Celebrating Australia Day: Unwrapping "The Great Southland of the Holy Spirirt"

Authors

Russell Hardiman, University of Notre Dame AustraliaFollow

Publication Details

Hardiman, R. (2009). Celebrating Australia Day: Unwrapping "The Great Southland of the Holy Spirirt". Pastoral Liturgy, 39 (1), 9-12.

Abstract

To coincide with his arrival in Australia on Sunday july 13^th 2008, the Vatican has arranged to release The official message to Australians from Pope Benedict XVI. He called Australia the "great southern land of the Holy Spirit" (sic). This caused some interesting responses amongst commentators in the media about the provenance of this title and who used it first. The Perth Sunday Times, under the by-line of Tony Vermeer in Sydney, claimed "THE Pope has christened Australia the "great southern land of the Holy Spirirt, as if the Pope had invented the phrase. The initial consternation of the jopurnalist was perhaps further aggravated by the use of the same phrase by Cardinal Pell in the Opening Mass on July 15^th.

Keywords

Peer-reviewed