Author: Rose Miller

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Pope Francis was received with open arms wherever he went on his recent Apostolic Journey to Southeast Asia and Oceania. It was his longest and most challenging trip ever, taking the 87-year-old pontiff 32,000 kilometres by air to four countries from 2 to 13 September.

He visited the country with the world’s largest Muslim population – Indonesia, with about 242 million – and the country with the highest percentage of Catholics outside the Vatican itself – East Timor, with some 98 per cent.

New Zealand’s Catholic bishops and leaders of religious congregations have renewed a ‘sincere and unconditional apology’ to people who suffered abuse in Catholic settings as part of an initial response to a national inquiry. 

Catholics are being encouraged to reflect on the infinite dignity of every person as the Church in Aotearoa New Zealand marks Support Life Sunday on 13 October.

Each year, the Catholic Church chooses a key theme for Support Life Sunday. The Vatican’s document Dignitas Infinita (On Human Dignity) is the focus for 2024.

John the Baptist Kinh van Nguyen, one of the Archdiocese of Wellington’s seminarians, was ordained to the Sacred Order of Deacons on Friday 6 September by Archbishop Paul Martin sm, at Sacred Heart Church, Ponsonby, in Auckland.