By Clare Pike  Missionaries of the Gospel foundress The charism and spirituality of John Paul II is beginning to grow and blossom within a new community in Perth called the Missionaries of the Gospel. A nun holds a rosary and picture of Pope John Paul II during a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 2 marking the third anniversary of Pope...

By Anthony Barich Pope Benedict XVI will be spend his three-day holiday prior to World Youth Day in a tranquil Opus Dei-run centre surrounded by wombats, frilled-neck lizards and euchalyptus trees. Close to nature: This quiet and secluded retreat at Kenthurst north-west of Sydney is where Pope Benedict will rest before plunging into WYD activities. while there he will be as close as he ...

Here is the text of Pope Benedict XVI's remarks at the April 19 rally with seminarians and young people at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, NewYork.   Pope Benedict XVI spreads his arms in greeting at St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers where he met with young people with disabilities and attended a youth rally. Photo: CNS   Your eminence, dear brother bishops, dea...

Anthony Barich A new website linking international pilgrims with Australian Catholics as they prepare for World Youth Day 2008 was launched on May 24 by Cardinal George Pell at an Hispanic party in Sydney. The website, www.ybenedict.org, is an initiative of the Australian Catholic Students Association and is now publishing daily pilgrim-news in English and Spanish for the final 50...

By Paul Gray The day after Joseph Ratzinger’s election as Pope Benedict XVI, Melbourne author and theologian Tracey Rowland received a startling email from one of the world’s most prestigious publishers. Tracey Rowland They wanted her to write a book on Karl Rahner, the influential Jesuit theologian who was leader of one of the “progressive” factions at the ...

By John Thavis VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Pope Benedict XVI said the Church must bring the "Gospel of mercy" to those involved in abortion and divorce, showing sensitivity to the inner burdens they bear. Pope Benedict XVI has told an international conference on the aftermath of abortion and divorce that the Church must show the 'Gospel of mercy' to children involved. Photo: CNS ...

Pope, honouring 20th-century martyrs, says love is stronger than death. For others: Pope Benedict XVI talks with Sant’Egidio Community founder Andrea Riccardi at St Bartholomew Basilica in Rome on the community’s 40th anniversary on April 7. Photo: CNS/Alessia Giuliani, Catholic Press ROME (CNS) - Even in the darkest situations of violence and oppression, the power o...

By Cindy Wooden and Benedicta Cipolla UNITED NATIONS (CNS) - Neither government nor religion has a right to change or limit human rights, because those rights flow from the dignity of each person created in God's image, Pope Benedict XVI said. Pope Benedict XVI addresses the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York on April 18. Photo: CNS/Brendan McDermid, R...

Your Eminence, Dear Brother Bishops, Dear Young Friends, “Proclaim the Lord Christ  and always have your answer ready for people who ask the reason for the hope that is within you” (1 Pet 3:15). With these words from the First Letter of Peter I greet each of you with heartfelt affection. I thank Cardinal Egan for his kind words of welcome and I also thank the representativ...

- With fewer and fewer Catholics going to confession, Pope Benedict XVI urged priests and seminarians to make the sacrament of penance a time for sinners to feel God's merciful love. "Sin does not lie at the heart of the sacramental celebration, but rather God's mercy, which is infinitely greater than each of our faults," he said March 7. The pope spoke to about 700...