POPE Francis has welcomed Cardinal George Pell during a private Vatican meeting in the Apostolic Palace – their first meeting since the Australian cardinal’s child sexual abuse convictions were overturned. The Holy See released photos and a brief video clip of the meeting, an indication that both the Pope and Cardinal Pell wanted the warm and smiling reception to be ... Read More »

ONE of the biggest impacts of COVID-19 has been the havoc reaped on our aged population. So will our most vulnerable be better protected next time a pandemic or another disaster strikes? More than 665 aged-care residents have died from COVID-19 in Australia, with outbreaks in about 220 homes and facilities. Restriction of visits at aged-care homes has severed vital ... Read More »

CATHOLIC organisations criticised Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s belated budget for failing to address rising homelessness and income support for a country caught in a pandemic and its first recession in 30 years. The Budget, which was announced on October 6 after being postponed due to the coronavirus crisis, was unsurprisingly left in a deficit thanks to the massive support payments ... Read More »

SIX of Queensland’s Catholic bishops have written a pastoral letter warning of the consequences of legalising euthanasia. The letter, to all Catholic Queenslanders and the wider community, stresses the sanctity of life and recognising that all of creation is sacred. “Societies in which life is cheap suffer from many maladies and injustices,” the bishops said.  With Queensland gearing up for ... Read More »

MANY Australians are bracing for reductions in JobSeeker and JobKeeper income, but it’s going to be tougher for some in Queensland. From the end of this month Queensland residential tenants will lose the protection from eviction that’s been in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. All other states have extended the eviction moratorium – Tasmania until December, and New South Wales, ... Read More »

A CATHOLIC research paper handed to the Federal Government proposes a radical shake-up in the way health care is delivered to Australians who could be treated at home rather than in hospital. The Catholic Health Australia paper, entitled Out of Hospital Care in Australia – advancing health’s ‘missing sector’, argues that shifting to a hospital-in-the-home approach could provide better treatment ... Read More »

BRISBANE Archbishop Mark Coleridge has called for compassion as the Queensland Government maintains tough COVID-19 quarantine rules that barred a Canberra-based nurse from attending her father’s funeral. “If proper precautions are taken in the interests of public health, compassion means that people should be allowed to attend funerals, to visit terminally ill family members before they die, to make mercy ... Read More »

MELBOURNE Archbishop Peter A. Comensoli has written a letter to Australian Catholics, explaining the Church’s advocacy for “ethically acceptable” COVID-19 vaccines, that do not use aborted foetal cell lines in their development. The University of Queensland vaccine project, in partnership with Australian biotech company CSL, is one that Bishop Comensoli singles out as acceptable. He is also clear that the ... Read More »

A LOW-PAID Australian worker laid off during the pandemic will receive the third-lowest unemployment benefit amongst developed countries, when the coronavirus supplement is reduced, according to a social security expert. Despite mass unemployment and extended COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns, the federal government plans to cut the supplement by $300 on September 25, reducing the base rate of benefits to about ... Read More »