-
13-Mar-2013
If you have only seen The Wizard of Oz, but never read any of Frank L. Baum’s Oz novels, you may have wondered who the wizard actually was and how he finished up in the Emerald City. Oz and the Great and Powerful provides the answer.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
Cardinals gathered in a secret conclave to elect a new pope to head up the world's 1.2 billion Catholics following the shock resignation of Benedict XVI will already be mulling the name they would choose if they are picked. With so much weight placed on the significance of the papal moniker, they have to choose wisely, reports AFP on Yahoo7.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio has had a growing reputation as a very spiritual man with a talent for pastoral leadership serving in a region with the largest number of the world’s Catholics, reports the Catholic News Service in the Catholic Herald.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
Developed by an American former parish youth ministry leader, flocknote is an Internet-based networking tool that aims at making communication within ministries, parishes and dioceses more effective.
» more
News
-
14-Mar-2013
Jews worldwide have welcomed newly elected Pope Francis as a friend, pointing in particular to his sympathetic and strong reaction to the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in his native Argentina -- the deadliest bombing in the country's history, reports NCR Online.
» more
-
14-Mar-2013
The surprise selection of an Argentine, Cardinal as the new pope has shifted the gravity of the Roman Catholic Church from Europe to Latin America in one fell swoop, and served as an emphatic salute to the growing power of Latinos across the Americas, reports The New York Times.
» more
-
14-Mar-2013
The white smoke belched from the Sistine Chapel as the ballots burned beneath Michelangelo's fresco - a new Pope with one lung had just been elected. And the world was breathlessly tweeting about him, reports AAP in the Herald Sun.
» more
-
14-Mar-2013
The election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio to be pope "opens for the church a path full of hope ... at this crucial time," the Jesuit superior general said in Rome, reports NCR Online.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
The President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, and Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, says he joyfully welcomes the glad news of the election of Pope Francis. "For two weeks the Catholics of the world have been without the spiritual father of their family. We have been looking forward to this special moment," Archbishop Hart said in a media statement this morning.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
Pope Francis began his first words to the Church by saying that the cardinals “went to the end of the world” to find the new Bishop of Rome, reports the Catholic News Agency.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
The Mass for the installation of the new pope could be celebrated on March 19, the solemnity of St Joseph, patron of the universal church. The new pope also would likely recite the Angelus March 17 with visitors gathered in St Peter's Square, reports the Catholic News Service.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76 has been elected the 266th pope and taken the name Francis, reports the Catholic News Service. The election last night in Rome - at 5.05am this morning, Australian Eastern Daylight Time - came on the first full day of the conclave on the conclave's fifth ballot. It was a surprisingly quick conclusion to a conclave that began with many plausible candidates and no clear favourite.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
Deafening cheers greeted the emergence of Pope Francis I on the balcony of St Peter's Basilica, reports The Tablet. All around us people were asking who is this man? They had no idea where he came from and no idea that he is, in fact, a Jesuit - the first Jesuit Pope to take the chair of Peter.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
The new Pope, the 76-year old Argentinean Jesuit, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was Ratzinger’s main contender in the last Conclave. He is unusual in that he has always rejected posts in the Roman Curia and only visited the Vatican when it was absolutely necessary,reports the Vatican Insider.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
The famous "habemus Papem" has been spoken from the balcony of St Peter's. Now Francis, the new leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, faces a strictly mapped-out series of events, reports The Telegraph in Britain.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
World leaders from the US, UN, Argentina and the UK and many other countries, have welcomed the election of Pope Francis, reports the BBC. US President Barack Obama said: "I offer our warm wishes to His Holiness Pope Francis... As a champion of the poor and the most vulnerable among us, he carries forth the message of love and compassion that has inspired the world for more than 2,000 years - that in each other we see the face of God."
