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...

Speaking in an opinion column published in The Australian this week, Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB highlighted that the fragile ceasefire of Israel and Hamas offers some hope that the worst of the violence might be behind us, but the repercussions from the horrors of 7 October will continue to play out for many years.