Since late August, the Holy Father has been using his general audience talks to explain the process of spiritual discernment according to the teaching of St Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits.

Meeting Pope Francis on 28 November, Relator General of the Synod, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxemborg, said the synod process has faced “temptations” along the way. Particularly in the media, he said, there is a temptation to politicise the church, looking at it “with the logic of politics.”

Meeting some 600 schoolchildren, teens and their teachers, Pope Francis said he wanted to draw the students’ attention to two important witnesses to peace: St John and Rev King.

Thousands of people from all over the world who live and work in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries came by bus or car to the huge stadium in Awali for the Mass, Saturday 5 November.
Pope Francis thanked all those present for their “gentle and joyful witness to fraternity, for your being seeds of love and peace in this land.”

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.

Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary-General of the Synod of Bishops, is pictured at the Vatican, 7 October 2019. Photo: CNS/IPA/Sipa USA via Reuters. The National Centre for Pastoral Research is inviting groups of seven to 10 people to express their interest in participating in the next round of consultation for the global Synod of Bishops on Synodality. The Document for the Continental Stag...

Australian Cardinal George Pell speaks during Phoenix Diocese's White Mass annual banquet 18 November, 2021. Photo: CNS/Jeff Grant, The Catholic Sun. On the 7th of April 2020, seven High Court Justices with over 160 years combined judicial experience unanimously found His Eminence, Cardinal Pell, innocent of the charges laid against him. He had been in goal, including solitary confineme...

Prayer is medicine for one’s faith and it reinvigorates the soul, Pope Francis said.
It is the remedy to rekindle this “tepid faith.”