The Vatican announced that Pope Francis sent more than 100 000 euros ($113 868) for the relief of the population, in relief aid to the Philippines after typhoon Rai struck in December. The pope also will send 100 000 euros to help migrants stranded on the border of Belarus and Poland and to Caritas Poland, which has been working to assist them. By Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service.

“What is Christmas? Is it a tree? A statue of a baby with a woman and a man nearby? Yes, it is Jesus, the birth of Jesus,” he said, so “stop for a bit and think of Christmas as a message, a message of peace.”

Anyone who has followed the pontificate of Pope Francis will know that he consistently encourages the young to learn from their elders and to remember their roots.

Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, Archbishop Arthur Roche has this week released a letter saying Catholic men and women formally installed in the new ministry of catechists are not simply religious education teachers but are engaged in “the proclamation and transmission of the faith”.

Pope Francis greets people as he leaves an ecumenical prayer with migrants in the Church of the Holy Cross in Nicosia, Cyprus, Dec. 3, 2021. During his trip, Pope Francis continued to hone his teaching on migration, appealing for action but also acknowledging that not every country can accept all newcomers. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) Spending a bit of time with young people before leaving Gre...

Palms Australia volunteers viewing an Indigenous map. Over 1550 Australians, at 103 Orientation Courses, have been prepared to engage in these challenging cross-cultural relationships to build understanding, acceptance, and care, and provide the assistance requested, across 41 countries in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. Photo: Supplied. A concept of Pope Francis expressed in “Fratelli Tutti...

St Mary’s Cathedral was lit red in support of Red Wednesday on 24 November. Photo: Ron Tan. St Mary’s Cathedral was last week lit up red in support of Red Wednesday, in unison with hundreds of cathedrals, churches, monuments and public buildings around the world Celebrated on 24 November as part of an international campaign, Red Wednesday aims to raise awareness of the persecution of Ch...

Adelaide Archbishop Patrick O’Regan and Sandhurst Bishop Shane Mackinlay have been elected Australia’s two delegates to the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, to be held in 2023. The delegates were confirmed during the recent plenary meeting of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. In March 2020, Pope Francis announced that the theme of the next Synod of Bishops would be “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission”. The Holy Father launched the international journey towards the celebration of the Synod in October this year, with local launches and a diocesan consultation phase commencing soon after. That local engagement will support the preparation of national syntheses, which will be followed by continental meetings. Australia’s bishops will collaborate […]

By Carol Glatz Pope Francis is pictured with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople during a meeting at the Vatican in this 26 May 2018, file photo. The Holy Father sent a message to Patriarch Bartholomew on the feast of St Andrew, patron saint of the church of Constantinople and the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Photo: CNS/Paul Haring) Catholics and Orthodox Christians must incre...

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Pope Francis speaks in this still frame from a video message to the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture at the Vatican Nov. 23, 2021. The pope encouraged the council in its exploration of the question, "What does it mean to be human?" (CNS/Vatican Media) The classical Christian understanding of what it means to be human provides a ...