In their first private one-on-one conversation, Perth Archbishop and President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, the Most Reverend Timothy Costelloe SDB, told Pope Francis, “The church in Australia is alive!”
America Magazine journalist Gerard O’Connell recently spoke with Archbishop Costelloe via zoom.
Pope Francis has recently personally expressed his thanks to the four dozen people who read through hundreds of reports about the listening phase of the Synod of Bishops.
Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, was in Rome for the occasion, which included reviewing the 112 syntheses submitted by national bishops’ conferences from around the world, as well as syntheses from the Eastern Catholic churches, religious orders, church organisations and movements, offices of the Roman Curia and individuals.
Professor Father Eamonn Conway has last week provided a rich and stimulating address exploring how faith and integral human development intersect, and their importance in creating intellectually and spiritually developed people who live their lives authentically.
Prayer is medicine for one’s faith and it reinvigorates the soul, Pope Francis said.
It is the remedy to rekindle this “tepid faith.”
The Second Vatican Council was the universal Catholic Church’s response to God’s love and to Jesus’ command to feed his sheep, Pope Francis said, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the council’s opening.
The Fifth Plenary Council of Australia and the global Synod on Synodality were key discussion points for Australian Catholic Bishops Conference President and Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB and Pope Francis when they meet this week.
Continuing his series of talks about discernment, Pope Francis has this week said it is an important process for trying to understand “what is happening inside of us, our feelings and ideas, and we have to discern where (these things) come from, where they are taking me and what decision” needs to be made.
“Jesus is the truth, in a sense that is not only universal but also communal and personal; and the challenge is to live the search for truth today in the daily life of the church, of Christian communities,” the Holy Father said, Saturday 17 September while meeting with pilgrims from two Italian dioceses.