In the beautiful setting of St Peter and Paul’s Church, the congregation has temporarily swelled to almost 300 people — all marking the start of Lent with heads bowed, knees bent, and foreheads daubed in ash.

Funeral ceremonies for the two Irish climbers who died last week following a fall on Mont Blanc took place at the weekend.

Earlier this week, my boss sent me a text message enquiring about the subject matter of today’s column.

Ryanair has no plans to radically overhaul the way it is managed and has already unveiled most of the promised customer service improvements in an effort to improve its image, chief executive Michael O’Leary said.

Hundreds of thousands of Irish people will be anxiously watching their TV sets in a couple of hours time, when Europe's analogue TV signal is turned off.

Shay Given has described his international retirement as “the biggest football decision you will ever make” but made clear that, for a combination of reasons, he felt now was the right time to pass on Ireland’s No 1 shirt.

Anti-capitalist protesters who have been camped outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London for a month were today warned to quit their tents or face High Court action.

Suzanne Harrington joins the worldwide hordes who aren’t just moaning about the economic crisis — they’re getting out and doing something about it

Pope Benedict XVI met a group of clerical sex abuse victims today and told them with tears in his eyes that the Catholic Church would seek justice for those abused by paedophile priests and implement "effective measures" to protect young people from abuse, the Vatican and victims said.

PAUL Nicholls is doing his best to secure the services of Ruby Walsh for Turko, whom he fancies “quite strongly” for the John Smith’s Grand National on Saturday.

Vatican archaeologists have unearthed a sarcophagus believed to contain the remains of the Apostle Paul that had been buried beneath Rome's second largest basilica.

Juan Pablo Montoya insists uncertainty over McLaren’s driver line-up for next season will not derail the team’s bid to return to the front in this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

BISHOP Eamonn Casey was last night believed to be staying with relatives in Co Limerick following his arrival from England on Sunday.

Pope Benedict XVI pressed his desire to see Christians fully united today as he greeted an Orthodox Christian delegation at the start of a ceremony marking the feast of St Peter and St Paul.

MORE than 6,000 extra police, including snipers, bomb disposal experts and motorcycle escorts, have been deployed to protect the crowds of faithful and world leaders converging on the Vatican to mourn Pope John Paul II.

Two photographers cleared of contributing to Princess Diana's death have been placed under investigation on charges of invading the privacy of Dodi Fayed.