News
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12-Feb-2013
Pope Benedict XVI will not interfere in choosing his successor after his shock decision to resign at the end of the month, the pontiff's brother has said, the BBC reports.
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14-Feb-2013
Pope Benedict's shock resignation should usher in a new understanding of the role in the modern world, according to Geelong Catholic priest Fr Kevin Dillon, reports The Geelong Advertiser. He said he hoped a cardinal with strong pastoral experience would become successor and that the time might be right to consider limiting papal reigns to set periods.
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14-Feb-2013
Now that the Vatican has begun its search for a new leader of the Catholic Church, American nuns are hoping that the next pope will be a little more sister-friendly, reports Women's Agenda.
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13-Feb-2013
Pope Benedict's resignation during Lent is no coincidence according to a Vatican expert who thinks the timing was tied to the Church’s liturgical calendar, reports the Catholic News Agency.
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13-Feb-2013
Pope Benedict was greeted with cheers and a standing ovation in an emotional farewell by thousands of followers at two of his final public appearances. Benedict, seen by the public for the first time since announcing his resignation, looked tired but healthy as he began his General Audience in a big Vatican audience hall, followed by a Mass in St Peter's Basilica, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.
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13-Feb-2013
Ghanaian cardinal Peter Turkson, one of the developing world's leading candidates for the pope's successor has declared the Catholic church ready to have its first non-European Pope - and said that he will gladly take on the role "if it's the will of God", reports The Guardian.
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12-Feb-2013
Amid the buzz created by the Pope’s announcement that he will retire, it could be easy to miss the fact that his last public Mass will be on Ash Wednesday and not in the normal location for the first day of Lent, reports the Catholic News Agency.
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12-Feb-2013
Cardinal George Pell agrees the idea of him as the next pope is ''fantastic'', but he means fantastic in the traditional sense of fanciful, not the modern sense of terrific, reports The Canberra Times. ''Some of the suggestions made will be simply fantastic. Some of them will be made to meet local demand for a candidate that they know,'' Cardinal Pell said in an interview carried on the Sydney Archdiocese website yesterday.
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12-Feb-2013
The decision of Pope Benedict XVI to resign on February 28 comes as a great shock to the people of the Adelaide Archdiocese and, indeed, to the rest of the world, the Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, said yesterday. Bishops Fisher and Ingham also paid tribute to the Pope.
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12-Feb-2013
There can be no doubting Pope Benedict's strong affection for our country. "He was driving some of the people mad because for six months all he could talk about was his visit to Australia," said Sister Maria Casey who, as St Mary MacKillop's postulator, formally asked the Pope to proceed with her canonisation in front of 50,000 faithful at the Vatican, reports the Herald Sun.
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11-Feb-2013
The full statement from Pope Benedict XVI:
Dear Brothers,
I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.
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11-Feb-2013
"Millions of Catholics are grateful for his holiness and teaching, and are encouraged by (the Pope's) gentle and loving service," says the head of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Denis Hart, in a statement released last night following the resignation of Pope Benedict. Cardinal George Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, said the resignation had come as a surprise to him, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
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11-Feb-2013
An Italian journalist who beat the world's media on Pope Benedict XVI's decision to resign got the scoop on the utterly unexpected news thanks to her knowledge of Latin, according to an AFP report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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11-Feb-2013
At a press conference arranged hurriedly, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi (pictured) said the Pope's "personal decision" had been made in recent months without any external pressure. He ruled out depression or theological uncertainty as motives, and rejected the idea that a specific illness – whether of the mind or body – had prompted the Pope to act, reports the Guardian.
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10-Feb-2013
The president of the Pontifical Council for the Family (pictured) said his defense of the dignity of homosexual persons and their individual rights was misinterpreted, perhaps intentionally, reports the Catholic News Service.
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10-Feb-2013
Australian Order of Malta delegates are among 4,000 international delegates currently in Rome to celebrate the 900 year anniversary of the issue of the papal bull Pie postulatio voluntatis by Pope Paschal II on Friday, reports the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.
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14-Feb-2013
Catholics in Broken Hill have welcomed news that the Wilcannia-Forbes diocese will no longer be split up, reports the ABC.
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10-Feb-2013
Friday's surprise announcement by AGL to suspend plans to sink up to 72 coal seam gas wells at 11 surface locations between Liverpool and Campbelltown west of Sydney has triggered few celebrations among residents, including Varrowville's religious communities, reports Sydney Catholic.
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10-Feb-2013
The incoming chief of Anglo American mining company, Mark Cutifani (pictured), has sought divine help in addressing the social complexities of Africa's mining industry, reports The Australian.
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07-Feb-2013
The Chancellor of Australian Catholic University (ACU), General Peter Cosgrove, has been bestowed with the Honour of the Knight of the Grand Cross in the Order of St Gregory the Great, by The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, according to a media release.
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13-Feb-2013
The Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes in western NSW is to continue as a Diocese, and a bishop will be appointed in due course, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, has advised.
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13-Feb-2013
Public hearings for the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into matters relating to the police investigation of certain child sexual abuse allegations in the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle formally opened yesterday in Sydney.
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11-Feb-2013
Pope Benedict XVI is to resign at the end of this month, on February 28, in an entirely unexpected development, saying he is too old continue at the age of 85, reports the BBC.
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10-Feb-2013
The royal commission into sexual abuse will be ‘‘nation-changing’’, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has told The Newcastle Herald.
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07-Feb-2013
A former priest claiming to be responsible for the death of a nun and her two children, whose remains were recently unearthed in the compound of a seminary in Jakarta, has turned himself in to Indonesian police, reports Ucanews.
