The Association of Catholic Priests (APC) has written an open letter to the bishops, urging them to convene a national assembly to address the crisis facing Catholicism in Ireland and to consider reforms.

Fr Naughton had been an abuser of children for 25 years, transferred from parish to parish.

“I am 8 years old

The Vatican’s retired ambassador to the United States, Carlo Maria Vigano, has accused Pope Francis and other officials of covering up that they were aware of sex abuse allegations against Theodore McCarrick, a former archbishop of Washington.

Around 300 Roman Catholic priests have molested more than 1,000 children - and possibly many more - in Pennsylvania since the 1940s, a US grand jury report has revealed.

The Vatican is launching a new international exorcism training course in response to a growing demand for priests skilled in tackling demonic possession.

The Association of Catholic Priests who issued the card is advising them to ask for two lawyers.

Deacons James Daly from Cork and Bill O' Shaughnessy from Kildare will be ordained at 11am.

A Cork priest has warned of a growing incidence of suicide among the clergy, citing the death of nine of his peers in the last 10 years.

The number of priests suffering from depression and mental health problems is on the rise, an influential group representing Catholic clerics in Ireland has warned.

The Association of Catholic Priests has welcomed an interview in which Pope Francis said the Catholic Church needs to consider whether to ordain married men who could then minister in parts of the world where there are too few priests.

Thousands of children reported sexual abuse at more than 1,000 Catholic institutions across Australia, an inquiry has been told.

Pope Francis is allowing all priests to absolve women of the "grave sin" of abortion, extending indefinitely special permission he had granted for the duration of the just-ended Holy Year of Mercy.

The Irish Examiner ICMSA Farming Poll has brought to light the latest views and opinions on religion and the priesthood among the farming community, reports Noel Baker

A prominent US canon lawyer has said he suspects “there is a great deal more” to the story of what is happening in the Maynooth seminary.

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.

Figures show a dramatic drop in the number of priests serving in Catholic dioceses in Ireland.

A lay Catholic group has come out in support of the Bishop of Kilmore, Leo O’Reilly’s position on the ordination of married men.

More than 50 priests in England and Wales have been defrocked for clerical sex abuse since 2001, new figures show.

Irish Catholic bishops have come out against confidentiality agreements in cases where a priest has fathered a child, according to correspondence between it and newly formed organisation Coping International.

The Association of Catholic Priests has decided not to make a recommendation for or against the proposal in the upcoming marriage referendum on May 22.

Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on … have a go

CATHOLIC priests are no more likely to abuse minors than men of any other profession. They are no more likely to abuse minors than priests of any other denomination. They are slightly less likely to abuse minors than teachers.

In your Letters to the Editor section (March 14) a Fr. Thomas O’Flynn, in writing about the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, claimed “there are other uninvestigated clerical scandals with adolescents that occurred at other locations around the country.”

I wish to make a reply to a letter published in your newspaper (March 11) and headed “No free country behaves like this”.

I was sickened to read of the meeting between the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) and the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (Irish Examiner, March 8). Abusive priests have been shown too much compassion by their victims and the Irish public.

I write in connection with Mr Ian Elliott’s sad experience as the chief executive for six years with the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, as recently reported in several newspapers.

The fact that a dozen paedophile priests were active in Dublin in the 1970s has been described by the city’s Catholic Archbishop Diarmuid Martin as a tragedy.

Some people in the Catholic Church may be homophobic and using its teaching against gay people, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin has admitted.