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On Friday 18 July 2008 the Holy Father met with representatives of the Christian churches and ecclesial communions present in Australia and gave the following address. Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,I give heartfelt thanks to God for this opportunity to meet and pray with all of you who have come here representing various Christian communities in Australia. Grateful for Bishop Forsyth’s and Cardinal Pell’s words of welcome, I joyfully greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus, the "cornerstone" of the "household of God" (Eph 2:19-20). I would like to offer a particular greeting to Cardinal Edward Cassidy,...

On Friday 18 July 2008, Pope Benedict met with and addressed the representatives of the non-Christian  religions present in Australia. Dear Friends, I extend cordial greetings of peace and goodwill to all of you who are here representing various religious traditions in Australia. Grateful for this encounter, I thank Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence and Sheikh Shardy for the words of welcome which they expressed in their own name and on behalf of your respective communities.Australia is renowned for the congeniality of its people towards neighbour and visitor alike. It is a nation that holds freedom of religion in high regard. Your...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Thursday told a huge gathering of young people that they were inheriting a planet whose resources had been scarred and squandered to fuel insatiable consumption. His latest appeal to save the planet for future generations came in a address to some 150,000 youths in Sydney after he rode through the city's harbor standing on the outdoor deck of a white ferry as dozens of boats blew their horns. "Reluctantly we come to acknowledge that there are also scars which mark the surface of our earth, erosion, deforestation, the squandering of the world's mineral and...

Simply marvelous! Inhale the exuberant joy of this description of the impact of WYD pilgrims and you can see God is already mightily at work softening the hearts of Sydneysiders. "THE sun was just rising. It was around 6am and bloody cold on Sunday morning at the top of a hill in a suburban street in Sydney's Berowra Heights. That's when I first saw it. As I started off for a run, the chatter of two young women could be heard. Then, from the fog, they emerged. Bleary-eyed, no doubt from a rough night on the floor, and under-dressed...

p>SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 14, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Photos show Benedict XVI enjoying his days of rest Down Under -- praying, working and delighting in a classical music concert. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, told journalists that the Pope is "absolutely serene and resting." Some members of the Australian press had painted a bleak picture of the Pontiff's health, saying that the Holy Father was extremely exhausted after his flight of more than 20 hours. But the Vatican spokesman presented a video Monday afternoon, local time, showing the Pope praying and walking with his secretaries at the...

SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 14, 2008 (Zenit.org).- World Youth Day is already bringing converts to the Catholic Church, and it hasn't even started yet. Sydney's Polish-Catholic community World Youth Day coordinator, 24-year-old Basia Slusarczyk, explained to ZENIT that her non-Catholic boyfriend is participating in the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. His conversion was triggered by the experience of praying with her for the fruits of World Youth Day. "He is attending World Youth Day with me and I hope the week of events and the solidarity with so many Catholics from around the world will make him proud to be...

TV Schedule for World Youth Day 2008  Date ET PT GMT Program Name Description Tue 07/15/08 2:00 AM Mon 11 PM 6:00 WORLD YOUTH DAY 2008 ~ OPENING MASS WITH CARDINAL PELL (LIVE) (3 hrs) Presided over by Cardinal George Pell, this Mass formally celebrates the opening of WYD 2008. A much-anticipated feature of the Mass will be the arrival of the WYD Cross and Icon. Tue 07/15/08 12 PM 9 AM 16:00 Encore Tue 07/15/08 9 PM 6 PM 1:00 Encore Wed 07/16/08 12 AM Tues 9 PM 4:00 Encore           Thu 07/17/08 12:30...

Adult stem cell research, for the pro-life community, is ethically superior to embryonic stem cell research because it doesn't involve the destruction of human life. Scientists at Griffith University in Australia are advancing the notion that its effectiveness is superior as well. The researchers published an article on Friday in the medical journal Stem Cells showing that the use of adult stem cells may be getting closer to a cure, or at least an effective treatment, for Parkinson's. Their new studies show adult stem cells from a patient's own nose could treat their condition. The paper showed the finding that...

SYDNEY, Australia, June 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - New research on stem-cell therapy shows scientists have found that the cure for Parkinson's disease may lie right under one's nose - or rather, in it. Researchers from Griffith University have published a study in the journal Stem Cells that has found adult stem-cells harvested from the noses of Parkinson's patients developed into dopamine-producing brain cells upon being transplanted into the brain of a lab rat. Professor Alan Mackay-Sim said researchers simulated Parkinson's symptoms in rats by creating lesions on one side of the rat's brain to imitate the damage Parkinson's disease wreaks...

