By Ralph Riegel
More than 300 same-sex marriages are expected to take place in the first fortnight after the new Marriage Equality Act comes into force.
Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald will today sign the commencement order, with the first

The Gay Catholic Priests' Blog
By Ralph Riegel
Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald will today sign the commencement order, with the first
The author of That Undeniable Longing: My Road To And From The Priesthood, Mark Tedesco, contacted me through this site and asked if he could send me a copy of his memoir in hopes I’d be able to review
The encounter took place in a non-descript room at the Vatican, and conversation stuck to regular diplomatic briefs. But for the parties involved on Tuesday morning, the meeting held
The synod on the family was closed before having been initiated. The possibility of a serious discussion with respect to homosexual people was already eliminated in the time of its preparation, when the church was not even able to scientifically

Deeply divided clerics at a landmark Vatican summit echoed the more inclusive tone of Pope Francis on Saturday, extending more welcoming language to divorced and gay Catholics but stopping short of calling for clear alterations in policy
By John-Henry Westen and Pete Baklinski
Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago — who is participating in the Synod of the Family at Pope Francis’ personal invitation — said at a press scrum in the Vatican press office this afternoon that
By Emmanuele Barbieri
Around a hundred people gathered at the Pilgrim Centre “Santa Teresa Couderc” in Rome, for the international conference entitled Ways of Love: Snapshots of Catholic Encounters With LGBT People and Their Families, sponsored by the “Global
By Cindy Wooden
Chicago Archbishop Blase J. Cupich told reporters that something his mother once said might give the Synod of Bishops a way to balance the need to affirm church teaching while reaching out to those who are struggling.
By Crispian Balmer

A bill to give legal recognition and protection to same-sex couples was presented to parliament on Wednesday, a significant milestone on Italy’s tortuous path to legalising civil unions.
Italy is the only major country in the West