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
It's incredible!" said Martha Ruiz, 60, who was weeping tears of emotion after learning that the cardinal she knew as Jorge Mario Bergoglio will now be Pope Francis, reports AP in the Australian. Cars honked their horns as the news spread and television announcers screamed with elation and surprise. At the St Francis of Assisi church in the colonial Old San Juan district in Puerto Rico, church secretary Antonia Veloz exchanged jubilant high-fives with Jose Antonio Cruz, a Franciscan friar.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
The first-ever choice of the name Francis combined with the Latin American origins of Jorge Mario Bergoglio hint at change within the scandal-plagued Catholic Church, observers say, according to a Reuters report in The Sydney Morning Herald.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
The tens of thousands of rain-drenched pilgrims who filled St Peter's Square overnight joyously cheered the new leader of the church, Pope Francis I, reports the Catholic News Service. Cheers of "Francesco! Francesco! Francesco!" resounded throughout the square as he greeted the exuberant crowd in Italian and blessed them from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
Australian Catholic leaders, including bishops, women religious and advocates, have welcomed the election of Pope Francis overnight, in terms of his spirituality and social justice advocacy.
» more
-
12-Mar-2013
Heading into the 2013 conclave, there's a small set of frontrunner candidates such as Cardinals Angelo Scola of Milan, Marc Ouellet of Canada, and Odilo Pedro Scherer of Brazil. In the second cluster waiting in the wings, there's an Asian possibility who hasn't yet received much attention, but who could strike some cardinals as an attractive fallback solution: Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai in India, writes John Allen in NCR Online.
» more
-
12-Mar-2013
In this article, I'm going to examine the prospects of the three Americans generally considered the most plausible papal contenders: Cardinals Timothy Dolan of New York (pictured), Sean O'Malley of Boston and Donald Wuerl of Washington, writes John Allen in NCR Online.
» more
-
12-Mar-2013
The new pope will have to face the challenge of managing markedly diverse expectations from the developed and developing worlds, Australia's ambassador to the Holy See says, reports the Age.
» more
-
12-Mar-2013
Despite the rain, thousands of people filled St Peter's Square after dark last night, the first evening of the conclave, to witness the black smoke that signalled the Catholic Church's 115 cardinal electors had failed, as expected, to elect a pope on the first ballot. The smoke started billowing out of the chimney on the Sistine Chapel at 7.41pm Rome time, reports the Catholic News Service.
» more
-
12-Mar-2013
Bookmakers say Italian archbishop Angelo Scola has emerged as favourite to become Pope at odds of 9/4, while Leo is tipped to be his official name, according to an AAP report on SBS.
» more
-
11-Mar-2013
Vatican watchers say there is no clear favourite in the conclave that gets underway in Rome tonight but three names have emerged as frontrunners - Odilo Scherer, the charismatic archbishop of Sao Paulo; Italian conservative Angelo Scola, head of the powerful Milan archdiocese; and Marc Ouellet, a Canadian who holds a senior Vatican position, reports AFP in The Australian.
» more
-
11-Mar-2013
Italian Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio recently said out loud what many of his brother cardinals may be thinking: “It’s time to look outside Italy and Europe, in particular considering Latin America.” The trick is to figure out which plausible candidate stands the best shot of putting together the magic 77 votes that represent a two-thirds majority. Cardinal Francisco Robles Ortega of Guadalajara, Mexico, might just be a good solution, writes John Allen in NCR Online.
» more
-
11-Mar-2013
The first smoke signal from the conclave is expected to be given at 8pm Tuesday evening Rome time (Wednesday morning AEDT); it is unlikely the outcome will be positive, as this will be the first voting session,” the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi announced yesterday, reports Vatican Insider.
» more
-
11-Mar-2013
Say the words “Brazilian pope” in Rome, and most people assume you’re talking about the candidacy of Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer of São Paulo. But there’s another runner from the world’s largest Catholic country, whose humble roots and pastoral outlook could make him an attractive choice: 65-year-old Cardinal João Bráz de Aviz, who generally goes by the simple appellation of “Dom João,” writes John Allen in NCR Online.
» more
-
10-Mar-2013
The Vatican is employing high-tech measures to ensure the secrecy of the conclave process. Jamming devices have been installed around the Sistine Chapel and around the Santa Marta residence, where cardinals will live secluded from the world during the days of the Conclave, according to Ucanews.
» more
-
10-Mar-2013
For those cardinals who see continuity as crucial, their candidate might well be the man known around Rome as "the little Ratzinger". Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, 67, has led the Congregation for Divine Worship since 2008. The nickname "little Ratzinger" comes from when he served as chief of staff for the doctrine committee of the Spanish bishops' conference, writes John Allen in NCR Online.
