DUBLIN, Ireland ― Today, Good Friday or the day of Christian pilgrimage, when pubs in Ireland are traditionally banned from serving liquor, many people will be making a secular pilgrimage to the city of Limerick. There, for the first time in nearly a century, all the city and suburban bars are being allowed to open for business. A judge lifted the prohibition on the sale of alcohol this Good Friday because of a rugby match between the provinces of Munster and Leinster that is expected to bring 26,000 thirsty fans to the city.

DUBLIN, Ireland — The ancient Ireland of the tourist guidebooks has its share of haunted castles and spooky old ruins. But in the modern Ireland of the post-boom years you are more likely to find ghost housing estates and zombie hotels.

DUBLIN, Ireland ― Pope Benedict XVI’s response to the clerical child abuse scandal in Ireland has been widely criticized as flawed for placing much of the blame for the abuse and cover-ups on secularism rather than church structures.

VATICAN CITY — The two Ratzinger brothers have always stood together. They were both ordained as Catholic priests the same day in the same small German town where they came of age. And they both rose up through the German hierarchy of the Catholic Church, with Joseph eventually joining the Roman Curia and elevated as Pope Benedict XVI, and his brother Georg Ratzinger named a Monsignor.