What future for the Catholic Church in Ireland?

This month a document was sent to the Vatican from the Catholic Church in Ireland which was described as “explosive, life altering, dogma altering, church altering”.

The document demands changes in the church’s attitude to women, LGBTI+ people, those who are divorced or remarried, and single parents and calls for the removal of the mandatory celibacy rule for priests.

The so-called National Synthesis document was based on reports prepared by all 26 Catholic dioceses on the island of Ireland and is part of worldwide preparations in the Church for a Synod of Bishops called by Pope Francis for October of next year.

Can the Catholic Church in Ireland really change?

Listen | 20:05

Demands by Irish Catholics for major change in the church’s attitude to women, LGBTI+ people, those who are divorced or remarried, and single parents have been sent to Rome as part of a Vatican project to take the considerations of the faithful on board. But will the Church really change? Patsy McGarry is Religious Affairs Correspondent.

But are Irish voices likely to be heard in Rome? Will the document bring about significant change and will it be enough to arrest the decline of the church in Ireland?

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And what are other countries saying and doing?

Irish Times Religious Affairs Correspondent Patsy McGarry talks to In The News about the document, its significance and the state of the Catholic Church in Ireland today and what it might become in the future.