A Columban priest who survived kidnapping in the Philippines was one of over 200 returned missionaries honoured at a ceremony in Dublin yesterday.

Italy’s fractious ruling coalition struggled to bridge differences over a housing tax that threatens to create a new crisis for a government already severely strained by the legal turmoil surrounding Silvio Berlusconi.

Italy’s fragile coalition government, already struggling to contain deep divisions over tax and economic policy, woke up to a whole set of new problems yesterday after Silvio Berlusconi’s conviction for tax fraud was upheld by the supreme court.

The political situation in Italy is similar to the 1920s. There’s even a Mussolini-like character ready to break through, writes Tim Parks

RTE chair Tom Savage needs to “set the record straight” about his PR company’s clients, a Labour senator has said, as the fallout from the Mission to Prey programme continues.

A public relations company run by RTÉ chairman Tom Savage said he had no knowledge of the work it did for the Irish Missionary Union in advance of the infamous Prime Time Investigates programme.

THE Catholic Church’s child protection tsar, Ian Elliott, was on the verge of resigning in the past year after a review of child protection standards in the country’s 26 dioceses was halted because the Church refused to co-operate.

A FORMER prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, who was allowed to leave for Ireland in 2009, was forced to spend five years in captivity even after interrogators decided he had little to offer in terms of military intelligence.

A SENIOR African cleric will visit Cork next week to raise awareness of the suffering of people caught up in the Darfur conflict.

A Catholic bishop from the war-torn Darfur region in Africa is visiting Ireland this week to raise awareness of the plight of his people.

IRELAND’S brave missionaries were remembered yesterday at the start of a series of commemorative services for 14 priests, brothers and nuns who died violently abroad in recent times.