Columba Books

This book started when The Irish Catholic launched a Fáilte Pope Francis competition to celebrate the World Meeting of Families and the expected visit of the Pope Francis in August 2018. The competition asked the children from all over the island of Ireland, aged 6 to 9, to draw a picture and write a letter of welcome addressed to Pope Francis.

Marist priest and theologian Fr Sean Fagan was widely admired and respected as a courageous theologian and compassionate pastor. For many years he was critical of rigid stances by the Vatican on issues of conscience and sexual morality. In 2003, he published the book Does Morality Change? for which he was censured by the Irish Catholic Bishops in 2004, and in 2008 Whatever Happened to Sin? He was first censured by Rome in 2008, and in 2010 was informed by the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) that he would be laicised should he publish anything it considered contrary to Church teaching, and should he disclose this censure to the media. In 2014, Pope Francis had all sanctions against the very ill Fr Fagan lifted, and he died in 2016. One of his last wishes expressed to his close friend Angela Hanley was “to spill the beans in public on what really went on, to shame our sinful church in the hope that it might prevent further repetitions”. This book is a fulfilment of that wish.