The new Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, Cork-born Bishop Kieran O’Reilly, will be installed early in 2015.

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop of Cashel and Emly Dermot Clifford.

The Irish representative on the Vatican’s new child protection council said "it would have been better" for the survivors of abuse by Brendan Smyth if Cardinal Sean Brady had resigned two years ago.

There was surprise and delight in Ireland when the Archbishop of Buenos Aires was announced as the new leader of the world’s 1.2bn Catholics.

Roman Catholic leaders have called on the faithful to pray for the cardinals gathered in Rome on the eve of the conclave to elect a new pope.

Cardinals electing the new pope will be looking for a charismatic but tenacious man capable of reuniting a fractious Church, stamping down on scandals, and reigniting faith among the young.

The eight days of the 50th Eucharistic Congress opened in Dublin yesterday.

Ireland's most senior cleric Cardinal Sean Brady said today his role in a 1975 investigation into paedophile Brendan Smyth had been exaggerated.

The Vatican's chief investigator has today insisted that Ireland's most senior cleric has no case to answer regarding renewed allegations of mishandling of allegations against the paedophile Brendan Smyth.

Pope Benedict XVI has issued a blistering denunciation of priests who have questioned church teaching on celibacy and ordaining women, saying they were being selfish in disobeying his authority.

Priests have welcomed the apostolic visitation’s acknowledgement that further work needs to be completed by the Catholic Church here to ensure that clerics on leave following abuse allegations are all being treated the same across the dioceses.

The senior cleric overseeing the Diocese of Cloyne has today apologised to victims of abuse in an open letter to parishioners.

Cardinal Sean Brady, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, has described the failings outlined in today's report into clerical abuse in Cloyne as "deplorable and totally unacceptable".

Justice Minister Alan Shatter expresses "sorrow and profound apology" to any child in Cloyne failed by the State.

Heartbroken gaelic football manager Mickey Harte helped shoulder the coffin as thousands of people joined the funeral cortege for his murdered newlywed daughter today.

The Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has issued an apology after an inquiry revealed today that the Vatican wanted paedophile priest Tony Walsh to serve 10 years in a monastery rather than force him out of the Catholic Church.

The Vatican today expressed “astonishment” and “dismay” that Belgian police raided the home and former office of the recently retired archbishop of Belgium as part of an investigation into child abuse by priests.

Abuse survivors claimed today that Cardinal Sean Brady’s vow to remain in office was a mistake and sent out a signal that the Church has not changed.

THE resignations of three more Irish bishops will be accepted by the Pope in the coming weeks following the departure yesterday of the Bishop of Cloyne.

THE visit of Pope John Paul II was undoubtedly the most popular event that ever took place in this country. It was witnessed in person by more people than the visit of President John F Kennedy in 1963 or President Bill Clinton in 1995. Yet strangely, the Vatican and the Catholic hierarchy treated Taoiseach Jack Lynch and his government with a degree of disdain.

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland said today that he was shocked and ashamed by details in the Dublin Archdiocese clerical abuse report published today.

A PRIEST who left the Diocese of Cloyne over its handling of child sex abuse allegations has criticised the decision to allow a close friend of Bishop John Magee to take over as administrator of the diocese.

Cardinal Sean Brady today led a delegation of prominent clergymen to Israel.

The Archbishop of Dublin has said it is very possible that the Pope will visit the North in the near future.

POPE Benedict XVI has appointed Fr Denis Brennan as the new Bishop of Ferns, a diocese which has been rocked by sex scandals.

The Archbishop of Dublin has not been included in Pope Benedict XVI's first ever list of new cardinals.

The Catholic Church’s new guidelines on child protection, announced by the Archbishop of Armagh Dr Seán Brady this week, have been welcomed in some quarters but strongly criticised in others as a retrograde step.

Senior clergy, politicians and lay people gathered today for the funeral of the former Bishop of Galway Dr James McLoughlin.

There have been allegations of child sexual abuse made against 19 priests in the Catholic Archdiocese of Tuam, it was revealed today.

IRISH bishops and campaigners yesterday called on the Government to honour its overseas aid pledge by the year 2010.

“GOD is good,” said the old tramp one icy night as he made his way unsteadily over a narrow bridge.

MANY Africans think it’s time for an African pope.

THERE will not be a national day of mourning for the Pope, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said yesterday.

Niall Murray, Education Correspondent

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland today demanded IRA disbandment - but immediately faced pressure to go even further.

Fine Gael has demanded an independent Garda inquiry into allegations of clerical child sex abuse in the Dublin Diocese following the broadcast of a Prime Time Documentary last night.