An Post offers to send cards to the Vatican for free
The 88-year-old, who died on Easter Monday, has been dubbed by some as the "people's pope", having spoken out for the poor and those in need and shunned many of the extravagances that come with papal life.
Thousands have stood in line for hours, sometimes overnight, in St Peter's Square at the Vatican to pay their respects to the late pontiff.
Irish post offices had received queries from the public looking for advice about the correct address and stamp to use.
In response, Irish postal service An Post said it would offer the service for free and send cards to the Vatican in one batch in three weeks.
An Post said: "Cards may be posted to the following PO box for free until May 14 and An Post will ensure they are delivered directly to the Vatican: Cards to the Vatican, PO Box 13812, Freepost, Dublin 1."
On Thursday, Taoiseach Micheal Martin signed a book of condolence for Pope Francis at the residence of the Apostolic Nunciature in Dublin.
Books of condolences are also open at St Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin, Galway Cathedral, the Apparition Chapel in Knock, and St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh.
The Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference said an online book of condolences on its website had gathered 600 signatures.
"This outpouring of affection is a true reflection of the kind of leader that Pope Francis was – a man who united people from all walks of life around the world," it said.
St Patrick's Cathedral will hold a memorial mass at 7pm on Thursday, with Archbishop Eamon Martin as the chief celebrant.
Archbishop Martin, President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina, Taoiseach Mr Martin and Tanaiste Simon Harris are all expected to attend the Pope's funeral on Saturday at 9am Irish time.
Global leaders including British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also attend.
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Irish Independent
3 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Trump heads to Alaska summit with Putin, says he wants Ukraine ceasefire 'today'
Live | Trump to greet Putin at around 11 a.m. (19pm Irish time) Russian envoy describes pre-summit mood as 'combative' Russian source says it looks as though terms will be agreed Zelenskiy, not invited, says Ukraine is 'counting on America' Trump says the killing must stop Donald Trump said he wanted to see a ceasefire "today" as he headed to Alaska on Friday for a summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin to help end the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two. 2 minutes ago U.S. President Donald Trump waves while boarding Air Force One, as he departs for Alaska to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate for an end to the war in Ukraine, from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., August 15, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque 9 minutes ago Trump heads to Alaska summit with Putin, says he wants Ukraine ceasefire 'today Donald Trump said he wanted to see a ceasefire "today" as he headed to Alaska on Friday for a summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin to help end the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was not invited to the talks, and his European allies fear Trump might sell out Ukraine by essentially freezing the conflict and recognising - if only informally - Russian control over one fifth of Ukraine. Trump sought to assuage such concerns as he boarded Air Force One, saying he would let Ukraine decide on any possible territorial swaps. "I'm not here to negotiate for Ukraine, I'm here to get them at a table," he said. Asked what would make the meeting a success, he told reporters: "I want to see a ceasefire rapidly... I'm not going to be happy if it's not today... I want the killing to stop." The U.S. and Russian presidents are due to meet at a Cold War-era air force base in Alaska's largest city at around 11 a.m. (1900 GMT) for their first face-to-face talks since Trump returned to the White House. Trump hopes a truce in the 3-1/2-year-old war will bolster his credentials as a global peacemaker worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. For Putin, the summit is already a big win that he can portray as evidence that years of Western attempts to isolate Russia have unravelled and that Moscow is retaking its rightful place at the top table of international diplomacy. Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev described the pre-summit mood as "combative" and said the two leaders would discuss not only Ukraine but the full spectrum of bilateral relations, Russia's RIA news agency reported. Trump, who once said he would end Russia's war in Ukraine within 24 hours, conceded on Thursday it had proven a tougher task than he had expected. He said that if Friday's talks went well, quickly arranging a second, three-way summit with Zelenskiy would be even more important than his encounter with Putin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a three-way summit would be possible if the Alaska talks bore fruit, Interfax news agency reported. Peskov also said Friday's talks could last 6-7 hours and that aides would take part in what had been expected to be one-to-one meetings. Zelenskiy said the summit should open the way for a "just peace" and three-way talks that included him but added that Russia was continuing to wage war on Friday. A Russian ballistic missile earlier struck Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, killing one person and wounding another. "It's time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America," Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app. 