The deputy prime minister Winston Peters says that abortion law reform was not part of New Zealand First’s 2017 election campaign. “You should pay attention to other parties’ policies. I know what their policy is,” he said referring to Labour’s election campaign. “They campaigned on it. We didn’t,” Peters told Sky News on Thursday morning. He also Read more
Leaders from Bougainville and Papua New Guinea have finally agreed to the question that will be asked in next year’s independence referendum. The referendum – tentatively scheduled for next June – will mark the end of a 20-year peace process that followed the end of the Bougainville civil war in the 1990s. The people of Read more
Church leaders from Papua New Guinea led by Cardinal John Ribat the Archbishop of Port Moresby arrived in Buka on Tuesday. They were on a fact-finding mission to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville ahead of next year’s planned vote on possible independence. The aim of the mission was to understand the role churches could play Read more
The Catholic Church in Ireland needs a “reality check”, the Archbishop of Dublin said, in the wake of an overwhelming referendum vote for same-sex marriage. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin also said the Church needs to ask itself if it has drifted away from young people. In the referendum on May 22, voters were asked if they Read more
Ireland’s former president, Mary McAleese, has spoken of her son as a devout young Catholic who was made to feel lonely and was bullied because he was gay. Mrs McAleese said her son Justin was a “willing and happy” altar boy and an enthusiastic member of his local Catholic youth club. But he went through Read more
The Archbishop of Dublin says society could cherish gay people’s rights and relationships, while respecting the uniqueness of the male-female relationship. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin was speaking to a group of diocesan communications officers, ahead of Ireland’s referendum on legal same-sex marriage on May 22. “There can be an ethic of equality which is an ethic Read more
Ireland’s Catholic bishops have warned that the Church may no longer perform the civil aspects of weddings if same-sex marriage is legalised. Ireland is to have a referendum on legal same-sex marriage next month. If the bishops’ warning comes to pass, it would mean couples married in the Catholic Church in Ireland would have to Read more
The Archbishop of Dublin has condemned intemperate language that is sometimes used about gays and lesbians as “obnoxious” and “unchristian”. Speaking at a meeting of the Iona Institute, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said much of the discussion on marriage and family in Ireland today is polemical. The archbishop referred to some correspondence he has received in the Read more
Voters in the Irish Republic will decide whether or not to approve legal same-sex marriage in a referendum on May 22. In announcing the date, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the referendum would underline Ireland’s reputation as a tolerant and inclusive nation. Mr Kenny said that most members of the Irish Parliament were in favour of Read more
Support from Catholics in Scotland could swing the upcoming referendum in favour of independence from Britain, a Scottish academic says. Writing in The Times, Professor Sir Tom Devine of Edinburgh University noted that, historically, Catholics in Scotland have not favoured devolution. This was because they were sceptical about the Presbyterian majority using devolution to gain Read more