News
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28-Feb-2013
The group of cardinals preparing to enter a conclave to elect a new pope is slightly older - by four months - than the group that elected 78-year-old Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 2005, reports the Catholic News Service.
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28-Feb-2013
Back in 2000, former US Ambassador to the Holy See, Ray Flynn, and writer Robin Moore published a novel called The Accidental Pope. Although they didn't have Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco in mind, if the 70-year-old Italian gets elected, there's a sense the title would fit him like a glove, writes John Allen in NCR Online.
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27-Feb-2013
Cardinal Pell says Pope Benedict XVI's retirement sets a worrying precedent, reports AAP in the Sydney Morning Herald. He added that the loss of belief was the greatest challenge facing the church, not sex abuse or pedophilia, reports Yahoo7.
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27-Feb-2013
If governance of the Church and reform of the Roman Curia are high priority issues for the Conclave of Cardinals, then those cardinals with strong reputations for decision-making and management may have an advantage, says Australia’s ambassador to the Holy See, John McCarthy, reports the Catholic Weekly.
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27-Feb-2013
Electing an Italian might strike some cardinals as heading back to the future, but choosing a pope from a long-neglected corner of the continent might seem almost as bold to them as picking someone from, say, Latin America. If so, many church insiders believe that Cardinal Péter Erdõ of Budapest, Hungary, could get a very serious look, writes John Allen in NCR Online.
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27-Feb-2013
Pope Benedict XVI basked in an emotional sendoff at his final general audience in St Peter's Square last night, recalling moments of "joy and light" during his papacy but also times of great difficulty, reports AFP in The Australian.
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27-Feb-2013
A Vatican diplomat said Pope Benedict XVI has achieved a "cleansing of the episcopate" during his pontificate, saying he has removed from office two or three bishops a month, reports The Tablet. The Catholic News Service reports that between announcing his resignation and leaving office, the Pope named 19 new bishops and accepted the resignations of seven others.
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26-Feb-2013
The next pope must be someone with the energy and mastery of modern communications to promote a revival of the faith in increasingly secular societies, says Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington. The former head of the Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, says the next pope must drive through reforms in the wake of scandals that have hit the Church.
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26-Feb-2013
Although the election of a pope is in many ways a carefully scripted process, the closest thing to a wild card this time around may well be 68-year-old Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, reports NCR Online.
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26-Feb-2013
The world's cardinals might not begin meeting at the Vatican until March 4, and they cannot set a start date for the conclave until they have met, the Vatican spokesman said, reports the Catholic News Service.
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26-Feb-2013
The Holy See press office has revealed that Pope Benedict XVI will retain his papal name but will be called Pope Emeritus, reports the Catholic News Agency. “He will still be called His Holiness Benedict XVI,” said the press office director, Father Lombardi.
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25-Feb-2013
The conclave to choose the next Pope will likely begin between March 9 and 11, reports the Catholic News Agency.
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25-Feb-2013
Many observers believe the mantle of the leading Latin American papabile has been inherited by the 63-year-old Scherer, who profiles as a sort of remembrance of things past vis-à-vis his renowned Brazilian forerunner, Cardinal Lucas Moreira Neves, writes John Allen in NCR Online.
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25-Feb-2013
As cardinals preen themselves for their big moment at next month's conclave, an equally intense rivalry is playing out behind the scenes. For some Italians, just as important as who becomes pope is who dresses him, reports The Times.
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25-Feb-2013
Cardinal Keith Patrick O'Brien, the archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh in Scotland who has been accused of inappropriate sexual relations with priests, has resigned as archbishop and has indicated he will not partake in the election of the next pope, reports NCR Online.
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24-Feb-2013
Cardinal George Pell has called on the Vatican press office to respond "in some constructive way" to reports of an internal investigation by three senior cardinals that told Pope Benedict XVI about an insidious web of blackmail, corruption and homosexual sex inside the Vatican, reports The Australian.