'Smart guy' The Kremlin said Putin would arrive in Alaska at 11 a.m. (1900 GMT) and would be met at his plane by Trump. "He is a smart guy, been doing it for a long time but so have I... We get along, there's a good respect level on both sides," Trump said of Putin. He also welcomed Putin's decision to bring a lot of businesspeople with him to Alaska. "But they're not doing business until we get the war settled," he said, repeating a threat of "economically severe" consequences for Russia if the summit goes badly. One source acquainted with Kremlin thinking said there were signs that Moscow could be ready to strike a compromise on Ukraine given that Putin understood Russia's economic vulnerability and costs of continuing the war. Reuters has previously reported that Putin might be willing to freeze the conflict along the front lines, provided there was a legally binding pledge not to enlarge NATO eastwards and to lift some Western sanctions. NATO has said that Ukraine's future is in the alliance. Russia, whose war economy is showing signs of strain, is vulnerable to further U.S. sanctions - and Trump has threatened tariffs on buyers of Russian crude, primarily China and India. "For Putin, economic problems are secondary to goals, but he understands our vulnerability and costs," the Russian source said. Putin this week held out the prospect of something else he knows Trump wants - a new nuclear arms control accord to replace the last surviving one, which is due to expire next February. Common ground? The source familiar with Kremlin thinking said it looked as if the two sides had been able to find some common ground. "Apparently, some terms will be agreed upon... because Trump cannot be refused, and we are not in a position to refuse (due to sanctions pressure)," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity. Putin has said he is open to a full ceasefire but that issues of verification must first be sorted out. One compromise could be a truce in the air war. Zelenskiy has ruled out formally handing Moscow any territory and is also seeking a security guarantee backed by the United States. It is unclear how that guarantee could work. Ukrainians who spoke to Reuters in central Kyiv on Friday were not optimistic about the summit. "Nothing good will happen there, because war is war, it will not end. The territories - we're not going to give anything to anyone," said Tetiana Harkavenko, a 65-year-old cleaner. 10 minutes ago Russia's President Vladimir Putin listens to explanations as he visits a plant of Omega-Sea enterprise in the far eastern port city of Magadan on the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia, August 15, 2025. Sputnik/Alexey Nikolsky/Pool via REUTERS Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Magadan region's Governor Sergei Nosov as he visits the far eastern port city of Magadan on the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia, August 16, 2025. Sputnik/Alexey Nikolsky/Pool Russia's President Vladimir Putin listens to explanations as he visits a plant of Omega-Sea enterprise in the far eastern port city of Magadan on the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia, August 15, 2025. Sputnik/Alexey Nikolsky/Pool via REUTERS 14 minutes ago Zelenskiy says Russia continues attacking Ukraine ahead of summit President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday Russia was continuing to attack Ukraine ahead of a summitin Alaska between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, but its attempt to "show strength" with a new assault in the east had failed. "On the day of the negotiations, they also kill people. And that says a lot," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app. "The war continues. It continues precisely because there is no order, nor any indication that Moscow is preparing to end this war," he added. Earlier, Ukrainian regional officials said Russia had launched a ballistic missile into Dnipropetrovsk region in eastern Ukraine, killing one person and wounding at least one other, while a drone damaged civilian infrastructure and caused a fire in Sumy region in the northeast. The city of Dnipro is a logistics hub for Ukrainian forces, and the Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions border the combat zone and are regularly shelled by Russian forces. Ukraine said this week that small groups of Russian infantry had thrust some 10 kilometres (six miles) towards the main defensive line near the eastern town of Dobropillia, raising fears of a wider breakthrough that would further threaten key cities. However, officials said on Thursday that Ukrainian troops had managed to stabilise the battlefield in the area. Commenting on the matter on Friday, Zelenskiy said: "The Russian intention was to show strength ahead of Alaska but in fact, for the occupiers, this is ending with their destruction." Reuters 14 minutes ago Trump says 'nothing set in stone' on Putin meeting U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he did not know what would make his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin