In recent decades, popes have reinforced centralised control of the Catholic Church by influencing who gets promoted in each country, writes TP O’Mahony

1968’s ‘Humane Vitae’ has done massive harm to the Catholic Church and has been largely ignored by many, writes TP O’Mahony

The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, is right — the Catholic Church now needs to carry out a reality check, especially in regard to young people and their beliefs. And after the outcome of the referendum on same-sex marriage, he won’t find the result of such a check very comforting.

A faith group has challenged Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin’s reliance on the Pope as a guide on how to vote in the marriage equality referendum.

The Pope has broken from his predecessors in seeking a more collegial approach to Church, governance, but the jury is still out on his ability to bring true reform, writes TP O’Mahony.

Some 20 years after predictions were made of a ‘Catholic restoration’, the Church finds itself lost in modern Ireland, writes TP O’Mahony

There is a recognition and growing acceptance within wider society that human sexuality is not one-dimensional, writes TP O’Mahony

Pope Francis has beatified Pope Paul VI and declared that God is not afraid of new things as he concluded a remarkable meeting of bishops on family issues.

Pope Francis has beatified Pope Paul VI and declared that God is not afraid of new things as he concluded a remarkable meeting of bishops debating family issues.

The Synod of Bishops must embrace reform. There is something skewed about asking male celibates to review the Church’s teaching on family life, according to TP O’Mahony

Over 50 years ago, a cardinal asked the Vatican Council: ‘Where’s the other half of humanity?’ In her own inimitable way, Mary McAleese last week posed the same question, writes TP O’ Mahony.

John Cornwell

Pope Francis announced today that he would travel to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan on May 24-26, his first visit to the Holy Land.

The Vatican publicly unveiled a handful of bone fragments purportedly belonging to St Peter, reviving the scientific debate and tantalising mystery over whether the relics found in a shoe box truly belong to the first pope.

A recent speech by Pope Francis held clear echoes of a centuries-old tradition stressing the need for radical, progressive action, and insights on matters of social justice, writes TP O’Mahony

Pope Francis’s apt choice of symbols has nods to tradition as well as his Argentinian roots, writes Daniela Petroff

AN UNREFORMED and unreforming papacy will serve only to extend and exacerbate the crisis that has blighted the Catholic Church since the second half of the pontificate of Pope Paul VI, who died in 1978.

THE resignation of Pope Benedict has prompted much debate about his legacy but another question also arises — why do so many people in this country continue to care about an anachronistic institution that doesn’t want them as members?

THE signs have been evident for some time — a pope no longer in control, unable to act decisively, resulting in embarrassing publicity and a leader showing increasing signs of being overwhelmed by the problems of a Church in deep crisis.

Pope Benedict is to resign his office at the end of this month after declaring he was too old to carry on as head of the Catholic Church.

As strong as the Catholic Church may have seemed, one of the reasons for the Pope’s 1979 visit was worry over its decline, writes Diarmaid Ferriter

Former president Mary McAleese has decried the Church’s treatment of five silenced priests, accusing Rome of operating through fear and imposing strictures on the clerics which “consume the truth”.

THE firing on May 24 of Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, the president of the Vatican Bank, because of a failure to “promote transparency”, must have sent a frisson of fear through the upper echelons of the Roman Curia, coming as it did three decades after another scandal involving the same institution.

Pope Benedict XVI has said the Catholic Church shares the pain of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt over the death of its patriarch, Pope Shenouda III.

Catholic nuns should go on the pill, two experts have argued.

Former Bishop John Magee has apologised for failing the victims of abusive priests under his authority.

Barack Obama, will be the most heavily protected US president in history when he comes to Ireland on Monday, in contrast to a visit nearly 50 years ago, says TP O’Mahony

Twitter is spreading through the GAA like mumps through Coppers.

A lavishly-jewelled cross and a ring once owned by Pope Paul VI are heading to auction on eBay.

IS there about to be a major rethink within the Vatican on contraception?

Fr James Good admires Jennifer Sleeman’s stand on women, but sees no purpose in a Mass boycott, he tells Dan Buckley.

Hundreds of thousands of people turned out for an outdoor mass celebrated by the pope today at the Portuguese shrine of Fatima.

The head of a US Catholic order that specialised in the treatment of paedophile priests visited Pope Paul VI nearly 50 years ago and followed up with a letter recommending their removal from ministry, it has emerged.

WHY would the future Cardinal Seán Brady ask an eight-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy to swear on oath that they would not divulge that Fr Brendan Smyth had sexually abused them? The main aim was certainly not to protect other boys from that predator. Fr Brady was apparently more interested in protecting the Catholic Church as an institution from criticism.

A CERTAIN Belgian boy reporter named Tintin was the first to reach the moon, the Vatican newspaper joked yesterday, as the world marked 40 years since the Apollo 11 lunar landing.

THE Pope has called for a new world financial order blaming the global crisis on the greed of financiers and investors.

The retired Bishop of Waterford and Lismore Michael Russell has died aged 80 years, the Catholic Church said today.

YANKEE STADIUM, which closed last Saturday night, opened for business on April 18, 1923 with a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

A FIXED day for Easter Sunday would create less confusion and disruption for Irish businesses and should be seriously considered.

WHILE at the National Archives previewing the State papers, which were officially released yesterday, I happened to be sitting beside Prof Ronan Fanning when I came across a letter written to him by the Irish ambassador to the US in 1977.

Pope Benedict XVI has changed the rules for electing popes, making it potentially harder to name a successor but ensuring that when the white smoke rises from the Sistine Chapel the new pope has broad support among cardinals.

Pope Benedict XVI began his first visit to a Muslim country today with a message of dialogue and “brotherhood” between faiths and Turkey’s chief Islamic cleric said at a joint appearance that growing “Islamophobia” hurts all Muslims.