Advertisement The Margaret Beaufort Institute of TheologyThe Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology Would you like to advertise on ICN? Click to learn more.

Latest News


Gospel in Art: Memorial of Saint Calistus, Pope Martyr

The Crypt of the Popes, 150-308AD, discovered 1854 by archaeologist Giovanni Battista de Rossi. © Christian Art

Gospel of 14 October 2025 Luke 11:37-41 At that time: While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. And the Lord said to him, 'Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who... Read More


WCC welcomes release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners

File Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev Prof Dr Jerry Pillay welcomed the news on Monday 13 October, of the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners. "We join their families and communities in celebrating their return to their loved ones, and the end of this painful separation and period of acute uncertainty," said Pillay. "We welcome the fulfilment of this first step on... Read More


Gaza peace marchers: 'the conscience our country needs'

Image: ICN/JS

Neha Shah, vice-chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, hailed the 'largest protest movement in British History', as hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets of central London on Saturday, to mark two years since the start of the Israeli invasion of Gaza. An estimated 600,000 people bearing flags and banners (often with arresting and witty art) marched from the Embankment to Whi... Read More


Prayers before the 32nd National March for Palestine

The Christian Bloc

More than half a million people took part in Saturday's march for Gaza - the 32nd National March since 7 October. The Christian bloc gathered for prayers before the march at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church in Shaftsbury Avenue, (where Martin Luther King Jr gave his his first sermon in the UK in 1961.) Prayers led by Rev Helen Burnett, CoE Vicar in Chardon, Southwark Diocese. Naomi Orrell from th... Read More

Iraq: 'I have found my home' says young refugee on his graduation day

Yohana Al-Zebbaree Image: CUE

Despite being driven from his home by jihadists as a child and living a rudderless life as a refugee, a young man thanked a Catholic charity in front of hundreds of people for giving him direction - by providing a university scholarship. As a child Yohana Yaqoob Abdeesh Al-Zeebaree lived in the northern Iraqi city of Duhok in 2014, when jihadists from Daesh (ISIS) overran the Nineveh Plains and be... Read More


Interfaith Peace Award for Ann Farr

Ann Farr

Sunday, 12 October, marked the start of the World Week of Prayer for Peace, originally a Christian event started in 1974 and now open to all faith traditions. Resources are produced each year to help communities come together and pray and reflect on making peace, in the spirit of its original Chair Dr Edward Carpenter, former Dean of Westminster Abbey: 'The peace of the world must be prayed for by... Read More


Blessed Natalia Tulasiewicz

Bl Natalia Tułasiewicz

What hope is there when your country is invaded? What hope is there when you and your family are thrown out of their home by the invading army? What hope is there when you are sent to a forced labour factory? What hope is there when you are arrested and then brutally interrogated for providing help and spiritual comfort to your fellow forced labour workers? What hope is there when you face executi... Read More


Gospel in Art: Feast of Saint Edward the Confessor, King

Richard II presented to the Virgin and Child by his Patron Saint John the Baptist and Saints Edward and Edmund (The Wilton Diptych),  Unattributed,  Made for Richard II, King of England 1377 - 1399  © The National Gallery, London

Gospel of 13 October 2025 Matthew 5:1-12a At that time: Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are ... Read More


Book Launch: Christopher White on Pope Leo XIV

The election of Pope Leo XIV signals a defining moment for the Catholic Church. As he steps onto the world stage, the first pontiff ever to hail from the United States inherits the throne of St Peter, the legacy of Pope Francis, and the challenges of a rapidly changing Church. In Pope Leo XIV, veteran Vatican National Catholic Reporter correspondent Christopher White delivers an authoritative acco... Read More


JPIC Conference: Transforming Global Finance for Development

Group two at the conference

During Good Money Week (6 - 12 October) Sixteen religious, associates and friends met at the FCJ Spirituality and eco-justice centre in Euston, London, together with seven participants who joined via zoom, for the JPIC Links conference: 'Changing futures' (Transforming Global Finance for Development) The day was held just after the Jubilee of Consecrated Life which Pope Leo XIV celebrated with th... Read More


Archbishop Martin prays for the 'unfinished work' of peace in the world on St Oliver Plunkett's anniversary

Archbishop Martin welcomes group from Co Meath, for the special Mass in St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh.  Image: CCO archive

Archbishop Eamon Martin celebrated Mass today to mark the 400th anniversary of the birth of Saint Oliver Plunkett, and fifty years since the canonisation of the martyred saint, in 1975, by Pope Paul VI. During today's homily Archbishop Martin said: "I am praying these days through the intercession of Saint Oliver Plunkett" - for success of the Middle East's fragile peace agreement, that hostages ... Read More


Cardinal calls faithful to pray for peace in the Holy Land

Cardinal Vincent at the Eucharistic Festival

Catholics from around the world have taken up Pope Leo's call to come together to pray the Rosary for peace in the world's conflict zones with a particular focus on an end to the war in Gaza. In the Church's calendar, October is dedicated to the Rosary. In Rome, the weekend of 11-12 October marked the celebration of the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality. Closer to home, Cardinal Vincent Nichols led ... Read More


Ireland: Over 15,000 children pray Rosary for peace

Image ACN Ireland

Brandon Scott from ACN Ireland writes: Aid to the Church in Need Ireland reached a special milestone this week as for the first time ever more than 15,000 Irish children came together in a prayerful plea for peace in for world. From Belfast to Cork, Derry to Dublin, Irish schools united to pray for peace in a world currently scarred by conflict and bitterness. In almost every corner of the country... Read More


Holy See at UN: Build peace through development, not military spending

Archbishop Caccia

Archbishop Caccia, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, summarized the paradox of our times when he told UN on Friday: "for every dollar spent on peace, two are spent on war; resources meant for life continue to be outpaced by those used for destruction." "The vision of multilateralism for the common good is at odds with the current context of rising military expenditure and f... Read More

Mobile Menu Toggle Icon