AMID the bullets and terror surrounding East Timor’s vote for independence, an Australian priest witnessed the depth of humanity, but he also saw courage, spirit and glimmers of hope. “The faith of the Timorese was completely powerful,” Jesuit Father Peter Hosking, who headed the Jesuit Refugee Service in East Timor at the time of the independence vote 20 years ago ... Read More »

A CHURCH leader who has witnessed Pacific villagers forced from their coastal homes because of rising sea levels is to celebrate Mass in Brisbane next month, and will speak about the poor, the vulnerable and the challenges of climate change. Suva Archbishop Peter Loy Chong, who is president of the Oceania Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences, will concelebrate the World ... Read More »

CATHOLIC leaders from the Holy See to Queensland have added their voices of sorrow and concern after back-to-back mass shootings in the United States last weekend, that left at least 31 dead and dozens injured. Pope Francis said he wanted to convey his spiritual closeness to the victims, the wounded and the families affected by the attacks. He also included ... Read More »

SOUTH Asia was battered by more than a week of monsoon rains, leading to major flooding in three countries and affecting 3.2 million children. But the monsoon season is just starting and the region is teetering on the edge of a humanitarian crisis. More than 150 people are confirmed dead but hundreds more remain missing and the death toll is ... Read More »

A CATHOLIC bishop in Papua New Guinea has branded rival tribesmen “monstrous cowards” and called for a law and order crackdown, after tribal clashes that claimed at least 24 lives  – including the hacking to death of women and children. “What kind of monstrous cowards can sneak up on defenceless women and children and slaughter them in their beds?” the ... Read More »

HONG Kong is at a crossroads. On one side are the rubber bullets, the pepper spray, the tear gas and the batons which mark the prospect of becoming yet another city under Chinese rule, and on the other is a million protesters who defaced the parliament building, a rebel mass of freedom fighters. The spark that lit the fire of ... Read More »

ATROCITIES perpetrated by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his government may constitute crimes against humanity, a new report from Amnesty International said. “The international community cannot turn its back on the victims of this unprecedented crisis, whether they remain inside Venezuela or have left the country,” Amnesty International’s Erika Guevara-Rosas said. In late January at least 47 people in 12 ... Read More »

A MAJOR new United Nations scientific report has warned that one million species were under threat of extinction and that land, seas and skies were exposed to the destructive impact of humans. The report was released on May 6, just a few days after Pope Francis offered a critique of capitalism’s “disastrous” impact on the environment, calling for a response ... Read More »

BISHOPS in Australia have welcomed a sweeping new law ordering officials in the Church worldwide to report cases of clergy sexual abuse – and attempts to cover it up – to their superiors.  Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge said the law contained in a new papal document “Vos Estis Lux Mundi” (You are the Light of ... Read More »