Catholic Health Australia has welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to ensure personal care minutes delivered by religious sisters in aged care homes are formally recognised and count towards mandated targets. The Department of Health, Ageing and Disability has updated the definition of a Personal Care Worker to include a person who is a member of a religious order, such as a nun or re...

By Courtney Mares, OSV News The ancient practice of fasting from food during Lent can free us from complacency and lead us to "hunger" for God, Pope Leo XIV said in his 2026 Lenten message. Ahead of Ash Wednesday, which marks the start of the 40-day liturgical season of Lent, the Holy Father encouraged people to embrace the "ancient ascetic practice" of abstaining from food, as well as "...

An invitation to listen and to act. Image: Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. Australia’s Catholic bishops have urged courage and tenderness in addressing the nation’s cost-of-living crisis in their latest social justice statement, The Cost of our Living: Economic and Social Justice for the Common Good. “Across Australia, many of our sisters and brothers are burdened by the rising c...

The compassion of the Samaritan: loving by bearing another’s pain. That was the theme - drawn from the parable of the Good Samaritan - that Pope Leo XIV selected for the 34th World Day of the Sick which was celebrated on February 11. In his message to commemorate the day, Pope Leo said, “we live immersed in a culture of speed, immediacy and haste - a culture of ‘discard’ and indifference...

Pope Leo XIV catches a cloth doll thrown by a visitor as he rides in the popemobile following his second weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican on 28 May 2025. Photo: CNS/Lola Gomez. By Cindy Wooden Being religious does not automatically mean someone is compassionate, and yet for a Christian, compassion is a clear sign of following Christ, Pope Leo XIV said. "Befo...