What Ireland’s EU Presidency Means for Justice
Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union began yesterday, 1 July 2026. The Presidency rotates among the 27 member states every six months, giving each country the opportunity to help steer the Council's work, set meeting agendas and move...
What the Machine Cannot Hold
A Reflection on Magnifica Humanitas and the deeper question There are conversations that take place at altitude. The air is thin, the view is long, and the language moves in ways that most of the world does not recognise. Sr Ilia Delio’s response to Pope Leo...
Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo’s Encyclical on AI, is Published
Pope Leo XIV published his first social encyclical yesterday, 25 May 2026. It was signed on 15 May, the 135th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, through which Leo XIII laid the foundations of the Church's social teaching in 1891, and the timing is deliberate....
Pope Leo XIV’s First Encyclical Will Address AI and Human Dignity
Pope Leo XIV will personally present his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, at the Vatican's Synod Hall on 25 May. The document takes as its subject the protection of human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence, and its publication has been anticipated...
A Small Corner of a Widening War
The war in the Middle East has widened. Iran is now part of it, and the region that was already exhausted has lurched further into uncertainty. Sr Paoula Mourad is from Lebanon. She has been in Ireland for several months now, working on the OLA Justice Desk, and she...
How We Choose to See One Another
History is not only about the past. It also shapes the way we see one another today. A ship sets sail from the African coast. Below deck, hundreds of men, women and children are chained together in darkness, pressed side by side on wooden planks. They cannot stand....
Peace Begins with Dignity: St Bakhita’s Day 2026
St Josephine Bakhita understood what it is to be treated as property. Kidnapped as a child and sold into slavery, she lived through years of degradation that tried to erase her personhood. Her feast day exists because we refuse to look away from what was done to her,...
Why the G20 Matters in a Time of Global Uncertainty
The 2025 G20 Summit opens in Johannesburg tomorrow at a time when the world feels unsettled in ways that touch every household and every community. Polarisation is shaping how nations relate to one another. Conflicts are shifting long-held alliances. Many families are...
Dignity and Justice: Ending Poverty Together
“The Lord hears the cry of the poor.” (Psalm 34:6) On 17 October, we mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. This is more than a symbolic date: it calls us to confront not only the lack of resources but the deeper injustices faced by those living in...
Holding Earth in Our Hands
The first of September approaches without fanfare. In Ireland, the mornings are cooling now. The fields tilt towards harvest. Leaves will soon begin to loosen their hold. Across Africa, the earth tells a different story. One of parched soil, of rains that do...