Church leaders from around the world are gathering after Pope Francis summoned them for a summit on how to deal with cases of sex abuse by clergy.

Bishop of Kilmore Leo O’Reilly has retired from his position on health grounds and has had his resignation accepted by Pope Francis.

Priests who die while facing accusations of sexual abuse are being denied a traditional Catholic funeral.

Holy Communion is being used as an excuse to party, according to a Portlaoise priest.

It’s over. Two thousand years of power and authority, of intellectual superstructure designed to continuously create learned helplessness and obedience may not have ended during the papal visit to Ireland, 2018, but the decline accelerated.

The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, has said that the Pope needs to do more than apologise for the role of the Church "in compounding the suffering of so many" who were sexually abused by clergy while in its care.

A second high-ranking member of the Catholic Church will not be attending the upcoming World Meeting of Families in Ireland.

Women should have a bigger role in the Catholic Church, according to a finding in a new survey from the Association of Catholic Priests.

The attempt to depict Roman Catholic religious orders as responsible for the shortfall in Caranua funding is a political sleight of hand (‘€8.5m funding shortfall for abuse victims’, Irish Examiner, August 1).

Increasing numbers of Irish people are turning away from religious ritual and choosing humanist ceremonies to mark births, deaths and marriages, but what is humanism?

Update - 6.38pm: The Culture Minister says there was no cause for the attack on her by the Archbishop of Dublin.

Former President Mary Robinson has spoken of how “severe Catholicism” in the aftermath of the 1916 Rising effectively barred women from full citizenship.

As things stand, the bishop remains correct in the letter of the law, if not the spirit that currently appears to prevail with this Pope, writes Alison O’Connor

Is the papacy of Pope Francis in danger of being undermined by controversies over his handling of clerical abuse cases? That question has become a central issue in his papacy, writes TP O’Mahony.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it”  - John 1:5

A Roman Catholic has lost his discrimination action against a local authority that refused to stage a wreath-laying ceremony to mark the deaths of Christians murdered by IS.

The Education Minister insists discrimination is not tolerated in our schools following the allegations.

TP O’Mahony looks at the legacy of the great reformer, Martin Luther, who, on October 31, 1517, nailed his 95 theses to the door of a church in Germany 

History, or at least one version of it, suggests that tomorrow week— October 31— we should remember that date as the 500th anniversary of the day Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany.

New guidelines approved by the country’s Catholic bishops for priests with children could be adopted by the Vatican, it has emerged.

A controversial cardinal, who has been tipped by some as a possible successor to the Pope, has called on the Catholic Church to be more understanding of divorce and same-sex marriage.

The Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin has spoken of a “new reality” of fewer priests, the questionable viability of some churches, and the need for a “radical reappraisal” of parish communities.

Thousands of children reported sexual abuse at more than 1,000 Catholic institutions across Australia, an inquiry has been told.

Richard Bruton plans to divest patronage from Catholic primary schools. We’ve been here before and the Church still holds all the cards, writes Michael Clifford.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI has endorsed Pope Francis’s mercy-filled ministry.

The Diocese of Cloyne has upheld the decision by one of its priests to remove one of its parishioners from the reading rota due to his stance on abortion, writes Stephen Rogers.

Pope Francis tempered his Easter Sunday message of Christian hope with a denunciation of "blind" terrorism

Pope Francis has washed and kissed the feet of Muslim, Orthodox, Hindu and Catholic refugees in a gesture of welcome and brotherhood.

Pope Francis has launched a new Instagram account with an image of himself praying.

The Pope has warned benefactors that the Catholic church does not want money that comes from the exploitation of workers.

The Labour Party is showing "anti-Catholic bigotry" in its handling of access to primary schools, according to Senator Ronan Mullen.

Irish Catholic bishops have come out against confidentiality agreements in cases where a priest has fathered a child, according to correspondence between it and newly formed organisation Coping International.

We have heard much in the recent electoral analyses on the decline and fall in the Fine Gael/Labour coalition government support.

CATHOLIC priests are no more likely to abuse minors than men of any other profession. They are no more likely to abuse minors than priests of any other denomination. They are slightly less likely to abuse minors than teachers.

Pope Francis, starting four packed days of events culminating in Easter, said the Church must always be a refuge for the poor, the homeless, and the sick.

Calling himself “a great admirer”, US president Barack Obama held nearly an hour of private talks about fighting global inequality with Pope Francis and invited the pontiff to visit the White House.

13 years on Fr Aidan Troy recalls the Holy Cross protests, writes Dan Buckley

In your Letters to the Editor section (March 14) a Fr. Thomas O’Flynn, in writing about the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, claimed “there are other uninvestigated clerical scandals with adolescents that occurred at other locations around the country.”

I wish to make a reply to a letter published in your newspaper (March 11) and headed “No free country behaves like this”.

I was sickened to read of the meeting between the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) and the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (Irish Examiner, March 8). Abusive priests have been shown too much compassion by their victims and the Irish public.

Pope Francis has urged cardinals, who make up the top echelon of the Roman Catholic Church, to shun the intrigue, gossip, and cliques typical of a royal court.

A Catholic bishop has said that an “unacceptably low” number of couples are undertaking pre-marriage courses (PMC) run by the Church’s counselling service before their wedding day.

Catholics believe Pope Francis is doing a good job, but many disagree with Church doctrine on hot-button issues, especially contraceptives, according to a global poll.