Tags: Catholic Church
Labour MPs look at applying Catholic social teaching to public policy
Posted: Tue, 26 Sep 2017
Eight MPs have launched a group calling on their party to "explore and supply" the application of Catholic social teaching to public policy. Read More »
Catholic Church backs down on ‘faith certificates’ for pupils
Posted: Thu, 08 Jun 2017
The Catholic Church has dropped plans to take the Government to court in order to give priests the right to arbitrarily determine whether pupils are eligible for a school place on the basis of faith. Read More »
New poll finds huge opposition to Government’s plans for more discriminatory faith schools
Posted: Tue, 30 May 2017
Government plans to allow new faith schools to discriminate on religious grounds by selecting all of their pupils on the basis of faith have attracted mass public opposition, a poll has found. Read More »
Taxpayer-funded Catholic schools should only be for Catholics, says Archbishop of Liverpool
Posted: Thu, 04 May 2017
Archbishop Malcolm McMahon has said that Catholic schools "are different" and "for the Catholic community", despite their being funded by all taxpayers. Read More »
New call for mandatory reporting after Catholic Church in Australia admits “devastating” scale of child abuse
Posted: Wed, 19 Apr 2017
Five secularist organisations, including the NSS, have called for the Catholic Church to take real action to ensure justice for victims of clerical child abuse. Read More »
Ireland sees 73% increase in number of non-believers
Posted: Thu, 06 Apr 2017
Census figures released by the Irish Central Statistics Office show a huge increase in the number of non-believers, as the number of self-identified Catholics continued to drop. Read More »
MP calls for Scotland to embrace a secular education system
Posted: Mon, 13 Mar 2017
Tommy Sheppard MP has called for Scotland to move towards a secular education system and expressed his hope that secularist campaigners can "chip away" at religion's role in state schools. Read More »
Final survivor resigns from Pope’s commission on clerical abuse of minors
Posted: Fri, 03 Mar 2017
The last remaining survivor of clerical abuse on the Pontifical Commission for Protection of Minors, Marie Collins, has resigned from it "to maintain [her] integrity". Read More »
Secular schools ‘more appropriate than faith schools’ in diverse Britain
Posted: Mon, 06 Feb 2017
Pupils from Muslim backgrounds outnumber those from Christian families in more than 30 Church of England faith schools, according to a report in the Times. Read More »
Government refuses to review discrimination against teachers in faith schools
Posted: Thu, 15 Dec 2016
The NSS has criticised the Government for refusing to accept a recommendation from the EHRC to review the law which permits faith schools to discriminate against teachers on religious grounds. Read More »
Catholic education charity faces inquiry over handling of child abuse claims
Posted: Wed, 14 Dec 2016
A statutory inquiry has been opened by the Charity Commission into the St Laurence Education Trust and Ampleforth Abbey, over the Catholic charities' handling of sexual abuse allegations. Read More »
‘Catholic certificate’ breaches admissions rules, says Schools Adjudicator
Posted: Fri, 18 Nov 2016
The Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) has upheld several complaints against a "Certificate of Catholic Practice" (CCP) required for school admissions. Read More »
Holy See ratification of UN Convention against Corruption dismissed as “window dressing”
Posted: Tue, 27 Sep 2016
The Holy See's ratification of the United Nations Convention against Corruption has been dismissed as mere "window dressing" by the National Secular Society. Read More »
Abuse case dismissed despite Cardinal admitting ‘mistakes’
Posted: Thu, 04 Aug 2016
Cardinal Philippe Barbarin has been told by the prosecutor that he will not face charges following allegations that he had failed to report suspicions of child abuse by a priest under his control, as is required by French law. Read More »
Parents protest against religious discrimination in Irish schools
Posted: Mon, 04 Jul 2016
Irish parents demonstrated over the weekend for reform to the country's school admissions – in an education landscape still dominated by the Catholic Church. Read More »
Sex abuse victims doubt Pope’s decree on negligent bishops
Posted: Tue, 07 Jun 2016
A new decree issued by Pope Francis under which bishops can be removed from office over negligence involving abuse of minors or vulnerable adults has been greeted with cynicism by the NSS and a victim support group. Read More »
Fugitive London priest arrested in Kosovo over child abuse allegations
Posted: Mon, 16 May 2016
A top Benedictine monk who has been accused of child abuse has been arrested after five years on the run. Read More »
NSS urges Government to fix the date for Easter now, not wait indefinitely for religious consensus
Posted: Wed, 23 Mar 2016
The NSS has urged the Government to fix the date for the Easter public holiday – warning that religious consensus is likely to take decades and may even be impossible. Read More »
Vatican officials face prosecution in France over failure to report sex abuse priest to police
Posted: Tue, 08 Mar 2016
Senior Vatican officials are facing investigation in France over the "non-reporting of crime" and endangering lives, following allegations that clerical sex abuse was not reported to the police. Read More »
Religious rules in US Catholic hospitals putting female patients in danger
Posted: Tue, 23 Feb 2016
A report leaked to the Guardian has exposed extraordinary risks taken with the health of female patients by forcing them to undergo unsafe miscarriages. Read More »
