CNA Staff, May 18, 2021 / 14:00 pm (CNA).
George Weigel lauded John Paul II as “a man of God, a brilliant analyst of the human condition, and a thoroughly lovable human being” on the 101st anniversary of the saint’s birth.
Marking the May 18 anniversary, the papal biographer said that the pope’s teaching remained relevant more than a century after his birth in Wadowice, Poland.
“John Paul II understood that the Great Issue for the future of humanity in the 21st century and beyond was the concept of the human person that would shape culture and society,” said the author of “Witness to Hope,” a monumental biography of the Polish pope issued in 1999.
Fresh thinking on National Maternity Hospital impasse vital Influence of ethos and lack of clear State ownership are factors that do not serve women well
Wed, May 5, 2021, 01:00 Peter Boylan
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said no religious ethos can be imposed at the planned new maternity hospital at Elm Park that would impact on services under any circumstances. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
It is eight years since the project to co-locate the new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) at the Elm Park campus of St Vincent’s hospital was announced. Four years ago, a wave of public outrage followed the realisation, after years of dispute and mediation, that the new NMH would be owned 100 per cent by the Religious Sisters of Charity, then and still today the sole shareholders of St Vincent’s Healthcare Group (SVHG).
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Three Government TDs have joined a cross-party Oireachtas group to secure state ownership of the National Maternity Hospital from the Religious Sisters of Charity.
The religious order has transferred ownership of the hospital to a new company but the new lobby group wants a guarantee that the company will be free from Catholic influence.
Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan is a member of the group and says there needs to be clarity around the issue.
Fianna Fáil’s John Lahart and Fine Gael TD Jennifer Carroll MacNeill make up the other two members.
Deputy Hourigan told
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On
Newstalk Breakfast this morning, the Master of the National Maternity Hospital (NMH) Professor Shane Higgins said the decision was ‘welcome and responsible.’
“We know, the evidence is mounting now that pregnant women are at greater risk, particularly in the third trimester, if they do get COVID, of more serious symptoms,” he said.
“There is the risk of pre-term birth and we saw a cluster of cases earlier this year of stillbirths within that population.”
Blanket 100%
Asked whether all women who are advised by their doctors to take the vaccine should do so, he replied: “I think it is a blanket 100%.”