Latest news with #CatholicChurch
Herald Sun
5 hours ago
- Business
- Herald Sun
Melbourne historic church could fetch $5.5m
A landmark Armadale church linked to a former Victorian premier and coffee house baron has been listed for sale with $5.5m+ price hopes. Wealthy businessman and land owner James Munro laid the heritage-listed Uniting Church's foundation stone in 1886. Mr Munro, who served as Victorian Premier from 1880-1882, purchased the land at 86B Kooyong Rd for the house of worship to be built upon. RELATED: Catholic Church selling Melbourne terraces opposite St Patrick's Just heavenly: Holy listings boom across Vic as churches sell up Presbyterian Church lists $3m landmark Alma and Barkly church Designed by the Melbourne architecture firm Terry & Oakden, the Early English Gothic-style church features a nave, transept, apsis, organ, tower and spire, and seven car spaces. The 1438sq m site is also home to an interconnected building that has been converted to an office and is leased out on a short-term basis to a commercial tenant. CVA Property Consultants' managing director Ian Angelico and director Daniel Philip have the General Residential zoned-listing. 'The church is definitely a landmark,' Mr Angelico. 'The architecture is just magnificent, the stained glass windows are absolutely stunning.' He is expecting potential buyers to include community and religious groups, developers and owner-occupiers. 'There is scope to develop because of the very high ceilings, that would be subject to planning approval and the building would have to remain intact because of its heritage status,' Mr Angelico said. 'It could also possibly become an auction house or something similar.' Stonnington Council heritage documents state that the church is of historical significance for reasons including its association with Mr Munro. Alongside his political career and many business interests, he established several coffee palaces – accommodation and dining venues that did not serve alcohol – in locations including Melbourne, Geelong and Broken Hill in the 1800s. He was a partner in a company that bought Spring St's Grand Hotel, later Hotel Windsor, and turned it into a coffee palace. The church is 220m from Armadale train station and on the corner of High St's shopping strip. A post on the church's website stated that 'the hard decision to close' was made due the congregation's declining numbers and finances needed to support a minister and other expenses across the next five years. A church spokesperson said their last service was held in May, with congregation members joining other nearby places of worship including the Toorak Uniting Church. The Armadale site has roots going back to 1876 with the establishment of a Sunday school by the then-Toorak Presbyterian Church. Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox. MORE: Inner city site with $150m tower proposal sells Barber in Melbourne's west says farewell after six decades Mass bird deaths outside Melbourne shopping hub
AsiaOne
6 hours ago
- Politics
- AsiaOne
Spain proposes declassifying secret Franco era files, World News
MADRID — The Spanish government on Tuesday (July 22) introduced a bill to automatically declassify all secret government files older than 45 years, including documents from Francisco Franco's dictatorship and the transition to democracy. If approved by parliament, the proposed law could shed light on some of Spain's darkest chapters, including Franco's ties to Adolf Hitler, the locations of mass graves where victims of his 1939-75 rule were buried, and details of the 1966 Palomares nuclear accident caused by the mid-air collision of two US Air Force planes over a fishing village in southern Spain. "With this law we will overcome an obstacle in our legislation to put us in line with European standards," Justice Minister Felix Bolanos told reporters. "Citizens have the right to know. Administrations have the obligation to provide documentation that is important for history," he added. The bill seeks to replace the existing law governing official secrets, enacted during Franco's rule, which lacks provisions for automatic declassification based on the amount of time that has passed. The law would automatically declassify all documents older than 45 years unless they constituted a justified threat to national security, Bolanos said. For documents created after that period, the draft law outlines a tiered system: "highly classified" documents would remain secret for up to 60 years; "classified" files for up to 45 years; "confidential" material for up to nine years; and "restricted" documents for up to five years. The government should not restrict access to documents related to the Catholic Church or former King Juan Carlos, said the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARHM), a volunteer group dedicated to identifying victims of political violence during Spain's Civil War and Franco's dictatorship. It also warned that some documents may have already been removed or redacted, and it called for the immediate digitisation of records to ensure public access. Bolanos said that declassifying Franco-era files would be a gradual process given their volumes. The draft law must now pass through parliament, where Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's minority government struggles to garner sufficient votes as it weighs concessions to disparate political factions. [[nid:720457]]
UPI
10 hours ago
- Politics
- UPI
Catholic clergy: 'It is time to end this nonsense' in Gaza
