THE worldwide coronavirus pandemic is not God’s judgment on humanity, but God’s call on people to judge what was most important to them and resolve to act accordingly from now on, Pope Francis said. Addressing God, the Pope said that “it is not the time of your judgment, but of our judgment: a time to choose what matters and what ... Read More »

POPE Francis offered his early morning Mass for vulnerable people and health care workers who lived in fear that they or their loved ones might fall ill to the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world. “In these days of so much suffering, there is so much fear,” the Pope said on March 26 at the start of the Mass, which was ... Read More »

FRANCISCAN Friars in Jerusalem and around the world were set to postpone Good Friday collections that ordinarily went towards the upkeep of Holy Land sites amid “terrible uncertainty” caused by coronavirus (COVID-19). Holy Land Commissary for Australia and Kedron parish administrator Franciscan Father Mario Debattista said the friars faced challenges from two directions. He said the friars did not just ... Read More »

POPE Francis has asked Christians worldwide to storm heaven with the Lord’s Prayer today, as a way of asking God to end the suffering caused by COVID-19. After leading the Angelus on March 22, the Pope invited all Christians around the world to pray the Our Father at midday Rome time (9pm Brisbane time) on March 25, the feast of ... Read More »

POPE Francis will give the city of Rome and the world an extraordinary blessing this week with the possibility of a plenary indulgence in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pope announced he would give the “urbi et orbi” blessing, normally only given immediately after a new pope’s election and on Christmas and Easter, after presiding over a moment of ... Read More »

BRISBANE L’Arche community leader met Jean Vanier four times since the 1980s and never once considered him anything but an inspirational Catholic. But last weekend his image of Vanier was shattered when the L’Arche International community announced the findings of an independent inquiry that found the internationally renowned Canadian had sexually abused at least six women. L’Arche Brisbane community leader ... Read More »

POPE Francis’s highly anticipated Apostolic Exhortation  “Querida Amazonia” (Beloved Amazonia), released by the Vatican on February 12, has been described as a document “not just for a distant and alien part of the world, but has much to offer the Catholic Church in Australia”.  “The Amazon is remote from us but the issues are not,” Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president ... Read More »

THE streets are empty, people stay indoors and a “horrifying silence” has gripped Wuhan, at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak. The central Chinese city of 11 million people has been under quarantine lockdown since January 23, with no transport links in or out, and residents facing food queues and shortages of essential supplies including face masks.  Across China, nearly ... Read More »

WHEN the villagers of impoverished Bereina need to quell their famine, they reach for the noxious betel nut. In the town of Bereina, in the Central Province of Papua New Guinea, the addictive seed, which is prohibited in Australia, is often the only food source for the local villagers. It is an unfathomable sight for Sr Anna Pigozzo, a missionary ... Read More »