Monsignor Eamon Martin, 51, the administrator of the Diocese of Derry, is about to become the next leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland. He will be the youngest bishop or archbishop in Ireland when he is inaugurated in a few months.

Controversial Irish cleric Father Tony Flannery is to defy the Vatican and break his silence on the campaign against him by Catholic Church authorities.

Outspoken Irish cleric Father Tony Flannery has admitted he faces excommunication from the church for backing the rights of women to become priests.

Chief spokesman for the Vatican Reverend Federico Lombardi has spoken out strongly in favor of President Obama’s rallying for new gun legislation in the US that would reinstate the assault weapons ban and mandate background checks for the purchase of guns.

For decades, retired Cardinal Roger Mahony and other high ranking members of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles made secret efforts to shield child molesting priests. Their aim was to keep their parishioners in the dark and control the damage to the church, church personnel files have revealed.

John Cornelius, a former Episcopalian priest, will become the first Roman Catholic priest to be ordained despite being both married and a father. The ordination will occur in Buffalo, New York, as is permitted according to 2012 papal exception to the church’s celibacy rule.

The Buffalo News reports on Cornelius’ upcoming ordination, which will be conducted by Bishop Richard J. Malone of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo.

Father Tony Flannery of the Redemptorist, a high profile Irish priest known for his views on issues such as female ordination and homosexuality, refused a Vatican edict to apologize this weekend for some of his positions in order to remain a priest in good standing.

One of the biggest issues facing gun control in New York is the vast supply of handguns, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said Monday.

The new Bishop of Cloyne has vowed to bring about reconciliation in one of the dioceses worst hit by clerical sex abuse scandals.

Could New York Cardinal Timothy Patrick Dolan be the next pope? He is definitely a legitimate contender, the first American one ever, according to Vatican insiders.

The Catholic Church has been rocked by the shock announcement that Pope Benedict XVI will resign at the end of February.

The next pope is very likely to be African according to Paddy Power, Ireland’s leading bookmaker, who has come out with a list of “papabile,” those considered papal material.

With the resignation of Pope Benedict coming into effect on Feb 28th, there are only 20 days for the eligible cardinals with voting rights to elect a new pope.

Irish leader Enda Kenny and President Michael D Higgins led tributes to Pope Benedict XVI after he announced his retirement on Monday.

By the prophecies of Irish St. Malachy the next pope will be last, will be known as Peter of Rome and a great Armageddon will happen on his watch.

Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin should replace Pope Benedict as pope writes Catholic commentator and author Michael D’Antonio in the Los Angeles Times.

A leading Dublin priest has resigned a senior position in the Catholic Church over the treatment of liberal priest Tony Flannery by the Vatican.

Pope Benedict XVI has said he plans to be “hidden from the world” after he resigns from his position of leader of the Catholic Church in two weeks time.

It is now quite likely the new pope could be elected on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th.

In what some are calling a display of divine displeasure at the pope’s decision to resign, a bolt of lightening struck the Cross atop the dome of Peter’s Basilica in Rome only hours after the Pope’s shocking announcement. The pope’s decision left Catholics confused and bewildered as to the direction in which the Church is now headed.

Catholic politicians who support abortion legislation should be refused Holy Communion, says Cardinal Raymond Burke, who heads the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican's highest legal tribunal that rules on canon law.

For the first time since 1415, we are going  to have a conclave or papal election with no Pope to bury beforehand.  But the procedures for the election are not affected by this ‘novelty.’ Dan Brown might seem an unlikely source for information on a Papal election but the detailed description in Angels and Demons was apparently taken from a book by a Jesuit scholar and is quite accurate.

The crowds were larger than usual at Pope Benedict’s penultimate address on Sunday, and the crowd heard him ask the faithful to pray for him and for the next pope.

Whilst the American press sings the praises of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, there are many respected observers who think that Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston, might stand a better chance of being elected pope.

News from  Rome that Boston Cardinal Sean P O’Malley is under consideration  to replace Pope Benedict as leader of the Catholic Church is no surprise to supporters of the Irish American reformer who have come out in favor of the Boston cleric.

Ireland’s Cardinal Sean Brady is the latest to come under pressure to quit the upcoming papal conclave because of the alleged cover up of pedophile priest activities.

Scotland's Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who was born in Ballycastle in Antrim, has said he would be happy if priests were able to marry. His remarks have created worldwide headlines as he is the first major church figure to voice such an opinion.

Sensational claims about the 'inappropriate influence' of secretive lobbies within the Vatican have transfixed the Italian media all week.

Irish-born Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien has resigned effective immediately and will not take part in the papal conclave. His resignation means there will be no British representative at the conclave.

The British church leader sacked by the Pope openly boasted of his friendship with notorious pedophile and TV personality Jimmy Savile.

The social structure that allowed for forced labor and misery in Magdalene Laundries to occur is part of the Irish psyche, according to Sunday's Irish Independent Op Ed.

Writing for the newspaper, journalist Emer O’Kelly states that the Irish society should feel guilty for perpetuating a system that allowed for women to be sent to Magdalene Laundries.

Pope Benedict XVI told parishioners that he wasn’t abandoning the Church by retiring to spend his final years in prayer, during his last Sunday blessing in the Vatican.

The intrigue around the papal conclave reached new heights this week when Irish-born Cardinal Keith O’Brien of Scotland abruptly resigned after allegations of inappropriate behavior made by four priests against him surfaced.

Ghana’s Cardinal Peter Turkson is currently the Irish favorite to come in and replace Pope Benedict XVI’s vacant seat in the Vatican following his surprise resignation.

As Pope Benedict XVI steps down from his public role in the Vatican, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan has spoken about how hard it will be to replace the retiring head of the Catholic Church. The Irish American Cardinal made it clear that he did not believe he was the man for the job saying he it would be more likely for him to replace third baseman for the New York Yankees, Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez, than be voted in as Pope.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien said in a statement on Saturday that he apologizes for any offenses and has asked for forgiveness after three priests and one former priest accused him of inappropriate behavior last week.

Where Micheal O'Leary sought churches in America two decades ago, John Corr now looks for pubs. Both of them left Ireland for the United States during times of limited job opportunities at home. But the contrast in their emigration stories illustrates the growing gap between the Irish diaspora and the Catholic Church, say journalism students at USC who have been studying Ireland and Catholicism this year.

In recent times there has been an increasing number of challenges to the rule of mandatory celibacy for priests. This is understandable in a society that has become sexually permissive almost beyond belief. Nonetheless, celibacy lies at the heart of a priest’s identity and commitment.

Seven out of ten Catholics in the U.S. believe the next pope should let priests marry, allow women to become priests, and allow birth control.

Archbishop of Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley has said the next pope must deal with Bishops who allowed abusive priests to remain in ministry.

“Just don’t make it lame, okay?” That was the advice given to actress and producer Roma Downey by her teenage stepson when she announced that she and her husband Mark Burnett were going to adapt the main books of the Bible into an epic television series.

Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley has become a contender to fill the recently vacated position of Pope, at least according to Irish bookmakers Paddy Power.

Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley is the joint favorite to win the Papal election according to Italy’s paper of record, Corriere della Sera – and their readers’ pick.