During the meeting, Prime Minister Albanese formally invited Pope Leo XIV to visit Australia in 2028 for the International Eucharistic Congress, set to be hosted in Sydney.
In the second of a two-part series for The Record, Irish professor Dr Eamon Con-way from the University of Notre Dame Australia gives an insight into the up-coming pontificate of Pope Leo XIV.
Less than 48 hours after his election, Pope Leo XIV made a humble pilgrimage – riding in a minivan to a Marian shrine outside Rome and stopping at St Mary Major to pray at Pope Francis’s tomb and before the icon of Mary, Salus Populi Romani.
In a festive St Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV led his first Regina Coeli, urging prayers for vocations, peace in Ukraine and Gaza, and honoring Mother’s Day with warm wishes to all mothers. Entrusting it all to Mary, Queen of Peace, he renewed the plea: “Never again war.”
In his first address to the College of Cardinals, Pope Leo XIV called the Catholic Church alive, beautiful, and strong, urging renewed commitment to Evangelii Gaudium and modern Catholic social teaching — especially in the face of AI and today’s evolving world.