BRISBANE Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Oudeman said he was very impressed by Pope Benedict XVI’s personal touch after meeting the pontiff for the first time last month.
Bishop Oudeman was in Rome to attend two international congresses on behalf of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
On December 6-7 he attended a congress, organised by the Congregation for Clergy, called “In the Midst of Men as Pastors and Brothers”, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the end of the Second Vatican Council.
Afterwards he and about 50 other bishops briefly met the Pope.
Bishop Oudeman said while he thought Pope John Paul II was more a man who was at ease among crowds, Pope Benedict appeared to have that extra personal touch.
From December 13-16 Bishop Oudeman attended the second World Congress for the Pastoral Care of Foreign Students.
In his greeting to the congress, president of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao said the phenomenon of student mobility has been intensifying in the last few decades.
