As the Church begins its Advent and Christmas seasons, the pastor of Gaza’s lone Catholic parish stressed the importance of stepping up one’s spiritual life amid the tragedies of war, and said the pope’s attention to them has been a major consolation.
A deadly bomb that exploded during a Mass Dec. 3 killed at least four people and injured dozens at a university in a predominantly Muslim city in southern Philippines.
Though absent from the COP28 summit in Dubai due to ongoing concerns for his health, Pope Francis sent a message for the inauguration of the first Faith Pavilion at a United Nations climate event, stressing the responsibility of religious leaders in caring for the planet.
Pope Francis on Dec. 3 recited his noontime Angelus address from his private residence rather than St. Peter’s Square in order to avoid changing temperatures as he continues treatment for what the Vatican has described as lung inflammation caused by bronchitis.
Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, is expected to sign an immigration bill that would make it a state crime to cross into Texas from Mexico. Catholic organizations including the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops have opposed the legislation.
Just hours after a Vatican news conference confirming Pope Francis’ trip to Dubai this weekend for a United Nations climate summit, the Vatican announced Tuesday that it has been canceled upon medical advice due to an ongoing infection causing lung inflammation.
A cohort of Japanese and U.S. Catholic bishops have applauded this week’s meeting of nations that have formally joined the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as “another historic step on the journey toward hope, toward the light, toward a world free of nuclear weapons.”
Qatar’s foreign affairs ministry said Nov. 27 that an agreement has been reached to extend the Israel-Hamas truce for another two days. The announcement was made by a ministry’s spokesperson on X on the final day of a four-day cease-fire in which hostages abducted by Hamas in October have been released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
As a result of what the Vatican described on Monday as an inflammation of his lungs, for which he’s receiving antibiotic treatments, Pope Francis has postponed several commitments in the coming days in order to preserve his strength for a planned Dec. 1-3 trip to Dubai for the COP-28 climate change summit.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — With hopes growing for a temporary, humanitarian cease-fire, Pope Francis met at the Vatican Nov. 22 with relatives of Israelis held hostage by Hamas and, separately, with relatives of Palestinians suffering under the Israeli siege of Gaza.
