October 11, 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 - Pope Francis has spoken by telephone with a Catholic priest serving in Gaza, according to the news agency of the Italian bishops’ conference. The pope called Father Gabriel Romanelli, pastor of Holy Family Church, the only Catholic Church in Gaza City and in the Gaza Strip, on October 9. Romanelli said Francis shared “his closeness and prayers for the entire Church community of Gaza and all the parishioners and inhabitants” and imparted his blessing on them. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255630/pope-francis-calls-gaza-priest-as-israel-announces-blockade In a message to Vancouver’s Jewish community, Vancouver Archbishop J Michael Miller “unequivocally condemned” Saturday’s attack on Israel, calling it an offense against moral and international law. Commenting from Rome where he is attending the Synod on Synodality, the archbishop said Monday the news about “the Hamas incursion into Israel is devastating.” The nature of the attack and the taking of women and children as hostages was “a serious violation not only of international law but, even more importantly, of the moral law that is written in the conscience of every human being,” he said. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255640/archbishop-of-vancouver-calls-attack-on-israel-contrary-to-moral-and-international-law Two 12-year-olds were identified by police Sunday as suspects in the vandalism of a Massachusetts Catholic church, which included a fire being set to an altar cloth, a tabernacle cloth, and the lectionary. The two juveniles, a boy and a girl, will not face any charges at this time, police said. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255635/two-12-year-olds-identified-as-vandals-in-massachusetts-church-fire An Oklahoma school authority on Monday gave the thumbs-up to a contract for the nation’s first religious chart