a success, saying he wanted to see a ceasefire. Asked what would make the meeting a success, he told reporters aboard Air Force One: "I can't tell you that. I don't know. There's nothing set in stone. I want certain things. I want a ceasefire." "I want to see a ceasefire rapidly... I'm not going to be happy if it's not today," he said, adding that Europe and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy would also be involved. "I want the killing to stop." Reuters Live Blog Software Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was not invited to the talks, and his European allies fear Trump might sell out Ukraine by essentially freezing the conflict and recognising - if only informally - Russian control over one fifth of Ukraine. Trump sought to assuage such concerns as he boarded Air Force One, saying he would let Ukraine decide on any possible territorial swaps. "I'm not here to negotiate for Ukraine, I'm here to get them at a table," he said. Asked what would make the meeting a success, he told reporters: "I want to see a ceasefire rapidly... I'm not going to be happy if it's not today... I want the killing to stop." The U.S. and Russian presidents are due to meet at a Cold War-era air force base in Alaska's largest city at around 11 a.m. (1900 GMT) for their first face-to-face talks since Trump returned to the White House. Trump hopes a truce in the 3-1/2-year-old war will bolster his credentials as a global peacemaker worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. For Putin, the summit is already a big win that he can portray as evidence that years of Western attempts to isolate Russia have unravelled and that Moscow is retaking its rightful place at the top table of international diplomacy. Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev described the pre-summit mood as "combative" and said the two leaders would discuss not only Ukraine but the full spectrum of bilateral relations, Russia's RIA news agency reported. Trump, who once said he would end Russia's war in Ukraine within 24 hours, conceded on Thursday it had proven a tougher task than he had expected. He said that if Friday's talks went well, quickly arranging a second, three-way summit with Zelenskiy would be even more important than his encounter with Putin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a three-way summit would be possible if the Alaska talks bore fruit, Interfax news agency reported. Peskov also said Friday's talks could last 6-7 hours and that aides would take part in what had been expected to be one-to-one meetings. Zelenskiy said the summit should open the way for a "just peace" and three-way talks that included him but added that Russia was continuing to wage war on Friday. A Russian ballistic missile earlier struck Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, killing one person and wounding another. "It's time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America," Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app. The Kremlin said Putin would arrive in Alaska at 11 a.m. (1900 GMT) and would be met at his plane by Trump. "He is a smart guy, been doing it for a long time but so have I... We get along, there's a good respect level on both sides," Trump said of Putin. He also welcomed Putin's decision to bring a lot of businesspeople with him to Alaska. "But they're not doing business until we get the war settled," he said, repeating a threat of "economically severe" consequences for Russia if the summit goes badly. One source acquainted with Kremlin thinking said there were signs that Moscow could be ready to strike a compromise on Ukraine given that Putin understood Russia's economic vulnerability and costs of continuing the war. Reuters has previously reported that Putin might be willing to freeze the conflict along the front lines, provided there was a legally binding pledge not to enlarge NATO eastwards and to lift some Western sanctions. NATO has said that Ukraine's future is in the alliance. Russia, whose war economy is showing signs of strain, is vulnerable to further U.S. sanctions - and Trump has threatened tariffs on buyers of Russian crude, primarily China and India. "For Putin, economic problems are secondary to goals, but he understands our vulnerability and costs," the Russian source said. Putin this week held out the prospect of something else he knows Trump wants - a new nuclear arms control accord to replace the last surviving one, which is due to expire next February. The source familiar with Kremlin thinking said it looked as if the two sides had been able to find some common ground. "Apparently, some terms will be agreed upon... because Trump cannot be refused, and we are not in a position to refuse (due to sanctions pressure)," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity. Putin has said he is open to a full ceasefire but that issues of verification must first be sorted out. One compromise could be a truce in the air war. Zelenskiy has ruled out formally handing Moscow any territory and is also seeking a security guarantee backed by the United States. It is unclear how that guarantee could work. Ukrainians who spoke to Reuters in central Kyiv on Friday were not optimistic about the summit. "Nothing good will happen there, because war is war, it will not end. The territories - we're not going to give anything to anyone," said Tetiana Harkavenko, a 65-year-old cleaner.
