The opening of the Synod on Synodality on October 9, 2021 invites the question of what it means to be Church today and its meaning in history. This question is also at the basis of the Synodal journey that the Italian Church is setting out on, and of those in progress or beginning in Germany,… Read the full article
In our world Church today, there are two conversations at a national level about how a national Synod should occur. One is in Germany and one is in Australia. We want to address developments in both Churches. Firstly, to update you on the one in Australia – which of course has a local flavor but… Read the full article
“For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission” is the title of a journey solemnly begun on October 9-10, 2021, in Rome, and then again on October 17 in each particular Church around the world. On March 7, 2020, the announcement had been made that Francis wanted to hold the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of… Read the full article
At 6:10 a.m. on September 12, 2021, a flight with the pope on board, together with, his entourage and 78 accredited journalists, took off from Fiumicino airport for Budapest, where it landed around 7:45 a.m. Thus began the 34th apostolic journey of Pope Francis. The reason for the stop in the Hungarian capital was the… Read the full article
In his June 21, 2019, address in Naples, Pope Francis encouraged the elaboration of a Mediterranean theology. This theology, he specified, will bring into play “new narratives”: “There is a need for renewed and shared narratives that, starting from listening to the roots and the present, speak to the hearts of people, narratives in which… Read the full article
If Russia is a country of extremes, Siberia is so to a greater extent. In Europe, Siberia is a byword for the freezing cold, but not everyone knows that much of Siberia is tropically hot in the summer. Siberia is a part of the world rich in fossil fuels, which, while helping to keep the… Read the full article
Pope Francis’ encyclical Fratelli Tutti has a number of parallels with the African ethic of Ubuntu. Published in October 2020, the encyclical has drawn attention to the social consciousness on solidarity between different members of society based on social-interdependence. The African concept of Ubuntu largely refers to inter-connectedness within humanity and between its members, and… Read the full article
Pope Francis has dwelt at length on the “pastoral conversion” of the parish. In Evangelii Gaudium (EG), quoting Vatican II, he wrote, “‘Every renewal of the Church essentially consists in an increase of fidelity to her own calling […] Christ summons the Church as she goes her pilgrim way… to that continual reformation of which… Read the full article
