AT 67, and with over 45 years in the industry, Oscar-winner Jeremy Irons has paid his dues. “I don’t want to work very much any more. I’ve done most things and I don’t really need to work,” states the actor, 67.

ALREADY?! Shrove Tuesday has snuck up on us. Usually around now, time slows. There’s no bank holiday to look forward to. It feels like St Patrick’s Day and New Year’s Day are a year apart. New Year’s Day is a complete waste of a bank holiday, anyway.

A letter by Fr Tom Kelleher (Irish Examiner, November 16) on the extensive influence of Saints Columbanus (Columban) and Gall (Gallen) was brought out for many to contemplate.

The other day I saw one of the first Christmas ads on television, and I thought, “Christmas is here already!”

Pope Francis said yesterday that the mistreatment of migrants who are escaping war and injustice “makes one cry”, as he visited the northern Italian city of Turin, stopping to pray before the shroud that some Christians believe is Jesus’ burial cloth.

Karen’s parents John and Marian, and brothers Brendan, Kieran, and Damien sat in silent contemplation as Fr Joe O’Keeffe paid a moving tribute to their loss.

Pope Francis presided over the solemn Easter Vigil service amid mounting Vatican concern for modern-day Christian martyrs whose deaths have dominated this Easter season.

Pope Francis, presiding at the traditional Good Friday Colosseum procession, condemned the “complicit silence” about the killing of Christians.

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Alianz FL Divison 1 (R2): Monaghan v Cork: Tomorrow’s Allianz Football League Division 1 clash with Monaghan in Castleblayney represents Paul Kerrigan’s first start of the year for Cork.

Pope Francis has decreed that Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero was killed in 1980 out of hatred for his Catholic faith, approving a martyrdom declaration that sets the stage for his beatification.

It’s that time of year again when the old canards about ‘Christians hijacking a pagan festival’ or ‘Christ’s exact date of birth isn’t known are wheeled out ( Letters December 13th).

From his stylish living room overlooking St Peter’s Square, Cardinal Walter Kasper doesn’t come off as a figure at the centre of one of the greatest storms swirling in Catholicism in decades.

Pope Francis has married 20 couples in St Peter’s Basilica – with one bride already a mother.

Call off the Selfie Olympics. We have a winner.

Pope Francis has arrived in Jordan, kicking off his three-day trip to the Middle East.

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.

Pope Francis has marked Palm Sunday in a packed St Peter’s Square, ignoring his prepared homily and speaking entirely off the cuff.

Eleven years on from digesting the words of rejection from Martin O’Neill, Michael Doyle stands on the cusp of becoming the first Irish FA Cup final captain since 2008.

Liam Neeson has grounded The Lego Movie.

THESE days it’s all about panic in schools with mocks occurring, projects being hauled up and the cramming being turned up to overload. The question being asked around is this: is religion necessary in schools these days?

Be that as it may, millennia of faith has already been observed so it seems likely we will continue to see a blurring of the lines between religion and sport.

Pope Francis lauded Jesus’ humble beginning as a poor and vulnerable baby as he celebrated his first Christmas Eve Mass as pontiff in St. Peter’s Basilica.

US: Fifty Shades of Grey author EL James has hooked up with a lingerie company to launch a range of undies to tie in with her risque books.

Groggy from the rigours of what he hailed as “the hardest game I have ever played“, Paul Flynn was nothing like the sober man we met after the 2011 final.

A Spanish train that hurtled off the rails and smashed into a security wall as it rounded a bend was going so fast that carriages tumbled off the tracks like dominos, killing 80 people and maiming dozens more, according to eyewitness accounts and video footage obtained today.

Religious observers are asking: “Is Pope Francis an exorcist?” after an incident in St Peter’s Square.

Benfica coach Jorge Jesus feels there should be little emphasis placed on the respective domestic form of his side and Newcastle’s in the build-up to tonight’s Europa League quarter-final first-leg meeting in Lisbon.

Pope Francis celebrated a trimmed-back Easter Vigil service after having reached out to Muslims and women during a Holy Week in which he began to put his mark on the Catholic Church.

Hundreds of Christians streamed through the cobblestone alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City today, hoisting wooden crosses and chanting prayers to mark the crucifixion of Jesus.

Pope Francis celebrated his first Palm Sunday Mass in St Peter’s Square, encouraging people to be humble and young at heart as he promised to go to a youth jamboree Brazil this summer, while the faithful enthusiastically waved olive branches and braided palm fronds.

Pope Francis celebrated his first Palm Sunday Mass in St Peter’s Square, encouraging people to be humble and young at heart as he promised to go to a youth jamboree Brazil this summer, while the faithful enthusiastically waved olive branches and braided palm fronds.

Pope Francis celebrated his first Palm Sunday Mass in St Peter’s Square today, encouraging people to be humble and young at heart, as tens of thousands joyfully waved olive branches and palm fronds.

Jacob Goode (Letters, Mar 5) asks why, despite a ‘controlling and abusive’ institutional Church, people don’t ‘wake up’ and stop going to Mass?

Cian Healy has never been a man to use 10 words where one will do so it was hardly a surprise when he declined to elaborate on the content of the hate mail letter he received at Ireland’s Carton House base last month.

Religious freedom is a right but not an absolute one, Europe’s top court said, ruling that British Airways discriminated against a devoutly Christian employee by making her remove her crucifix, but backing a British charity that fired a marriage counsellor who refused to give sex therapy to gay couples.

A play by Irish author Colm Tóibín, based on his 2011 novella about Jesus’ mother after the crucifixion, is set to debut on Broadway this Spring.

A RECENT papyrus that referenced Jesus’s wife caused an uproar.

Barcelona 0 Benfica 0

The pope has completed his trilogy on the life of Jesus Christ with a new book exploring his birth and insisting on its significance for Christians today.

A few weeks ago we got in touch with David Quinn of the Iona Institute, well-known commentator on religious affairs.

Katie Taylor’s pre-fight schedule revolves around prayer and recitation of what has become known as “Katie’s psalm”, according to Pentecostal Church Pastor Sean Mullarkey.

I’ve watched RTE reporter Tommie Gorman’s 18 minute interview on May 2 with Catholic Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, Cardinal Sean Brady, about when, in 1975, as a part-time 36 year-old-secretary to a bishop, he was the notetaker at a meeting with a young man telling his story of being abused by the most persistent of paedophile priests, Fr Brendan Smyth.