Pope Francis joined Italy’s conservative premier on Friday in encouraging Italians to have more children, denouncing the financial precariousness facing young couples and “selfish, egotistical” choices that have led to a record low birth rate that is threatening the country’s economic future. Francis urged concrete political action to invert the “demographic winter,” which in population Read more
World
Pope, Ukrainian leader talk about humanitarian situation provoked by war
Monday, May 15th, 2023Pope Francis spent 40 minutes speaking privately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican, their first face-to-face meeting since the war began. After literally hundreds of public prayers for peace in Ukraine and 443 days after Russia launched an all-out war on the Eastern European country, Pope Francis welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Read more
Papal abuse commission shifts direction
Thursday, May 11th, 2023
The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors is undergoing a significant shift towards a more impact-focused direction, according to Cardinal Seán O’Malley of Boston, the commission’s president. The commission held its plenary assembly in Rome from May 3-6, during which they discussed various topics and made several important decisions. According to the commission’s May Read more
Kissinger warns of the potential catastrophic danger of artificial intelligence
Thursday, May 11th, 2023
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (pictured) has become “obsessed” with a very modern concern – the potential catastrophic danger of artificial intelligence (AI). Kissinger spent much of his career thinking about the dangers of nuclear weapons but, at 99, he is concerned the powers of AI could be far more devastating than even Read more
Pope tells Jesuits how to engage with young people
Thursday, May 11th, 2023
Questions about young people and how to engage with them were the focus of Pope Francis’s conversation with Hungarian Jesuits last month. “How do we best engage with young people?” he was asked. “For me the key word is testimony,” Francis responded. “Without testimony, without witnessing, nothing can be done. “You end up like that Read more
Canada’s slippery slope – assisted dying numbers surge
Thursday, May 11th, 2023
Before Canada legalised Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) in 2016, Canadians understood it to be a rare and merciful end, when medicine had nothing left to offer. As Canadian law currently stands, only an adult with a grievous and irremediable medical condition can seek medical assistance in dying. But the numbers don’t fit with the Read more
Covid emergency over … suffering continues
Thursday, May 11th, 2023
Just because the World Health Organisation (WHO) says the Covid-19 health emergency is over, it doesn’t mean everything’s OK. Far from it. It’s still a global health and welfare threat, WHO officials say. We can expect the same devastating health and social consequences will continue to plague us. The virus keeps evolving and spreading. Many Read more
Caritas Australia welcomes humanitarian funding for Sudan
Thursday, May 11th, 2023***MEDIA RELEASE*** Caritas Australia expresses gratitude for Australia’s commitment of $6 million in urgent humanitarian assistance to address the escalating conflict in Sudan. The conflict has exacerbated the existing humanitarian crisis in Sudan, a country already grappling with drought and chronic instability. Even prior to the current turmoil, over 15 million people, one-third of Sudan’s Read more
Transition of leadership in American Samoan diocese
Thursday, May 11th, 2023Bishop Emeritus Peter Hugh Brown, whose retirement as Bishop of the Diocese of Samoa–Pago Pago was effective on Saturday, was presented a Fono Concurrent Resolution, honouring him. This took place at the mass of installation in which Bishop Brown officially handed the symbols of leadership to his successor, Bishop Kolio Etuale Tumanuvao. Senate President Tuaolo Read more