February 9, 2023

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts. www.catholicnewsagency.com - The Claretian Missionaries’ Independent Delegation for the Antilles reported that on February 7 one of its priests was kidnapped in Haiti. Father Antoine Macaire Christian Noah was abducted in the morning when he was going to his missionary community in Kazal, about 20 miles north of Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital. The kidnappers have contacted “the superior of his missionary community asking for money in exchange for his release,” according to the Claretians. Macaire is originally from Cameroon and has been the parochial vicar at Saint Michael the Archangel Parish in Kazal for one year. In recent months, armed gangs have gained significant control over the country in Haiti and also are attacking Catholic schools and hospitals. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253591/priest-kidnapped-in-haiti-captors-demand-ransom Three prominent Christian leaders in Syria issued a joint letter Tuesday calling for an end to sanctions against Syria, which they say are unjustly preventing vital aid from reaching the people most affected by the devastating earthquake that struck the region earlier this week. The February 7 letter was signed by the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Youssef the first, the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem the second, and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch John the tenth. They wrote: “We, the three patriarchs with the heads of churches in Syria, demand from the United Nations and the countries imposing sanctions on Syria to lift the embargo and unjust sanctions imposed on the Syrian people, and to take exceptional measures and immediate initiatives to secure the delivery of the much-needed relief and humanitarian aid.” According to the latest available estimates as of midday Wednesday, the 7.8-magnitude quake ​​has left at least 11,600 people dead in Turkey and Syria. Many