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13-Feb-2013
Around 3500 staff from Catholic schools in Victoria are expected to participate in a state-wide stoppage today as thousands of teachers, principals and support staff go on strike, reports The Age.
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12-Feb-2013
It was all about pancakes and projects at St John the Baptist Primary School in maitland in the Hunter region of NSW yesterday during the launch of the Catholic Church’s annual Lenten appeal, reports theNewcastle Herald.
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11-Feb-2013
Religious leaders have paid tribute to Pope Benedict XVI, who announced overnight that he is to retire with effect from 28 February, reports The Tablet.
Archbishop Vincent Nichols, President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales and Archbishop of Westminster, said: "Pope Benedict's announcement today has shocked and surprised everyone. Yet, on reflection, I am sure that many will recognise it to be a decision of great courage and characteristic clarity of mind and action.
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14-Feb-2013
The Pope's shock resignation has boosted interest in all things Catholic just as veteran Vatican journalist John Thavis is about to publish a behind-the-scenes look at the faith's fabled nerve centre, reports Reuters on Yahoo7. The Vatican Diaries goes on sale just one week before the pope steps down, and the author talks about what is in it.
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10-Feb-2013
Brazil's Carnival celebrations have kicked off, but festivities began under the pall of a recent nightclub fire that killed 238 people, reports the ABC.
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Regulars
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14-Feb-2013
How has Benedict XVI managed the world's largest Christian community? The BBC asked six scholars and analysts for their perspective on key areas of the pontificate.
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13-Feb-2013
As much as he astonished the world when he announced his resignation, Pope Benedict XVI's decision seems almost predictable in hindsight. Given his previous statements on the subject and his recent signs of aging, one might say that people should have seen it coming, reports the Catholic News Service.
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12-Feb-2013
The sudden exit of the Pope could affect the profile of his successor, in part because voting cardinals will have little time to strategise about who the next pontiff should be, reports The Wall Street Journal in The Australian.
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11-Feb-2013
Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana (pictured) and Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria are in the frame to become the first ever black pope, certainly in the modern era, reports The UK Telegraph.
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10-Feb-2013
Despite parishes and dioceses inviting inactive Catholics to return to church at Lent, with the sacrament of reconciliation as an incentive, it is likely Catholics are afraid, bewildered or even intimidated at the prospect of returning to the confessional after such a long period away from it, reports the Catholic News Service.
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14-Feb-2013
Heroic Media, a faith-based company that promotes alternatives to abortion through mass media, has an online news portal at Heroicnews.org. The initiative is aimed at making a broad cultural impact, complementing its current outreach to women in crisis pregnancies.
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13-Feb-2013
The Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle has completed a new website, in coordination with new branding and logos. In addition, the local Catholic Schools Office site was also relaunched, featuring professional portrait photography from every school.
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12-Feb-2013
Prayer Online carries a daily prayer in the classroom, one suitable for primary/infants and one for secondary schools.
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11-Feb-2013
The Vatican's unofficial newspaper has all the news and drama of the Pope's shock resignation.
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10-Feb-2013
The Jesuit Post is a new website designed as a meeting place for Jesuits who want to blog and share ideas. It is lively, attractively designed and full of stimulating reading.
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14-Feb-2013
Denzel Washington has received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal in the movie Flight of a middle-aged, regional airline captain who expertly lands a plane load of passengers, averting a near catastrophe. But his hero status quickly unravels as his drug and alcohol abuse are revealed.
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13-Feb-2013
Amour (Love), winner of the 2012 Palme d'Or award at Cannes, is a film about the love of an elderly couple,married for nearly 50 years, who are now at the end of their lives. It's a memorable and heart-wrenching film.
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12-Feb-2013
Oscar-winning director of The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow, is back with another gripping military thriller. Her latest movie, Zero Dark Thirty, tells the real life story of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.
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10-Feb-2013
Actor Daniel Day-Lewis brings to life Abraham Lincoln, hero of the anti-slavery movement and iconic US president, in Steven Spielberg's movie Lincoln. It's being touted as one of the best historical films for a long time.
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14-Feb-2013
The Pope’s gesture was almost an act of surrender before the world which is changing at a rhythm which a man born in 1927 could never have imagined. It is not just the means and timings of communication that are changing. Today’s world requires that every single detail be communicated and at once, writes Mario Calabresi, editor of La Stampa, inVatican Insider.
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13-Feb-2013
This conclave offers the strongest likelihood yet that he may come from the developing world of Latin America, Asia or Africa - the first non-European Pope (if you don't count the Roman Empire). While there are several strong candidates, known as papabile, none stands out. Lobbying, and what in Australia might be called factional deals, will be vital, writes Barney Zwartz in The Age.
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12-Feb-2013
The Pope's resignation is important because it sets a new precedent. Now, popes do not have to feel they are stuck in office for life, battling it out to the bitter end. It lessens the chance the church will get caught with a senile or incapacitated pope or a comatose one on life-support with no one able to make the decision to turn off the machine, writes Paul Collins in the Brisbane Times.
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11-Feb-2013
Catholics will be deeply shocked and, in most cases, dismayed by this decision, which I see above all as an act of self-sacrifice by a man not prepared to see the Church suffer as a result of his increasing frailty, writes Damian Thompson in The UK Telegraph.
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10-Feb-2013
Francis Phillips in The Catholic Herald finds her spirits buoyed by a new book entitled The Catholic Guide to Depression. She claims that the Church's next big challenge is to offer hope to the hopeless.
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11-Feb-2013
Pope Benedict, speaking overnight at a meeting of his cardinals, announces that he will resign on 28 February. The pontiff insists that he can no longer fulfil the duties of his office, saying he has noticed that his strength has deteriorated over recent months. He will become the first pope since the middle ages to resign.
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