» more
-
10-Mar-2013
If the cardinal-electors were thinking in terms of news cycles, they might well ask: Who among us would give the church the best day-one story as the next pope? Were that the question, 66-year-old Italian Cardinal Fernando Filoni would be a pretty good answer, writes John Allen in NCR Online.
» more
-
10-Mar-2013
The Vatican has installed a special chimney on the Sistine Chapel from which white smoke will signal the election of a new leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics as cardinals prepare for the centuries-old tradition starting tomorrow, reports the ABC.
» more
-
10-Mar-2013
The conclave to elect a new pope will begin tomorrow at 6pm Rome time. Most observers believe the lack of strong leading candidates suggests the process is likely to take longer than just two days, as happened in 2005, reports The Tablet. One common scenario is that it will boil down to a choice between a candidate backed by Roman Curia cardinals, and a candidate put forward by cardinals intent on radically reforming the Curia.
» more
-
07-Mar-2013
A pope, of course, is not merely a spiritual leader but also a head of state, since the Holy See is a sovereign entity that enjoys diplomatic relations with 179 nations. There's an awfully good case that no one in the College of Cardinals is better prepared for that aspect of the job than Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the lone cardinal to have previously served, more or less, as a country's chief executive, writes John Allen in NCR Online.
» more
-
11-Mar-2013
On March 11 2013, CathNews carried an article “Cardinal Pell out of papal race after lobbying, say reports”, which repeated comments made in print and online editions of The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.
The comments made in the Fairfax press, which were repeated and republished by hyperlink in CathNews, contained factual inaccuracies and made unfair, false and seriously defamatory allegations about Cardinal Pell, who has worked hard to eradicate the evil of sexual abuse.
Upon being made aware of the inaccuracies in its article, CathNews retracted the article and removed it from its website. The article should never have been published and certainly not in a CathNews bulletin.
CathNews sincerely and unreservedly apologises to His Eminence for the hurt caused by this article.
» more
-
11-Mar-2013
The Archdiocese of Sydney has rejected a Fairfax media report yesterday as "utterly false and seriously defamatory", the Archdiocese of Sydney said in a statement.
» more
-
12-Mar-2013
After more than a decade’s service to the school, Fr Chris Middleton SJ will be finishing as Principal of St Aloysius’ College in Sydney next year. He will be succeeded by the school’s first lay principal, reports Province Express.
» more
Regulars
-
12-Mar-2013
Many are now calling for the next pope to have a proven capacity for governance and what in management-speak is known as ‘global fluency’. So the electing cardinals might look to the business world for lessons on how to choose their man, writes Brendan McCarthy in The Tablet.
» more
-
14-Mar-2013
The day before the conclave opened, a TV host asked me a question about geographic blocs in the College of Cardinals. Here’s what I said: “If there were a lone strong Latin American candidate, I think that guy would already have this race sewn up … The problem is, there isn’t just one plausible Latin American, there are several.” As it turns out, I was half-right, writes John Allen in NCR Online.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
In February, as the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Bergoglio spoke to Vatican Insider about the recent Consistory and the words pronounced by the Pope.
» more
-
12-Mar-2013
The period prior to the conclave is crucial for cardinal electors to discuss the central issues facing the Church and to help them determine who would best address them as pope. Austen Ivereigh (pictured), a former senior aide to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, recalls past pre-conclave meetings and how influential they have been, in The Tablet.
» more
-
11-Mar-2013
In their general congregation meetings, in liturgical processions and in the Sistine Chapel, every cardinal has a place and each cardinal knows his place. The Vatican calls it "precedence," and it has little to do with the importance of the cardinal's day job, the size of his diocese or his age. But it has everything to do with timing, reports the Catholic News Service.
» more
-
10-Mar-2013
Former ALP Minister Barry Jones will launch a long-awaited biography of Archbishop Daniel Mannix in Melbourne on Friday. The book, titled Daniel Mannix: Beyond the Myths, was written by Jim Griffin, who died before the book was finished. Griffin's long-time friend and author himself, Paul Ormonde finished the last chapter. The book will be launched at 2pm at Newman College.
» more
-
10-Mar-2013
As Pakistani Christians around the world prepare to mark the second anniversary of Shahbaz Bhatti’s death, his killers remain at large. The Pakistani government has never caught those responsible for the death of Benazir Bhutto so it should come as little surprise to us that the murderers of a Christian cabinet minister are also roaming free, reports The Catholic Herald.