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24-Feb-2013
Pope Benedict XVI steps down with an upswing in personal popularity and wide support for his decision to retire, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. But Benedict leaves his position less well-liked than his predecessor or the Roman Catholic Church overall, a sign that his own brand failed to take flight as did Pope John Paul II’s, reports the Washington Post.
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21-Feb-2013
If the process of picking a pope were like a hiring process in any other walk of life, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri’s résumé would probably be a slam-dunk at least to get him past the initial screening and earn him an interview, writes John SAllen in NCR Online.
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21-Feb-2013
The shout went up from a posse of children as they raced past the health clinic in a valley deep in the Papua New Guinean highlands. Inside, Swiss-born nurse and nun Sister Gaudentia Meier — 40-something years and a world away from the ordered alps of her homeland — was getting on with her daily routine, patching the wounds and treating the sicknesses of an otherwise woefully neglected population, reports The Global Mail.
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28-Feb-2013
Catholic priests who hear confessions about the sexual abuse of children should be obliged to report the crimes to police, a Victorian inquiry has heard, reports AAP in the Herald Sun.
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27-Feb-2013
The Commissioner looking into the police handling of sexual abuse by priests in the Hunter Valley in NSW is set to establish an information centre to encourage more people to come forward, reports the ABC.
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25-Feb-2013
A proposal for a memorial recognising Ballarat’s tragic history of child sexual abuse could be considered by Ballarat City Council in coming months, reports The Courier.
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24-Feb-2013
The UK's most senior Catholic, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland, has been accused of acting inappropriately towards other priests 30 years ago. The allegations were made by three priests and a former priest in an article in Britain's Observer newspaper, reports the ABC.
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24-Feb-2013
A priest who sexually preyed on a disabled and vulnerable woman has been removed from his duties at a busy Melbourne church just weeks after being reinstated, reports Fairfax media.
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28-Feb-2013
Demand for a Catholic education in Western Australia is so great the WA Catholic Education Office predicts it needs to build another 30 schools in the next 13 years just to keep pace - but expansion is limited by lack of capital funding and planning restrictions, reports the West Australian.
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25-Feb-2013
Catholic schools have warned that Julia Gillard's school reforms lack detail, use ill-defined terms such as "excellent education" and risk burdening principals with more red tape that may soak up extra funds to meet an "expanded regulatory environment", reports The Australian.
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24-Feb-2013
The number of students enrolled at Sydney's 149 Catholic primary and secondary schools for the 2013 school year is at an all-time high, reports the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney website.
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26-Feb-2013
Private hospitals are showing a greater willingness to help solve the nation's medical internship crisis, agreeing to take more students to relieve oversubscribed public hospitals, reports the Australian.
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24-Feb-2013
German bishops have announced that Catholic hospitals can provide emergency contraceptives to rape victims, as long as the pills prevent the fertilisation of an egg and do not stop the implantation of a fertilised egg, reports NCR Online.
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26-Feb-2013
A DVD that explains the ongoing trauma experienced by victims of clerical sex abuse has been launched in Newcastle in NSW by victims in association with Maitland-Newcastle diocese, reports the Newcastle Herald.
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Regulars
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28-Feb-2013
Famously known as one of the principal 'Nuns on the Run' for her participation in charity marathons and fun runs, Sister Leone Wittmack has recently taken up the role of Executive Director for Catholic Religious Australia. She talks about her approach to leadership on CRA's website.
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27-Feb-2013
When Pope Benedict XVI officially leaves office at 8pm tonight, most of the top-level Vatican officials lose their jobs, but that does not mean the majority of Vatican employees get a vacation, reports the Catholic News Service.
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26-Feb-2013
The presence of a refugee camp on Nauru is a source of sorrow and bafflement to Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) Father Adrian Meaney. Fr Meaney, who is director of the MSC Mission Office Australia, met the refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru at the Vigil Mass for Christmas, reports the Catholic Leader.
