Category: Featured

Pope Francis called for all Catholics to take part in this year’s World Rosary Day on 7 October, the Feast of the Holy Rosary, by coming together at their local time of 7pm to recite the Rosary at shrines, in community settings or at home.

Pope Francis’ new ambassador to New Zealand and the Pacific has formally presented his credentials to Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro, formalising his latest posting as a member of the Vatican’s diplomatic service.

Pope Francis has published a new encyclical focusing on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in the context of a world ‘which seems to have lost its heart’.

‘Dilexit nos’ (He Loved Us), released on 24 October, is Pope Francis’ fourth encyclical, and comes at a time of profound global challenges.

Pope Francis has declared Sunday 17 November 2024 to be the eighth World Day of the Poor, with the motto ‘The prayer of the poor rises up to God’.

Poverty is driven by many factors – a lot of them structural inequalities that have existed for decades. People can fall into poverty at any time.

The latest version of WelCom is available to read here

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.