Ryanair booking

I am writing hoping that Ryanair or someone can help me with a problem I have been encountering lately with bookings with the said airline.  

I used Ryanair last June and found it excellent. Lately, I tried looking for another flight and found one. I opted for the basic fare, chose my seat at an extra €8 and went on to checkout. However, a pop-up appeared asking  me to add fast track, which I did not want or need.

Customer care seems to be non-existent at Ryanair. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

There was no way of closing the pop-up and continuing. I repeated the process and even tried the other options.

The only way I could continue to checkout was by choosing the most expensive option, Flexiplus (an additional €200 compared to basic). I did not complete the payment.

Why should I pay for bags and services I do not need?

Why should I be forced to opt for Flexiplus when there were three other less expensive options?

I decided to get help thinking, maybe, I was doing something wrong although I couldn’t see how and I tried over and over again on different occasions.

Anyway, I repeatedly wrote to Ryanair – all to no avail. I never received an answer. Customer service was non-existent.

Is this how Ryanair hopes to increase the number of passengers?

Joe Falzon – Qala

Married clergy

Earlier this year, The Guardian reported the following: “Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, who is based in the Vatican’s doctrinal office and is an adviser to Pope Francis, said: ‘If it were up to me, I would revise the requirement that priests have to be celibate. Experience has shown me that this is something we need to seriously think about’” (The Guardian, January 8, 2024).

If it were up to me, I would point out that the Western Church already has a married clergy as expressed in Canon 277.1 of the Code. Married men, with the consent of their wives to accept apostolic continence, may be ordained deacon or priest. The analyst of this canon is Edward N. Peters, an American canon lawyer [see Studia canonica 39 (2005) 147-180. Ottawa, ON].

The canon provides both historical authenticity and marriage. If the priest had six children before his ordination, that would be plenty.

Scicluna is filled with compassion after seeing so much pain and tragedy during his work as Promoter of Justice in Rome.

If it were up to me, I would point out to all that the Protestant churches which have married clergy suffer as much or more pain and tragedy as we suffer.

Recently, I had a heart-to-heart talk with a married Methodist minister, an American. His wife and her sister are in agony if he accepts a new call “very far away” and they will be separated from any reasonable contact with their mother. It was a heart-breaking conversation, and I wish Archbishop Scicluna had been there to witness.

These are things we need seriously to think about.

Brian Van Hove, SJ – Black Jack Missouri, USA