Pope Francis speaks during his general audience in the San Damaso Courtyard of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican May 26, 2021. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

A leading Australian canon lawyer says revisions to Church law announced this week clarify the nature of certain canonical crimes and seek to ensure they are dealt with in an effective way.

Pope Francis issued the apostolic constitution Pascite Gregem Dei on June 1, reforming Book VI of the Code of Canon Law, which deals with individual crimes. The changes have been many years in the making, and revise parts of the Code published in 1983.

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Members of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference during their 2019 Ad Limina Apostolorum visit

Australia’s Catholic bishops have used a weeks-long process of prayer and discernment to identify three priorities to guide the work of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

The recommendation to identify priorities for the Bishops Conference arose from a structured review of Conference operations and financing undertaken in 2019.

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Bishop Vincent Long van Nguyen OFM Conv says the Church in Australia is well placed to engage with the Laudato Si’ action plan in light of an upcoming Social Justice Statement on integral ecology.

Bishop Long, the chairman of the Bishops Commission for Social Justice, Mission and Service, was commenting on the plan for environmental sustainability Pope Francis announced earlier this week.

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Bishops Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge signs the decree of convocation (Archdiocese of Brisbane photo)

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has formally convoked the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia, with its president Archbishop Mark Coleridge signing the required decree on Pentecost Sunday.

The decree of convocation is the final necessary step while preparing for the celebration of a plenary council. The convocation follows the approval of the related statutes and regulatory norms, the approval and February publication of the Council’s working document Continuing the Journey and the recent approval of the Council agenda.

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Pope Francis has this evening accepted the resignation of Bishop Max Davis, the Military Ordinary for Australia.

The Military Ordinariate seeks to ensure that the pastoral care of all those associated with Australia’s defence forces is provided at the highest possible level.

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A series of resources highlighting the Church’s ministries in Australia was inspired by Pope Francis’ World Communications Day message for 2021, which invites people to “Come and See”.

Marked towards the end of the seven-week Easter season each year, World Communications Day celebrates the achievements of the communications media and considers how it can best use them to promote Gospel values.

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The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has called for the Australian Government to move quickly to hold a referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament once a model for the Voice has been chosen.

The Bishops Conference submission supports the views of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council (NATSICC) and urges engagement with groups for whom faith is important.

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People across the country are being invited to join a months-long prayer campaign in the build-up to the first assembly of the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia, starting on October 3.

Due to launch this weekend on the Feast of Pentecost, “Fan the Flame” will allow for people in any context to engage with Scripture, papal writings and documents prepared for the Plenary Council in bringing a focus to their prayers for the October assembly and beyond.

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Pope Francis has this evening announced that Msgr Anthony Ireland and Fr Martin Ashe, senior priests in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, will serve as auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese.

Msgr Ireland and Fr Ashe will join Auxiliary Bishop Terry Curtin in supporting Archbishop Peter A Comensoli in Australia’s most populous diocese.

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A website launched yesterday aims to deepen people’s appreciation of sacred art by featuring Australian artists and liturgical art in its various forms.

The new website, art.catholic.org.au, is a work of the National Liturgical Architecture and Art Council (NLAAC). It was launched virtually during the plenary meeting of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

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Fr Khalid Marogi, born and raised in Iraq and having served as a priest in Australia for more than two decades, has this week taken up the role as director of the Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office.

Fr Marogi replaces long-time director Fr Maurizio Pettenà CS, who will complete his time with the agency next month.

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Registrations are now open for the second Catholic Men’s Gathering, which will again encourage men to gather in groups across the country to participate in a combined online and face-to-face event.

The inaugural event last year, set to be held in Sydney, was moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A series of video modules were created, including prayer, presentations, reflections and invitations for group conversation.

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