October 16, 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 Vatican’s Synod on Synodality has passed the halfway mark for this year. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255696/this-week-at-the-synod-on-synodality-participation-focus-comes-amid-possible-early-exit-of-chinese-bishops Midway through the Synod on Synodality, two bishops from mainland China are suddenly departing the assembly early, and as of Monday there is not yet an explanation. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255697/chinese-bishops-leaving-synod-on-synodality-early The Latin Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem has offered to be exchanged for the children being held hostage in the Gaza Strip by Hamas. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255694/jerusalem-cardinal-pizzaballa-offers-to-be-exchanged-for-gaza-hostages Today the Church celebrates Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, the French nun whose visions of Christ helped to spread devotion to the Sacred Heart throughout the Western Church. Her life changed in response to a vision she saw one night while returning from a dance, in which she saw Christ being scourged. Margaret believed she had betrayed Jesus, by pursuing the pleasures of the world rather than her religious vocation, and a the at the age of 22, she decided to enter a convent. Two days after Christmas of 1673, Margaret experienced Christ's presence in an extraordinary way while in prayer. She heard Christ explain that he desired to show his love for the human race in a special way, by encouraging devotion to “the heart that so loved mankind.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-margaret-mary-alacoque-626 The Church also celebrates Saint Gerard Majella. Saint Gerard entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer in 1749 and professed of perpetual vows under the Redemptorist's founder, Saint Alphonsus Liguori, in 1751. He served as tailor and infirmar