Meeting Pope Francis on 28 November, Relator General of the Synod, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxemborg, said the synod process has faced “temptations” along the way. Particularly in the media, he said, there is a temptation to politicise the church, looking at it “with the logic of politics.”
Meeting some 600 schoolchildren, teens and their teachers, Pope Francis said he wanted to draw the students’ attention to two important witnesses to peace: St John and Rev King.
Perth has last month been host to special guests from Aid to the Church in Need, with National Director, Bernard Toutounji thanking benefactors for their support and discussing current projects.
Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Mykola Bychok CSsR has last month given an update on the situation in Ukraine during the plenary meeting of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, requesting that bishops hold a special collection to “support refugees and people in Ukraine during this winter, which will be the most challenging for our country for decades of independence”.
Thousands of people from all over the world who live and work in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries came by bus or car to the huge stadium in Awali for the Mass, Saturday 5 November.
Pope Francis thanked all those present for their “gentle and joyful witness to fraternity, for your being seeds of love and peace in this land.”
In their first private one-on-one conversation, Perth Archbishop and President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, the Most Reverend Timothy Costelloe SDB, told Pope Francis, “The church in Australia is alive!”
America Magazine journalist Gerard O’Connell recently spoke with Archbishop Costelloe via zoom.
Pope Francis has recently personally expressed his thanks to the four dozen people who read through hundreds of reports about the listening phase of the Synod of Bishops.
Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, was in Rome for the occasion, which included reviewing the 112 syntheses submitted by national bishops’ conferences from around the world, as well as syntheses from the Eastern Catholic churches, religious orders, church organisations and movements, offices of the Roman Curia and individuals.
A hyper-realistic, volumetric artwork of the body of Christ as revealed on the Shroud of Turin is on display at the Cathedral of Salamanca, as part of a “pilgrim” exhibition visiting five continents.
Prayer is medicine for one’s faith and it reinvigorates the soul, Pope Francis said.
It is the remedy to rekindle this “tepid faith.”