As the Perth Palm Sunday 2023 theme and promotional flyer highlighted, guests gathered to ‘Walk for Peace… against the horrors of war and persecution that forces people to flee their homes’.

Responding to an invitation from Geraldton Bishop Michael Morrissey, Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese, Archbishop Balvo described his time as one of ‘encounter’.

Speaking Wednesday 12 April, Pope Francis focused on the need for missionary disciples to be ready to set out and to be open to exploring new paths as they seek to share the Gospel through word and deed.

The celebration of Easter touches something very deep in most human beings, both those who are not especially religious and those who are. It is the hope that joy is more enduring than sorrow, that love is stronger than hatred, and that life is more powerful than death.

Archdiocese of Perth Aboriginal Catholic Ministry Director Donella Brown offered her reflection on the 2022 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Conference Assembly, highlighting that as people gathered on the first day, there was a collective sigh that at last, we were here gathering, renewing friendships, and carrying on the tradition of storytelling and celebrating our Catholic faith and Aboriginal Culture.

Ukrainian Catholics will now no longer celebrate Christmas on 7 January but join Roman Catholics on 25 December. The move follows resolutions ­promulgated by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk on 6 February.

“It’s all about recognising that we all have a part to play,” Archbishop Costelloe said, explaining that Pope Francis, throughout his pontificate, has been striving “to shift the Church’s culture to one of active engagement in this task of being the visible sign that Christ is with us.”

Secretary of the Vatican Dicastery for Legislative Texts, Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, said the updated document was based on four years of experience operating under the previous version, but the update also was needed to incorporate changes Pope Francis made in 2021 to the Code of Canon Law’s “Book VI: Penal Sanctions in the Church.”

Archbishop Costelloe has emerged as a leading figure in the church’s synodal reform process in Australia and globally. He was part of the Frascati team that synthesised the worldwide synodal dialogues and was recently appointed to the planning committee organising the synod assembly in October.

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference President and Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB says Pope Benedict XVI will long be remembered fondly in Australia as the Pontiff who led young people from around the globe in prayer at World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008.