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Tusla will continue to give €1.6m a year to Accord for marriage counselling

State funding for all pre-marriage courses cut

State funding was stopped last month for all pre-marriage courses, including those run by Protestant and secular organisations, the statutory Child and Family Agency, Tusla, has said.

News • 13 May 15

The document says parents may absent children during religious instruction

New church guidelines for schools 'disappointing'

The Catholic Church has published guidelines aimed at governing the inclusion of non-Catholic children in its schools.

News • 12 Mar 15

Dr Diarmuid Martin has said he is appalled at the delays

Archbishop 'appalled' by religious order delays

The Irish Franciscans have expressed regret for missing opportunities to protect children who were sexually abused by a number of their Friars.

News • 10 Feb 15

The watchdog said the religious congregations' support for complainants continues to be inconsistent

Congregations response to victims 'inconsistent'

The Catholic Church child protection watchdog has found that eight religious congregations often failed to contact directly people making child sexual abuse allegations against priests, brothers and nuns.

News • 23 Oct 14

Cardinal Burke says the Synod's new position invokes principles which are not defined

Cardinal concerned by new Church stance

A leading conservative member of the Vatican has said advancing positions softening the Church's language on gays, contraception and remarriage cannot be accepted by bishops in attendance at the Synod.

News • 14 Oct 14

Enda Kenny said the system was changed to bring equality to it, but the computer 'doesn't have nature'

Kenny regrets medical card issue 'got out of hand'

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said he "regrets" that the medical card issue "got out of hand".

News • 22 Jun 14

The women asked the pope to 'bless our love'

Women in love with priests seek optional celibacy

Twenty-six women who say they are in love with Catholic priests have written to Pope Francis urging him to make celibacy optional.

News • 19 May 14

Nine reviews of child protection procedures are being published today

Church watchdog issues child protection reviews

The Catholic Church's child protection watchdog has begun publishing reviews of four dioceses and five other church entities.

News • 12 May 14

The Association of Catholic Priests called for the bans on other priests to also be lifted

Lifting of restrictions on Irish priest welcomed

The Association of Catholic Priests has welcomed the lifting of restrictions on an Irish Marist priest who had been ordered to stop writing and commenting in public.

News • 29 Apr 14

John Paul II and John XXIII declared saints

Pope Francis has proclaimed John Paul II and John XXIII as saints of the Catholic Church to applause from the crowd of pilgrims in St Peter's Square.

News • 27 Apr 14

The Pope said 'no-one else has done more' than the church

Pope defends church's record on tackling abuse

Pope Francis has defended the Catholic Church's record on tackling the sexual abuse of children by priests.

News • 05 Mar 14

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said such views are not confined to younger Catholics

Archbishop says church disconnected from families

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said Catholic teaching on marriage and the family is poorly understood and poorly accepted in his dioceses.

News • 27 Feb 14

Mary McAleese told a Scottish newspaper that a large number of Catholic priests were gay

McAleese comments on homosexuality welcomed

A member of the Association of Catholic Priests has said he is glad former president Mary McAleese made public comments concerning the Catholic Church's attitude towards homosexuality, while a gay rights group has also welcomed the remarks.

News • 08 Jan 14

Time Magazine said Pope Francis had captured the 'imaginations of millions'

Pope Francis named Time Person of the Year

Time Magazine has named Pope Francis as its Person of the Year for 2013.

News • 11 Dec 13

Patrick Corrigan described the audits of Armagh and Down and Connor as 'internal church reviews'

Call for independent inquiry into NI child abuse

Amnesty International in Northern Ireland has said yesterday's audits of two Catholic dioceses there strengthen the case for an independent investigation into clerical child sexual abuse north of the border.

News • 11 Dec 13

It is the fourth group of audit reports from the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (Pic: Leon Farrell/Photocall)

Reports on church child protection published

An audit by the Catholic Church's child protection watchdog has found only 12 Christian Brothers were convicted of crimes between 1975 and today.

News • 10 Dec 13

The reports will examine the response to allegations since 1975

Church child protection watchdog to publish audits

The Catholic Church’s Irish child protection watchdog is to publish reports tomorrow morning on eight church entities.

News • 10 Dec 13

Vatican to set up committee on child sex abuse

The Vatican is to set up a special committee to improve measures to protect children against sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.

News • 05 Dec 13

Benedict's comments came in an 11-page letter to Italian author

Benedict denies cover up of child sex abuse

Former Pope Benedict XVI has denied he tried to cover up sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, in his first direct published comments since he stepped down.

News • 24 Sep 13

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said he was surprised by the length of Pope's interview

Martin says Pope dealing with church's challenges

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said Pope Francis is a man who had opened his soul on a wide range of issues and was dealing with the challenges facing the Catholic Church.

News • 20 Sep 13

Cardinal Seán Brady said the church would be 'mobilising' in relation to the abortion legislation

Church told of 'duty to legislate on abortion'

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has responded to Cardinal Seán Brady's comment that the Catholic Church would be "mobilising" in relation to the draft legislation on abortion.

News • 07 May 13

Joseph Duffy was Bishop of Clogher for 31 years and spokesman for the Catholic hierarchy for much of that time

Report highly critical of retired Clogher bishop

Retired bishop of Clogher Joseph Duffy consistently missed opportunities to prevent clergy from sexually abusing children, according to the Catholic Church's watchdog.

News • 24 Apr 13

Archbishop Wilfrid Fox Napier made remarks on paedophilia during a BBC interview

Cardinal: Paedophilia 'not a criminal condition'

Survivors of sexual abuse have reacted angrily to comments by a Roman Catholic cardinal that paedophilia is an illness and not a criminal condition.

News • 19 Mar 13

All of the cardinals eligible to vote are in the Vatican

Conclave to elect new pope to start on 12 March

The Conclave to elect a new pope following the resignation of Pope Benedict will begin on 12 March.

News • 08 Mar 13

Catholic cardinals arrive for talks ahead of a conclave to elect a new pope

Cardinals begin discussions on papal election

Talks on the process of electing the next pope have begun in Rome but the starting date of the closed-door conclave to choose Benedict's successor is not expected.

News • 04 Mar 13