Legislation for the Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy Bill which will allow abortions up to 12 weeks gestation is going through parliament

Church leaders in Ireland called on politicians to “weigh their words carefully” as initial negotiations for the UK to leave the EU drew to a close, writes Sarah Mac Donald.

The Association of Catholic Priests is pressing bishops for a national assembly to address the crisis in the Irish Church and to discuss reform.

A new group promoting church reform in a range of areas including sexuality, education and the role of women in the Church has been launched by a Dublin parish priest.

Parishes across Ireland have been asked to hold a fifth national collection this weekend in a bid to cover the €4 million deficit outstanding on August’s papal visit and the World Meeting of Families (WMF). The overall cost, to Church and state, of the 32-hour visit of Pope Francis is estimated at €32 million, including substantial security costs.

Catholic peer Baroness (Nuala) O’Loan has said she believes there will be women priests in the Catholic Church, and that the Church will change faster on this than many expect.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has spoken about the “surprising lack of real awareness in Rome” of the extent and nature of clerical sexual abuse in Ireland, in his address to the National Child Safeguarding Conference in Kilkenny

The leader of the Irish Church has accused Archbishop Carlo Mario Viganò of hijacking the World Meeting of Families in Dublin last August.

Oversubscribed Catholic schools in Ireland will be forbidden from selecting pupils based on their faith under new measures signed into law this week.

New poll figures released this week in Rome show a majority of practising Catholics in the world’s eight biggest Catholic countries want the Church to adopt a more positive approach towards LGBT people and to change its teaching in this area.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has lamented the growing “language of polarisation” within the Church which he warned can be “hate-filled”, “destructive” as well as “bitter, personalised and judgemental”.

Broadcaster and newspaper columnist Fr Brian D’Arcy has said the Church urgently needs to consider making clerical celibacy optional, as well as ordaining married men and women.

The Iona Institute has warned that incoming legislation on assisted human reproduction is likely to allow the words “mother” and “father” to be replaced on birth certificates by “parent one” and “parent two”.

On his recent visit to Ireland, Pope Francis gave a “clear signal” to priests that the Church needs a different format for Confession, according to Fr Brendan Hoban of the Association of Catholics.