JONATHAN Pryce has not slept. He is fresh off a plane from New York, where he is appearing in a play on Broadway, and is due to fly back to perform again the following day.

After his resignation in 2013, Pope Benedict chose to live in the Vatican in silence. But his presence, his influence, and a growing campaign is causing problems for Pope Francis and threatens to undermine his papacy, writes TP O’Mahony.

Pope Francis came and he went. In terms of the past sins visited on the Irish population by the Catholic Church, not a lot of difference was made.

A former top Vatican official has accused Pope Francis of having known of allegations of sex abuse by a prominent US cardinal for five years before accepting his resignation last month and he called on the pontiff to resign.

Pope Francis appeared to be unaware of the details of abuse suffered by many Irish victims at the hands of Catholic clerics, according to one of the survivors who met him in Dublin on Saturday.

The ‘empire of misogyny’ referred to by Mary McAleese will not be reformed by the Pope, who thinks the genders have different, divinely ordained roles, says TP O’Mahony

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.

Archbishop Eamon Martin delivered a lecture at the University of East Anglia in Norwich yesterday evening on the theme ‘The Church in the Public Sphere – a perspective from Ireland’. Here is an extended extract from his speech.

A priest has published a memoir as a way of raising urgent truths about the Church he has served for 60 years, writes Helen O’Callaghan 

IT’S AUCTION season — time to bag a bargain — if you have a few million to spare that is.

Former President Mary McAleese and Justice Kevin Cross have reassured middle Ireland that a ‘Yes’ vote on same-sex marriage will not undermine the the rights and status of families.

Pope Francis is holding women back due to misogyny, former president Mary McAleese has warned.

Pope Francis said he believes his pontificate will be short and that he would be ready to resign like his predecessor rather than ruling for life.

A Catholic Bishop has claimed that people who have children are not necessarily parents.

The Papal Nuncio to Ireland has said a papal visit is “possible”.

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Seán Brady, the leader ofthe Catholic Church in Ireland.

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Sean Brady, the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

Pope Francis proclaimed his predecessors John XXIII and John Paul II saints in front of more than 500,000 pilgrims, hailing both as courageous men who withstood the tragedies of the 20th century.

The sick, elderly and bereaved in the diocese of Cork are suffering as there are not enough priests to cater for their spiritual needs.

Pope John Paul and Pope Benedict XVI were incompetent theologians even though they had doctoral degrees in theology.

Queen Elizabeth II will meet Pope Francis for the first time when she visits Rome in April as a guest of the Italian president, Buckingham Palace said.

Pope Benedict XVI defrocked nearly 400 priests in two years for molesting children, a document obtained by the Associated Press shows.

More than 6.6m people attended events with Pope Francis at the Vatican from his election in March to the end of 2013, compared to 2.3m for former Pope Benedict in all of 2012.

Pope Francis is proving to be a major tourist attraction, as figures published by the Vatican show 6.6 million people visited the city-state between March and December.

Successive taoisigh have given over €38,000 worth of state gifts to foreign dignitaries over the past 10 years, including 52 pieces of Waterford Crystal, an Aran sweater and CDs.

Pontiff attacks unfettered capitalism as ‘a new tyranny’

Over the past few weeks, Italy has been back at the heart of events.

Pope Francis’s first major interview has been described as containing “wonderful authenticity” but as “very challenging” by the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin.

The former Pope Benedict has revealed he decided to step down as pope because God told him to.

I WOULDN’T want to put the Pope and Pierce Brosnan in the same boat, but whenever I hear the radio ad for that Sky bundle thing, it rings a papal bell for me.

Pope Francis has told nuns from around the globe they must be spiritual mothers and not “old maids”.

A senior RTÉ executive has criticised the lack of spending by Sky on television content in Ireland given the large revenues the Rupert Murdoch-owned media group takes from Irish customers.

The cleric set to become the next head of the Catholic Church in Ireland has pledged to work to heal the wounds of those who have lost trust in the institution.

A Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi has denied a report that claims the health of former Pope Benedict has deteriorated.

Outspoken Redemptorist Fr Tony Flannery, who was threatened with excommunication under the reign of Pope Benedict, has paid tribute to the former pope for stepping down — because, whether he intended it or not, he had paved the way for open discussion within the Church.

When Barack Obama was sworn in as 44th President of the United States on Jan 20, 2009, the event was expected to spark great, positive change.

WHEN you think about it, the really surprising thing is how surprised we all were.

I do not know where Eric Conway (Letters Mar 13) got his figure of a 15 million increase in Catholic numbers last year and, more wonderfully, he ascribed this mythical increase to Emeritus Pope Benedict’s reign.

Pope Francis must end the scandal of Church secrets being leaked to newspapers, Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn said, underlining one of the challenges facing the new Roman Catholic leader.

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.

The first South American, the first non-European in more than a millennium and the first Jesuit, a new era in the Catholic Church was ushered in as Argentinian cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was last night elected Pope Francis I.