The priest who said he planned to perform mini-exorcisms on young parishioners in their homes ahead of their Confirmation has said it would be more of a family blessing, and he would expect more of parishioners who reported the matter.

Sinn Féin's justice spokesperson Martin Kenny feared he would suffer the same fate as Quinn Insurance official Kevin Lunney, who was brutally tortured by a criminal gang.

Two spectacular stained glass windows depicting a series of historical and cultural ‘turning points’ over some 700 years in a West Cork town, have gone on display in the local church.

An agricultural contractor bled to death after he was shot in the left arm while working late in the to evening in October of last year in Macroom, Co Cork, his inquest has heard.

Gridlock in Killarney is endangering the tourism industry for the whole county, the local Chamber of Commerce has warned amid growing frustration by tourists and residents over a chronic lack of parking and traffic management plans.

Just how does a busy parish operate in today’s Ireland? Clonakilty in West Cork is an example of the new model, writes Noel Baker

The head of the Vatican's communications department has resigned over a scandal about a letter from the retired pope that he mischaracterised in public and then had digitally manipulated in a photograph sent to the media.

The late Monsignor Pádraig Ó Fiannachta was not a man to shy away from a challenge. 

President Michael D Higgins was among the mourners at the funeral Mass for former Ceann Comhairle and 46-year veteran of the Dáil Seamus Pattison who was buried in his native Kilkenny this afternoon.

A Catholic bishop has resigned following reports he had a mistress and siphoned off more than $100,000 in church funds.

Pope Francis has today denounced the proliferation of adult and child pornography on the internet and demanded better protections for children online.

The mother of missing Offaly woman Fiona Pender is being laid to rest in Tullamore today.

A high-ranking Vatican priest working in the Holy See's embassy in Washington has been recalled after US prosecutors asked for him to be charged in an investigation into images of child abuse, officials said.

The mother of missing woman Fiona Pender has passed away.

A Loreto nun working as a school principal in war-torn South Sudan is to be the recipient of the tenth international humanitarian award in honour of the Killarney priest, Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty.

A call has been made to give Killarney’s famed jarveys improved access to the town’s national park in a move to help ease traffic congestion.

Pope to make pilgrimage to the Portuguese town for the centenary of the Virgin Mary’s ‘apparition’, writes Barry Hatton.

Playboy model and film star Jayne Mansfield was due to perform a cabaret act at the Mount Brandon Hotel in Tralee on April 23, 1967, but the all-powerful Catholic Church was having none of it, writes Dan Buckley

On a sunny, mild day, guests sat outside the monastery on Vatican City grounds where Benedict has lived since he became the first pontiff to resign in 600 years.

A papal nuncio, for the first time in more than 60 years, is to visit Skibbereen next weekend.

An application to fly direct charters flights from Knock Airport to the US in 1986 was rejected by the Government over fears of the political backlash, as such a move would end the agreed Shannon stopover for all transatlantic flights from Ireland.

A retired Catholic priest said he recognised the saintliness of Mother Teresa when he met her more than 40 years ago as he joined 120,000 people in St Peter's Square at the Vatican for her canonisation.

A former senior dean at St Patrick’s College Maynooth said he has a sense of “déjà vu” when reading of the current culture at the college and that he was “shafted” by his superiors when he raised concerns about complaints made against a vice-president there in the 1980s.

The father of a two-year-old boy who fell from a rooftop balcony last Saturday has said doctors have "worked miracles" to keep his son alive, writes David Raleigh.

Clergy and gardaí have renewed appeals to the parents of a baby girl, whose body was found at a recycling plant last week and laid to rest yesterday, to come forward.

The Vatican has recognised the “moral courage” of an Irish priest who helped save thousands of Jewish people and Allied PoWs from the Nazis during the Second World War in occupied Rome.

Despite literary figures’ pleas for clemency, Roger Casement was hanged for his part in the Rising after a four-day trial in London, says Ryle Dwyer

They marched in their hundreds, retracing the footsteps of the volunteers who took to the roads of Co Cork on Easter Sunday 1916.

Ryle Dwyer reads the argument that the Irish uprisings of the first decades of the 20th century were a series of civil conflicts, not wars, and they were essentially between Irish people.

It is being hailed as the jewel in the crown of Killarney, and its restoration will bring the Killarney National Park right into the heart of the town and create the biggest urban park in the world.

Two Italian journalists who wrote books detailing Vatican mismanagement are to face trial, along with three people accused of leaking them the information.

The publication of two new books has intensified the Vatican leaks scandal and highlight the struggles of Pope Francis as he tries to reform the sprawling bureaucracy, writes Nicole Winfield

A possible visit of the Pope to Ireland is expected to be discussed at a gathering of bishops over the coming days.

There was no arguing the toss with Tina last night, least of all the crowd that happily sang along to her chorus of “Simply the Best” as the bus bearing the Rebelettes rolled down South Mall.