statement about this week's World Bank and IMF meetings and the urgent need for the UK to push for an end to the global sovereign debt crisis. Maria Finnerty, Economic Justice Policy Lead at CAFOD, said: "As leaders gather in Washington DC for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World B... Read More

This year Ramadan coincided with Lent, offering a beautiful occasion to make of this time a moment of interreligious dialogue and learning. I relocated to Delhi for work a few months ago. A providential meeting with Fr Joseph Victor Edwin SJ, a teacher of theology and Christian Muslim relations at Delhi's Vidyajyoti College of Theology and Secretary of the Islamic Studies Association, led to my be... Read More

A new report on Religious Education from the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted): 'Deep and meaningful? The religious education subject report' suggests that the subject is not taught in enough depth in most schools. and pupils remember "little" when many religions are covered in the curriculum. The watchdog's report says a "superficially broad curriculum" does not always provide pupils wit... Read More

This Laudato Si' Week and Pentecost, we are invited to gather in community to contemplate and nurture seeds of hope for our "suffering planet" (LD 2). In our broken and divided world where ecocide flourishes seeds of hope are desperately needed. Such seeds are found within Sarah Augustine and Sheri Hostetler's new book, So We and Our Children May Live: Following Jesus in Confronting the Climate Cr... Read More

Gospel of 17 April 2024 John 6:35-40 Jesus said to the crowd: 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst. But, as I have told you, you can see me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I shall not turn him away; because I have come from heaven, not to do my own will, but to d... Read More

When you see the new skyways, highways and other expanding infrastructure in the Philippines, look to Japan as the source of many loans that helped build them. The Philippines' foreign debt is at a record $125.4 billion as of last December. There is interest to be paid on that, and most of the loans came from Japan, the world's third-biggest economy, and the Asian Development Bank. The money is pa... Read More

The conference in Paris on 15 April, led by organisers France, Germany, and the European Union, emphasised the urgent need to end the war in Sudan, guarantee full, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access, and mobilise funding to reach those most in need. Kayode Akintola, Head of Region for Africa at CAFOD, said: "We welcome the pledges made by various countries to support relief efforts in Suda... Read More

Every child born in the UK, whatever their circumstances, is a member of our society. Society has a choice - we can do our best to support and nurture those children, to help them grow into healthy, happy adults, or we can turn our backs on them, allow them to struggle and then condemn them if their adult lives do not meet with our approval. This month marks the seventh anniversary of the two chil... Read More

Mariapolis 2024 is coming to Shropshire this summer for the first time. The Mariapolis is a summer gathering for people of all backgrounds and ages, providing an opportunity to build a small, temporary society based on mutual respect and to experience how mutual love creates connections. The programme will include moments of reflection, workshops, games, outings and inspiration for all ages. The ... Read More

Last week we reported the Archbishop of Canterbury had expressed his concern after a young Christian Palestinian woman was taken from her parents' home in the West Bank on Saturday, to an unknown destination. The Israeli soldiers arrived at about 4am to take 23-year-old Layan Nasir away in handcuffs at gunpoint from her parents' home in the West Bank town of Birzeit. There was no arrest warrant or... Read More