The Los Angeles Times reports: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — Pope Benedict XVI chose this land of majestic natural beauty to condemn the squandering of the planet’s resources. He used a gathering of tens of thousands of Catholic youths to warn against sterile materialism and the exploitative manipulation of mass media and the Internet. But, as in his spring visit to the United States, one theme loomed over Benedict’s weeklong pilgrimage to Australia: the sexual abuse of minors by clergy.

Read the whole story.

Compelling online column by an Australian columnist named Andrew Hamilton:

“The previous Pope had an instinctive feel for an audience and an occasion. He was a media performer, a Pope for television. Even though what he said was often deep, his speaking was theatre and what he said was declaratory. So people went to see him speak,” Hamilton writes.

“Benedict is a scholar and a naturally reserved man. Public performance comes less easily to him. He has a care for words and argument, and many Western readers find him easier to understand than his predecessor. For all his taste for colourful and ancient clothing, he is perhaps a Pope for radio.”

The entire column is here.

I have a cousin in Australia — Annette Condello, whose parents hail originally from Calabria and are connected to the Catanoso family tree. I didn’t learn about Annette until after I learned I have a saint in the family. She contacted me by email after the canonization, having seen a story I wrote online. We’ve been communicating ever since; we even talked on the phone a few times. She is a PhD candidate in archiecture and provided much-welcomed research material for me about the great earthquake of 1908 that devastated Reggio and Messina. I was thrilled to thank her in my book acknowledgements — another great gift from this project. A new family connection on another continent.

By the way, Pope Benedict XVI is heading to Australia, which brought this post to mind.