RTÉ News
3 hours ago
- RTÉ News
New compromise but no deal at plastic pollution talk
Countries trying to break the deadlock and strike a landmark global treaty on combating plastic pollution negotiated through the night on a last-minute revised proposal. The new draft, issued by the talks chair after the original deadline passed, contains more than 100 unresolved passages of text - but constitutes an "acceptable basis for negotiation", two sources from different governments said. However, several environmental NGOs said the new text still did not go far enough to protect human health and the environment. After three years of negotiations, nations wanting bold action to turn the tide on plastic rubbish were trying to build last-minute bridges with a group driven by oil-producing states. Talks chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso issued his revised draft text after countries from all corners shredded his previous version issued Wednesday, plunging the talks into disarray. The Ecuadoran diplomat spent in frantic negotiation with multiple regional groups, resulting in a new text that went some way towards appeasing both major blocs. The High Ambition Coalition, which includes the European Union, Britain and Canada, and many African and Latin American countries, wants to see language on reducing plastic production and the phasing out of toxic chemicals used in plastics. A cluster of mostly oil-producing states calling themselves the Like-Minded Group - including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia, Iran, and Malaysia - want the treaty to focus primarily on waste management. The new text "is far from what is needed to end plastic pollution," however, "it can be the springboard to get there, if we sharpen it in a next round", Panama's negotiator Juan Carlos Monterrey said. A diplomatic source from another country told AFP it was an "acceptable basis for negotiation". In search of 'middle ground' A total of 185 countries have been negotiating since 5 August at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva. Five previous rounds of talks over three years failed to land a treaty. One country's chief negotiator said the new draft felt like a "more balanced text - not too bad but not too good either". "At least it feels like the chair is listening. But many of us are asking what's going to be the next steps," they said. As for whether there was much movement from the Like-Minded Group, the negotiator said: "Nothing. It's the same ... I'm not so sure if there's momentum." The plastic pollution problem is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peaks, in the deepest ocean trench and scattered throughout almost every part of the human body. On current trends, annual production of fossil-fuel-based plastics will nearly triple by 2060 to 1.2 billion tonnes, while waste will exceed one billion tonnes, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. With 15 million tonnes of plastic dumped in the ocean every minute, French President Emmanuel Macron asked: "What are we waiting for to act?" "I urge all states gathered in Geneva to adopt an agreement that truly meets the scale of this environmental and public health emergency," he posted on X. "We need to have a coherent global treaty. We can't do it on our own," said Environment Minister Deborah Barasa of Kenya, a member of the High Ambition Coalition seeking aggressive action on plastic waste. Ms Barasa said that nations could strike a treaty now, then work out some of the finer details down the line. "We need to come to a middle ground," she said. IPEN, a global network aimed at limiting toxic chemicals, said the level of ambition in the new draft text "cannot become the new normal for these negotiations". And the World Wide Fund for Nature said: "Efforts to pull together a treaty that all parties will accept has amounted to a text so compromised, so inconsequential, it cannot hope to tackle the crisis in any meaningful way."
The Journal
3 hours ago
- The Journal
Trump will meet Putin 'at the plane' as Russian leader arrives for talks in Alaska
US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has insisted he will not be intimidated by Russian leader Vladimir Putin as the two meet in Alaska later today for high-stakes talks on the future of Ukraine. 'I am president, and he's not going to mess around with me,' Trump told reporters, adding he would know 'within minutes' whether the meeting would be a success. 'If it's a bad meeting, it'll end very quickly. If it's good, we're going to end up getting peace in the pretty near future.' Trump also shared a short post on his social media platform Truth Social ahead of his flight to Alaska, simply saying: 'HIGH STAKES!' Truth Social Truth Social The Kremlin has said that Putin is due to land in Alaska at 11am local time (7pm Irish time) and that Trump will meet him as he lands. Advertisement 'At exactly 11:00 local time (1900 GMT), the president is scheduled to land. President Trump will meet him at the plane,' the Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state media ahead of Putin's departure to Alaska. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was not invited to the talks, urged Trump to push Russia to halt its invasion. 'It is time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America,' he wrote on social media today. Trump said no agreement would be finalised without Zelenskyy's involvement and floated a three-way summit 'immediately afterwards' in Alaska. Trump also spoke on the phone today with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, the country's state media reported. The one-on-one meeting with Putin, his first in a Western country since launching the invasion in 2022, is taking place at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage. The talks are set to begin at 11.30am local time (7.30pm Irish time). Trump had boasted that he could end the war within 24 hours of returning to the White House in January. Related Reads Trump and Putin are meeting in Alaska today - what does each side want? Today's Russia-US Alaska summit puts the fate of Ukraine 'in Trump and Putin's hands' But his calls to Putin and intense pressure on Zelenskyy to accept concessions have failed to move the Russian leader, and Trump has warned of 'very severe consequences' if Putin keeps snubbing his overtures. Zelenskyy met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London to discuss the summit. Starmer vowed solidarity, a day after Zelenskyy received support from a number of European leaders at a conference in Berlin. Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged Putin to seize the 'opportunity' of a ceasefire. 'The goal must be a summit also attended by President Zelenskyy' where 'a ceasefire must be agreed', he said in a statement, adding that Trump 'can now take a major step toward peace'. Russia has made major gains on the ground ahead of the summit. Yesterday, Ukraine issued a mandatory evacuation of families with children from the eastern town of Druzhkivka and four nearby villages near an area where Russia made a swift breakthrough. Additional reporting from Andrew Walsh
