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...

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 ...

By Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service Pope Francis gives the homily as he celebrates Mass marking World Day of the Poor in St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Sunday 14 November, 2021. Photo: CNS/Remo Casilli, Reuters. The gift of hope becomes tangible in people's lives through concrete actions that seek to relieve the suffering of the poor and console the downtrodden, Pope Fr...

Blessed Charles de Foucauld will finally be canonised 15 May 2022, the Vatican announced on 9 November. Along with Blessed de Foucauld, the spring ceremony will see the canonisation of the Indian martyr Devasahayam Pillai and five founders of religious orders.

“I am sure that all of those who went with goodwill (to war), called by their country to defend it, are with the Lord,” Pope Francis said, celebrating Mass on the feast of All Souls, on Tuesday 2 November at the French Military Cemetery in Rome.

Pope Francis left the Vatican in the morning to attend the general chapter, which was held in Rome from 11 Sept to 24 Oct. The theme of the assembly was “Generative Communities of Life in the Heart of Contemporaneity.”

The Synod Office, the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network and the Women’s International Union of Superiors General have joined forces not only to encourage prayers, but to collect them, share them using an updated version of Click to Pray, an app and website run by the prayer network – www.prayforthesynod.va.

Australian lay woman Susan Pascoe AM, who been assisting in the process of the current Synod of Bishops, says the Church in Australia has been a key supporter of the Synod.

The official logo for the Synod of Bishops. Image: CNS. Dioceses across Australia will this weekend hold launches to mark the commencement of local participation in the two-year journey towards the 2023 Synod of Bishops. Last Sunday, Pope Francis celebrated a Mass to launch the global process for the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which has the theme “For a Synoda...