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In his World Day of Peace statement for 2010, the Pope again highlights the urgency of responding to climate change. Pope Benedict has had major problems in communicating this message, notably a lack of journalistic expertise to make his documents more readable.
The Republican Right's claim that Obama has yet to achieve anything is a smokescreen for their rage, for Obama got this award precisely because he is 'not Bush'. To speak a credible language of moral inspiration and hope to the world is an achievement in itself.
Since the axing of The Religion Report, mainstream ABC news and current affairs programs have missed a range of important religious topics and events. It seems unlikely that General Manager Mark Scott will be able to maintain religion as a viable reality on the ABC.
Many conservative Catholics are sceptical about global warming. For them environmentalism is the new communism. This echoes the paranoia of the '50s and '60s are clear, when anyone with an interest in social justice was suspect.
Reflections on the 40th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing can help us understand the major themes of Pope Benedicts's social encyclical, and explain why many critics of this radical document have missed the point.
The Pope's social encyclical comes at a time when Australian churches increasingly have to provide charity to those who have been failed by the state. For charity to constitute true giving, social organisations must also be prepared to commit politically.
This week's release of the new social encyclical Caritas in Veritate expands moral teaching to promote a concept of 'human ecology' that covers both human life and the environment. It would seem that Benedict is not a climate change sceptic.
The Pope's encyclical on social teaching is not a strident critique of capitalism, but it does confront abuses in the global economy. Benedict is critical of the free market ideology which extolled wealth creation but ignored the need for equity and social justice.
In his forthcoming response to the global financial crisis, Pope Benedict does not have to reinvent the wheel. Catholic social writings have long insisted that economics must be directed to serve the good of everyone, not just the rich.
Bishop Bathersby and Fr Kennedy are pastoral, down to earth men. If there had been more dialogue between them, and between Cardinal Pell and Bishop Robinson, the Catholic Church would be more the Church Jesus would want it to be.
'About half' was Pope John XXIII's reply to a visitor who asked how many people worked in the Vatican. The Vatican is reportedly updating its employment practices by offering incentive payments based on performance. But these devalue work and represent it purely as a financial transaction.
The year 1968 is usually associated with student protests. In the Catholic Church, it is remembered for Humanae Vitae, the papal document directed against artificial contraception, and for the turmoil that followed it.