1 of 6 | Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, called for an end to "this nonsense" during a joint press conference about the severe suffering they witnessed during a rare visit to Gaza on Tuesday. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo July 22 (UPI) -- The Catholic Church's Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem called on regional and world leaders to end the violence in Gaza after Thursday's deadly church shelling. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Patriarch Theophilos III, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and other clergy toured the remains of the Catholic Church of the Holy Family in northern Gaza on Tuesday. They called for an end to the war during a press conference held afterward at the Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center in Israel. "We entered a place of devastation, but also of wonderful humanity," Pizzaballa told media. "We walked through the dust of ruins, past collapsed buildings and tents everywhere: in courtyards, alleyways, on the streets and on the beach -- tents that have become homes for those who have lost everything," Pizzaballa said. "And yet, in the midst of all this, we encountered something deeper than the destruction: the dignity of the human spirit that refuses to be extinguished," he continued. "We met mothers preparing food for others, nurses treating wounds with gentleness, and people of all faiths still praying to the God who sees and never forgets." Pizzaballa called on regional and world leaders to find a way to restore "life, dignity and all lost humanity" in Gaza. "It is time to end this nonsense, to end the war and put the common good of people as the top priority," he said. Patriarch Theophilos III called Gaza a "land bruised by prolonged affliction and pierced by the cries of its people" after touring the church's grounds. "We entered as servants of the suffering Body of Christ, walking among the wounded, the bereaved, the displaced and the faithful whose dignity remains unbroken despite their agony," Theophilos III said. "We encountered a people crushed by the weight of war, yet carrying within them the image of God," he said. "Among the broken walls of the Church of the Holy Family and the wounded hearts of its faithful, we witnessed both profound grief and unyielding hope." Theophilos III said, "Silence in the face of suffering is a betrayal of conscience," and called on the international community to make peace in Gaza. Two were killed and several injured, including a priest who suffered non-life-threatening injuries, when the IDF shelled the church. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday apologized for Israel Defense Forces shelling the Catholic church, which is the only one in Gaza. He said a "stray ammunition" struck the church, and Israeli officials are investigating the matter. Local residents and displaced Gazans were using the church for shelter when it was struck.
Reuters
15 hours ago
- General
- Reuters
Prague's St Vitus Cathedral installing new, long-overdue pipe organ
PRAGUE, July 22 (Reuters) - Workers are installing more than 6,000 organ pipes to resonate through St Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle, seen as the symbolic completion of one of Europe's greatest Gothic architectural monuments after more than 700 years. Installation of the new organ began in April and is set to conclude in August, before the painstaking work of tuning the pipes begins. The new organ will be inaugurated on June 15 next year, the feast day of St Vitus. The cathedral, where construction began in 1344, kings were crowned throughout the centuries and former president Vaclav Havel's funeral mass took place, now has an organ installed from 1932, but its sound does not carry through the entire basilica. "The significance of this organ is not only liturgical and cultural, but I think it is also fundamentally social," said Vojtech Matl, a supervisory board member of the foundation established by the Catholic Church for the project. The foundation, started in 2017 to raise money for the organ, has collected more than 109 million crowns ($5.2 million) from thousands of donors, including 20,000 small donors who adopted parts of the new instrument. Spanish organ workshop Gerhard Grenzing has built the new organ, which has been delivered in smaller pieces to speed up installation. After installation, each of the pipes will need to be tuned by hand, checking its sound and strength, which according to organologist Stepan Svoboda will take until the end of the year. ($1 = 20.9420 Czech crowns)
Straits Times
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Prague's St Vitus Cathedral installing new, long-overdue pipe organ
A worker sits as he installs parts of a new organ built in El Papiol, Spain, at the workshop of world-renowned organ builder Gerhard Grenzing, in St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle, in Prague, Czech Republic, July 22, 2025. REUTERS/Eva Korinkova PRAGUE - Workers are installing more than 6,000 organ pipes to resonate through St Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle, seen as the symbolic completion of one of Europe's greatest Gothic architectural monuments after more than 700 years. Installation of the new organ began in April and is set to conclude in August, before the painstaking work of tuning the pipes begins. The new organ will be inaugurated on June 15 next year, the feast day of St Vitus. The cathedral, where construction began in 1344, kings were crowned throughout the centuries and former president Vaclav Havel's funeral mass took place, now has an organ installed from 1932, but its sound does not carry through the entire basilica. "The significance of this organ is not only liturgical and cultural, but I think it is also fundamentally social," said Vojtech Matl, a supervisory board member of the foundation established by the Catholic Church for the project. The foundation, started in 2017 to raise money for the organ, has collected more than 109 million crowns ($5.2 million) from thousands of donors, including 20,000 small donors who adopted parts of the new instrument. Spanish organ workshop Gerhard Grenzing has built the new organ, which has been delivered in smaller pieces to speed up installation. After installation, each of the pipes will need to be tuned by hand, checking its sound and strength, which according to organologist Stepan Svoboda will take until the end of the year. REUTERS Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Two found dead after fire in Toa Payoh flat Singapore Singaporeans aged 21 to 59 can claim $600 SG60 vouchers from July 22 Singapore Singaporeans continue to hold world's most powerful passport in latest ranking Singapore Singapore, Vietnam agree to step up defence ties, dialogue between leaders Asia Malaysia govt's reform pledge tested as DAP chief bows over unresolved 2009 death of political aide Tech Singapore to increase pool of early adopters in AI to complement data scientists, engineers Singapore Prosecution says judge who acquitted duo of bribing ex-LTA official had copied defence arguments Singapore Ports and planes: The 2 Singapore firms helping to keep the world moving
