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

MOURNERS attending the funerals of the victims of the Co Meath bus crash were told their deaths were not in vain if they prompted the country to think of the welfare of our children.

The Pope’s death has deprived the Irish people of his final message to them, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern heard tonight.

President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern are due to attend a mass of remembrance at Dublin's Pro-Cathedral this evening for the late Pope John Paul II.

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

Papal Nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto and US ambassador in Ireland James Kenny will attend a Mass in Terenure College's Chapel on Sunday to remember the 25th Anniversary of the death of Archbishop Fulton J Sheen.

THE Papal Nuncio to Ireland has said it is not for the Church to challenge Sinn Féin on its murky links to IRA violence.

THE funeral Mass of Archbishop Michael Courtney, the murdered papal nuncio to the central African state of Burundi, takes place in his home town of Nenagh, Co Tipperary, today.

CARDINAL Desmond Connell yesterday rejected reports in a Sunday newspaper that he is due to resign in the next few weeks.