Ireland, Religion | featured news

Northern Ireland's leaders say they want to tear down the so-called "peace lines" of Belfast - dozens of walls that divide Irish Catholic and British Protestant neighborhoods - by 2023.

Ireland's government is to introduce a new law and regulations to clarify that abortions are permissible when the life -- but not health -- of the mother is at risk, Minister of Health James Reilly announced Tuesday.

An Irish priest at the center of a gay porn controversy has asked to leave his parish and take sabbatical leave from the priesthood, he said Sunday.

The Vatican on Saturday vigorously rejected claims it sabotaged efforts by Irish bishops to report priests who sexually abused children to police and accused the Irish prime minister of making an “unfounded” attack against the Holy See. The Vatican issued a lengthy response to the Irish government following Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s unprecedented July 20 denunciation of the Vatican’s handling of abuse, in which he cited the “dysfunction, the disconnection, the elitism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day.”

Reports that the Vatican intends to force the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland to resign are denied.

The resignation of the bishop, John Magee, added to the fallout of a scandal that has rocked the Catholic church in Ireland and throughout Europe.

Ireland’s Catholic leader expressed shame over investigating but not reporting abuse cases 35 years ago.