Cardinal George Pell, who died on Jan. 10, left behind an article and a memorandum that revealed his thoughts about Pope Francis, his actions, and future conclaves, among many others.

A leading Australian Catholic and close advisor to Pope Francis, the cardinal had participated in the funeral of his friend, Pope Benedict XVI, just last week.

“Even if you leave the ordination question aside for a moment, there is still a great need to explore ways of engaging women in all other levels of the life of the church in significant roles. There is still a lot of work to be done.”

In their first private one-on-one conversation, the president of the Australian Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, S.D.B., told Pope Francis, “The church in Australia is alive!”

A gathering of 277 bishops, clergy, religious and lay people in Australia has just completed four years of consultations, discernment and drafting ideas at its second and final assembly. What did we learn from their efforts?

Francine Pirola, co-director of the Sydney-based Marriage Resource Center, said the council had produced a “vastly improved” revision of the section of the document on women, which had been the focus of a major disruption July 6.