Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and representatives of other Orthodox and Anglican churches accompanied Pope Benedict in lighting a candle to launch the Year of St Paul.
[More]
Volunteers refuse WYD powers
Rural Fire Service and State Emergency Service volunteers will not seek "authorised person" status while assisting with WYD in order to avoid "negative interactions with people".
[More]
Vietnam up, US down on WYD numbers
A record number of Vietnamese pilgrims will attend World Youth Day this year but US numbers are down - and 50 Angola pilgrims are stranded in Sydney instead of Adelaide because tour organisers thought the SA capital was only an hour way.
[More]
Celebrate the living spirit: Bishops urge
Australia's bishops have urged Catholics to "celebrate the Living Spirit" to mark Aboriginal and Torres Islander Sunday this weekend.
[More]
Korean priests in Mass protest against US beef
Two hundred South Korean priests have celebrated a street Mass in Seoul to protest an unpopular government decision to resume beef imports from the US.
[More]
Bees for Benedict
Italian scooter manufacturer Piaggio has presented Pope Benedict with two new specially made three wheeled vehicles.
[More]
Feature - Walking away from what they do not know
"People who leave the Church are not leaving because they are rejecting the teachings of John Paul II or Pope Benedict. Most do so because they go to Catholic schools and they think that the kind of warm secular humanism with Christian gloss that they get in Catholic schools is in fact the Catholic faith and it hasn't captured their imagination, their love or their intellect so they are walking away from something that they do not know." - The Catholic Herald
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Featured Website - First Things
First Things is a monthly ecumenical journal concerned with the creation of a "religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society." It is published by The Institute on Religion and Public Life in the United States of America.
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Film Review - Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda is essentially a martial arts comedy and is a total action movie. It has striking effects and action sequences and a particularly impressive concluding fantasy sequence which brings DreamWorks to a new level of technological sophistication. There is a strong cultural feel about the movie and it heavily draws on Chinese culture to bring authenticity to its fantasy. - Peter Sheehan, Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting
[More]
Opinion - God is without circumference
His challenge was to see the beauty in every face, even when the owner of that face had long given up on it. Surely, that is to love others as Jesus did—Jesus the One who never gives up on us. If we are to love as Jesus loved, we need to be forgiving people. Forgiving people are bridge-builders and reconcilers. - Fr Chris Gleeson, Madonna
[More]
OPINION
Beyond knowledge to wisdomI believe this is one of the crisis points for contemporary Christianity. Put bluntly, its representatives do not seem wise. Yes, those representatives can give you any amount of information, some of them can even speak knowledgeably of Christian teachings. Wisdom is another thing altogether. - Fr Michael Whelan [More] - Aquinas Academy
FEATURE
Connected across bordersIt is time for leaders of nations to see their national interests as connected with the interests of people on the other side of the globe. We have reached the point where human existence is at stake and our destiny is inextricably linked. If we are to overcome this crisis of climate change we need to think beyond the confines of national states. - Just Comment [More] - Edmund Rice Centre
FEATURED CATHOLIC WEBSITE
Catholic Education Diocese of ParramattaReturning to our education theme, we shine the spotlight on arguably the most innovative Catholic education website in the country. In addition to all the standard features of any CEO site, Parramatta's includes some interactive opinion polls and a competition for students to attempt to ''Become the Executive Director for the day''. The site is also well regarded for its RE and curriculum resources.
- www.parra.catholic.edu.au
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Newspaper says elderly cardinals seeking vote in conclave
The Italian daily La Repubblica reported yesterday that 59 octogenarian cardinals have written to Pope John Paul II asking him to reinstate their right to elect the next Pope.
Pope Paul VI ruled in 1970 that cardinals would relinquish their right to vote in the conclave after their 80th birthday.
Two of Australia's three cardinals will lose their vote by the middle of next year. Former Sydney Archbishop Cardinal Edward Clancy (pictured right, with Cardinal Pell) turns 80 in December, and former Vatican official Cardinal Edward Cassidy turns 80 next June.
La Repubblica said that the 59 cardinals aged 80 and over have written to the Holy Father, asking him to reinstate their voting rights. The Pope is yet to reply.
"Without the right to vote we are half-cardinals, second division cardinals," the paper quoted one octogenarian cardinal as saying.
Currently, the college of cardinal electors comprises 135 cardinals under the age of 80. 59 others are over age.
"All the cardinals over 80 feel this way. It's an inconceivable rule. A cardinal is there, first and foremost, to elect a pope and thereafter to follow him," said another.
Italian Cardinal Giovanni Cheli, 85, told the paper that "in effect, we feel a little robbed," though he personally had not made an issue of it "because Paul VI must have had his reasons for taking his decision."
SOURCE
Elderly cardinals in revolt over voting power: report (AFP/ABC)
LINKS
Voting Cardinals (catholic-hierarchy.org) | Non-voting Cardinas
Cardinal Silvestrini to mark 80th birthday, losing vote in conclave (Catholic World News)
Audience with new cardinals and their families (Vatican Information Service/EWTN)
Cardinal O’Brien promises to champion marriage (The Herald)
Pope blesses Scotland's new Cardinal (Ananova)
New Scottish cardinal wants to "re-Christianize" Scotland (Catholic World News)
New Cardinal Sets Out his Vision (The Scotsman)
Pope John Paul has cancer (FreeRepublic.com/Globe-Intel 10/10/03)
Frank Devine: The Pope's 25th anniversary (The Australian)
Raymond de Souza: Two Popes (First Things)
A Bittersweet Roman Week (National Review)
TV capitalizes on events to plan for passing of pope (phillynews.com)
'After John Paul, what do you do for an encore?' (Chicago Sun-Times)
24 Oct 2003
