Stolen Generation advocates in Western Australia are calling on the Pope to come to Australia and apologise to First Nations people taken from their families and/or abused in missions. The call follows news of Pope Francis visiting Canada to apologised for the church’s role in schools where indigenous children were abused, branding forced cultural assimilation Read more
World
Pope says that with frailty and age, he is in new phase of papacy
Monday, August 1st, 2022Pope Francis said on Saturday that his advancing age and his difficulty walking have ushered in a new, slower phase of his papacy and he repeated that he would be ready to resign one day if serious health problems prohibited him from running the Church. “I don’t think I can continue doing trips with the Read more
Pope Francis says he has ‘said all he has to say’ about the German ‘Synodal Way’
Monday, August 1st, 2022The latest Vatican intervention against the German “Synodal Way” was published by the Secretariat of State, but he himself has said “everything he had to say” about the process in his own letter to German Catholics, Pope Francis told journalists on the papal plane on July 30. During an in-flight press conference on his return Read more
Bishops need to listen
Thursday, July 28th, 2022
A nun appointed by Pope Francis to help him select bishops says bishops need to listen and that the ideal bishop does not exist. French Salesian Sr Yvonne Reungoat made the comments to Vida Nueva, a Spanish publication. Reungoat told the publication that while there is no perfect bishop, he has to be a shepherd Read more
Major Australian law firm drops Catholic Church as client
Thursday, July 28th, 2022
A major Australian law firm is ending its 50-year relationship with the Catholic Church amid reports some of its lawyers were uneasy with its defence of clergy accused of child sexual abuse. Melbourne-based firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth, recently named Australian Law Firm of the Year in the 2022 Chambers Asia Pacific & Greater China Region Read more
Judge fails pope’s apology
Thursday, July 28th, 2022
Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission into the historic abuse of Indigenous people demanded apologies. Pope Francis apologised on Monday. Not everyone thinks it was enough. Some regard Francis’s words as a “historic” moment of reckoning for the 150,000 Indigenous students forced to attend residential schools. But a former judge and senator who chaired the 2015 Read more
Vatican backs ‘true gender equality’ between sexes
Thursday, July 28th, 2022
The Vatican has restated its support for the principle that “full and true equality between men and women is a fundamental aspect of a just and democratic society”. Msgr Simon Kassas, charge d’affaires at the Vatican’s Permanent Mission, addressed the Organisation on Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) permanent council in Vienna on Thursday. “The Read more
Deaths, injuries follow rocket attack at Syrian church inauguration
Thursday, July 28th, 2022
An attack on Sunday at a Greek Orthodox church in Syria resulted in two deaths and twelve injuries. It was the newly-built Hagia Sophia Church’s inaugural celebration. The weapons landed just 15 meters from where clerics and the congregation were gathered in front of the building. The attack has been variously attributed to rockets, missiles Read more
Cultural controversy surrounds papal apology
Thursday, July 28th, 2022
Pope Francis’ “penitential pilgrimage” to Canada began with an impassioned apology, setting the scene for the 6-day pilgrimage. The apology is only a first step towards reconciliation. The pilgrimage began Monday, July 25. The first act on the Canadian “penitential pilgrimage,” was the return of two pairs of children’s moccasins on 25 July. “I am Read more