The Migrant Jubilee Cross, which is making its way around Australia, has officially started its pilgrimage around Melbourne. Source: Melbourne Catholic.
On Friday, the cross was carried into St Patrick’s Cathedral by representatives from the local Filipino, Vietnamese and Sudanese communities for a special Vespers service led by Melbourne Archbishop Peter A Comensoli.
The cross has been travelling around Australia since October 2025, and symbolises the hopes and prayers of migrants and refugees in Australia.
It was crafted from Australian timber and sits on a boat-shaped base. Emblazoned on the cross is the constellation of the Southern Cross, a symbol that has guided travellers and dreamers across the southern skies.
Embedded within the cross are the relics of the Holy Family and St Mary of the Cross MacKillop.
During his homily on Friday night, Archbishop Comensoli described the cross’s pilgrimage as “a moving embrace” from God, and said it was a reminder of the “safe harbour” that the Church is called to be.
“In a world where borders are often closed, walls are constructed and hearts are hardened, the Church is called to be an instrument of shelter, a safe harbour in which no one is a stranger, no one is disposable and everyone matters,” Archbishop Comensoli said.
“Migrants and refugees have come to these shores from every corner of the earth since colonial times. We – all of us – the older and the more recent arrivals, stand before the lamb, slain on the cross, to ask what needs to change so that our lives resemble the heavenly gathering.
“We are invited to be part of that heavenly place, where no one is an alien and where everyone is a citizen in God’s homeland.”
During the liturgy, music was led the Filipino Chaplaincy Choir, who sang the official Jubilee of Hope hymn as the cross and the crowd processed from the nave of the Cathedral to the Sacred Heart Chapel for veneration.
The cross will visit a number of Melbourne parishes before making its way to the Sandhurst and Ballarat dioceses and across to the Perth Archdiocese.
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A safe harbour: Migrant Jubilee Cross arrives in Melbourne (Melbourne Catholic)
