Mary McAleese

Mary McAleese

Mary McAleese was president of Ireland from 1997 until 2011. She is a broadcaster, academic lawyer and has a licentiate and doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University. She has been a leading critic of Catholic teaching on women, homosexuality, human rights, children's rights, corporal punishment, church governance and episcopal accountability. She is the author of many Catholic articles and books, including Quo Vadis: Collegiality in the Code of Canon Law and Children’s Rights and Obligations in Catholic Church Canon Law (Brill 2019). 

By this Author

Anne Pezillo of the Women's Ordination Conference sends up "pink smoke" on the steps of Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral April 18, 2005, during a news conference protesting the exclusion of women from the conclave at the Vatican. The next day, cardinal electors chose Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as pope.

To reform Catholic Church, honor Christ's authority

Reports submitted to the Synod of Bishops 2023 reveal discontent with the traditional presumption of a passive people who "pray, pay and obey," writes canon lawyer and former president of Ireland Mary McAleese. 

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