A SYDNEY council's rejection of a proposed Islamic school is a victory for racism, a Muslim community organisation says. Camden Council last night voted unanimously to reject a proposal for a 1200-student Islamic school, a decision that followed months of heated community meetings and the release of an adverse report by the council's planners last week. Mayor Chris Patterson said the council's decision was based on concerns surrounding the impact on traffic flows, loss of agricultural land, highlighted in the planners report and not on religious grounds. But the independent think tank FAIR (Forum on Australia's Islamic Relations) said the...

ith its lace curtain bungalows and steepled Anglican church, the once tranquil town of Camden in New South Wales seems the most improbable of settings for a row that combines race and religion. Proud of its rich history, the town promotes itself as "the birthplace of the nation's wealth", for it was here, in the early 19th Century, that the sheep and dairy industries first began to flourish. Now the town, which lies on south-west fringes of Sydney, is confronting a very 21st Century issue: the proposal to construct an Islamic school for some 1,200 Muslim pupils. Behind the proposal...

The group searching for HMAS Sydney has found the wreckage of the World War II Australian warship off the coast of Western Australia, the ABC has confirmed. The breakthrough by the Finding Sydney Foundation comes less than 24 hours after it announced it had located the wreckage of the German raider Kormoran, which also sank after a battle with the Sydney in November 1941.

A MILITARY-scale operation, funded by taxpayers, has begun to allow a Melbourne terror suspect to visit his dying brother interstate. Izzydeen Atik, 25, will make a mercy dash to Sydney on an $8000 chartered jet to farewell older brother Merhy, who is stricken with liver disease. Melbourne Magistrates' Court heard Mr Atik will be in the custody of up to 10 federal agents and will be under guard at secret locations in Melbourne and Sydney for his flights. More than 20 officers are expected to guard Sydney's Westmead Hospital, where the final goodbyes will probably take place today. Estimates of...

"Paulo Melo, 29, has been in a coma at the Royal Darwin Hospital for two weeks, after severing his spinal cord in a car crash." - read more below: doctor requested, family objected, court granted

It was as if someone had poured tons of coffee and milk into the ocean, then switched on a giant blender. Suddenly the shoreline north of Sydney were transformed into the Cappuccino Coast. Foam swallowed an entire beach and half the nearby buildings, including the local lifeguards' centre, in a freak display of nature at Yamba in New South Wales. One minute a group of teenage surfers were waiting to catch a wave, the next they were swallowed up in a giant bubble bath. The foam was so light that they could puff it out of their hands and watch...

A MAN has been charged over a fire bomb attack on the Prime Minister's Sydney residence. The man, age 31, from Lane Cove is expected to face court tomorrow after being charged earlier today. About 11.50am today, reports were received that a man had allegedly thrown a woven cotton shoulder bag over the outer gates of Kirribilli House and into the grounds. It's alleged the bag was lit at the time of the incident. Officers from Australian Federal Police Protective Services extinguished the item and held the man until NSW Police arrived and took him into custody. A crime scene...

SAN FRANCISCO - Air New Zealand is delving into the gay and lesbian market with a special themed flight featuring drag queens, pink cocktails and a cabaret performed by flight crew. The destination for the airline's one-time "Pink Flight," on Feb. 26, ex San Francisco, is the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney, Australia, one of the world's most well-attended gay events, said Jodi Williams, an Air New Zealand marketing director. "We're tailoring inseat entertainment with gay-friendly movies, contests, different music and things like that," Williams said. The airline also plans to throw a going away party for passengers,...

The pilot behind a security scare in Sydney airspace this afternoon is being questioned by authorities. A small Cessna aircraft had to be escorted by two F/A-18 Defence fighter jets into Sydney's Bankstown Airport, after failing to respond in restricted APEC airspace above Sydney. A witness has told commercial radio the fighter jets fired flares at the plane. He says shortly before 3:00pm AEST he saw the plane enter restricted airspace over the western suburb of Penrith before flares were fired at it by two F/A-18 jets. "This light plane came over in restricted airspace because of APEC and these...

Protestors shout slogans during an anti-war rally in Sydney, as world leaders arrive for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. US President George W. Bush has said he saw enough progress in Iraq that he may soon be able to announce a partial US troop withdrawal. Bush made the comments during a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister John Howard -- his staunchest war ally.(AFP/Jung Yeon-Je)

US President George W. Bush has apologised to the people of Sydney for the widespread inconvenience the APEC summit security lockdown will cause. Speaking to Sky News, Mr Bush said he was not aware of how the city would be affected, but he was sorry if he was putting people out. "I have a lot on my mind," he said, adding that it was the first he had heard of the planned security crackdown that will see much of the northern part of the city fenced off as well as expanded police powers to search people and seize banned items....