» more
-
14-Mar-2013
Having started out as the John Paul II sisters, a Perth-based group is now called the Missionaries of the Gospel. This is the group that Sr Bernadette Pike, whose voice was heard at the beatification ceremony of John Paul II in Rome, belongs to.
» more
-
12-Mar-2013
Catholic Education Week in Melbourne is being celebrated between March 10-17. The theme for 2013 is 'Entrusted with Something Precious'. A highlight of the annual celebrations is the St Patrick’s Day Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral and the entertainment in the Treasury Gardens, which attracts about 2,000 students. The Visual Arts Exhibition is also popular with schools, with the best of Catholic student art on show at the Catholic Leadership Centre in East Melbourne.
» more
-
11-Mar-2013
During their last meeting before entering the conclave to elect a new pope, the world's cardinals heard a report on the Vatican bank and continuing efforts to comply with international standards to prevent money laundering and the funding of terrorism, reports the Catholic News Service.
» more
-
10-Mar-2013
More than 68,000 students from Sydney's 149 Catholic primary and systemic secondary schools will showcase their talents, academic achievements and sporting ability as part of Catholic Schools Week. Now in its eighth year, Catholic Schools Week is held across NSW and the ACT and helps celebrate 180 years of continuous Catholic education in Australia.
» more
-
14-Mar-2013
Barbara is a complex and thoughtful German film that deservedly won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival. It tells the story of a doctor working in East Berlin in 1980 who falls foul of the authorities for wanting to leave the communist-run German Democratic Republic.
» more
-
12-Mar-2013
Cloud Atlas is a film which blends different movie genres, world history from the 19th century into the far future, a shift from Earth to a distant planet, and raises so many questions through its storytelling. Based on David Mitchell's Booker Prize-nominated book of the same name, this movie epic deals with the perennial themes of love, freedom, identity, and good and evil.
» more
-
14-Mar-2013
Questions about the so-called Roman Curia, portrayed in the Vatileaks papers as riven by factions and in-fighting, came up again and again in the talks as the number one priority, writes John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor at The Telegraph in Britain. But the new Pope must also look beyond his immediate doorstep to face far bigger challenges around the world.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
Pope Francis I, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, is a priest of holinesss and tremendous modesty of manner – a man who, until now, has taken the bus to work. His challenge is clear. He needs to learn from Benedict XVI's greatest success – and his greatest failure, writes Damian Thompson in The Telegraph in Britain.
» more
-
11-Mar-2013
Effective chief executives are those who work with collaborators who are better at most things than they are. The next pope needs to collaborate with the best theologians, communicators, diplomats and administrators, and have the strength of character to surround himself with those who will not defer to his status but tell him the truth, writes Father Brian Lucas in Eureka Street.
» more
-
10-Mar-2013
It’s frequently observed that the only three remaining absolute monarchies/dictatorships left in the world are Saudi Arabia, North Korea and the Vatican. But the parallels that are of more powerful significance are those between the Vatican, Vietnam and China, both in terms of their governance and the current state of their political lives, writes Fr Michael Kelly SJ in Ucanews.
» more
-
11-Mar-2013
When the pope waved goodbye from the balcony at Castel Gandolfo, I felt a twinge of sadness - for him, for us and for the world at large. Because of his presence of mind, the church has been brought to a new point in its own conversion and development. And those points are not easy for anyone. In fact, women religious have themselves known them in a very special way. For that reason, women religious may have something to teach the church about the process of conversion and development at this very important moment, writes Joan Chittister in NCR Online.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
Pope Francis is the first ever from the Americas, an austere Jesuit intellectual who modernised Argentina's conservative Catholic church, according to an AP report in The Sydney Morning Herald. The 76-year-old is known as a humble man who denied himself the luxuries that previous Buenos Aires cardinals enjoyed. Bergoglio often rode the bus to work, cooked his own meals and regularly visited the slums that ring Argentina's capital. He considers social outreach, rather than doctrinal battles, to be the essential business of the church.
» more
-
13-Mar-2013
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio makes Christianity compelling. Luke Coppen, editor of The Catholic Herald, analyses what his election means for the Church, in The Telegraph in Britain.
» more