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25-Feb-2013
Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano has published the findings of a study carried out by English historian Patricia McGoldrick: Letters from the British National Archive reveal how Pope Pacelli fought Nazism partly through investments in the US, reports Vatican Insider.
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24-Feb-2013
With the World Cup and olympics approaching, Brazilian authorities initially did not comprehend the scale of World Youth Day, which will take place in the next six months. Whilst the World Cup will attract 300-500,000 spectators, a million and a half to two million people will be here for the WYD, the Brazilian Cardinal overseeing the event tells Vatican Insider.
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28-Feb-2013
A young American couple's blog about their courtship is just one of the features of this site, which also includes advice and resources about parenting and books. The site is an initiative of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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27-Feb-2013
Life Teen is an online website for Catholic teenagers. It includes videos, new books and mags of interest to teenagers, as well as a broad range of information about spirituality and becoming closer to Christ.
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26-Feb-2013
This website describes itself as "Not always happy but happy to be Catholic". It contains everything from book and film reviews to bible studies and prayers, favourite posts and superheroes.
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25-Feb-2013
Sacred Destinations is an ecumenical guide to more than 1,250 sacred sites, holy places, pilgrimage destinations, religious architecture and sacred art in over 60 countries around the world. In includes photo galleries plus detailed maps and lots of practical travel information.
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24-Feb-2013
The Franciscans in the Holy Land, who have preserved Catholic sanctuaries in the area throughout the last 800 years, have a website offering more information about the sacred sites as well as pilgrimages to the region.
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28-Feb-2013
Following in the footsteps of the Twilight movie franchise, Beautiful Creatures is the first of a four-part supernatural-romance series, The Caster Chronicles. Good versus Evil in this fantasy for teenagers.
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27-Feb-2013
Steven Soderbergh’s last film for the screen, Side Effects, is a psychological crime thriller, bringing together an all-star cast which includes Jude Law and Rooney Mara.
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24-Feb-2013
This is a powerful and involving American documentary about the failure of justice for the West Memphis Three, who were charged for the brutal murder of three eight-year-old boy scouts. The boys were found in a water-filled ditch in the town of West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1993, and their bodies showed evidence of what was thought to be a satanic ritual.
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26-Feb-2013
Intelligent political satire is again available on our TV screens with the return of Shaun Micallef's Mad As Hell to the ABC. Micallef fans are also able to get a double dose, with his new drama series, Mr & Mrs Murder, a warm and funny crime drama, airing on commercial television.
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28-Feb-2013
Pope Benedict XVI's call to "re-moralise" the economy will have much more impact on the world than his decision to step down today, writes the Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, in The Australian.
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27-Feb-2013
At all levels in the Church, Catholics have been scratching their heads over what it might mean to have both a pope and a former pope alive at the same time, writes The Tablet in an editorial.
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26-Feb-2013
Since Benedict's surprise announcement, much has been made of the nearly 600 years since the last papal ''resignation'' - a misnomer, since Pope Gregory XII, one of multiple claimants to the Chair of Peter, was, in effect, fired by a reforming church council, says James Carroll in The New York Times, and published by the Brisbane Times.
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25-Feb-2013
Although Pope Benedict XVI's highly unusual resignation is said to be for reasons of health, it fits the character of his papacy: all his initiatives remain incomplete. He was elected to rescue the church from itself, but he failed to finish what he started, says Michael Brendan Dougherty in The Sydney Morning Herald.
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24-Feb-2013
I've received numerous requests to comment on the sensational story in an Italian newspaper on Thursday suggesting the existence of a shadowy "gay lobby" in the Vatican, linking it to the prospect of blackmail and suggesting that such dark forces may have factored into Benedict XVI's decision to resign. For what it's worth, I'll lay out my initial reaction here, writes John Allen in NCR Online.
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25-Feb-2013
The Catholic News Service interviewed the Bishop of Parramatta, Anthony Fisher OP, on Pope Benedict’s teachings on bioethics, during the plenary meeting of the Pontifical Academy for Life in Rome last week.
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