Bavarian cathedral recalls witch-hunt victims

A MEMORIAL plaque is to be installed in the Roman Catholic Eichstätt Cathedral, Bavaria, to commemorate the 400 people who were accused of witchcraft and tortured and killed in the city between the 15th and 18th centuries. The Bishop of Eichstätt, Dr Gregor Maria Hanke, described this aspect of history as a “bleeding wound in the history of our Church”. Campaigners have been calling on the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches to recognise officially the part that they played in the persecution of people accused of practising witchcraft. More than 50 towns have apologised since the campaign was started by a retired German Protestant pastor, Hartmut Hegeler, in 2011.

Pope appoints Archbishop of Dublin

THE next RC Archbishop of Dublin is to be the Most Revd Dr Dermot Farrell, at present the RC Bishop of Ossory. He was appointed by Pope Francis on Tuesday to succeed the Most Revd Diarmuid Martin, who retired on the same day. Dr Farrell will continue to administer the diocese of Ossory through a period of interregnum. He began his training for the priesthood at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, in 1972, and has degrees in science and divinity, and a licence in theology from the Pontifical University in Rome. Before his consecration in March 2018, he served for 11 years as a parish priest in County Meath.