Father Jesús Mariscal, parochial vicar at St. Paul Cathedral in Yakima, stepped out of the rectory for what he thought would be a quick trip to buy doughnuts for a marriage preparation meeting with an engaged couple.
Following long days of delicate and intense negotiations between Israel and Hamas with the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the U.S., the first group of hostages held by Hamas has been freed.
Celebrating an outdoor Mass in a camp for migrants amid a cold and unrelenting rain, Jesuit Father Brian Strassburger preached patience. He spoke of "The Parable of the Ten Virgins" from the Gospel of Matthew, urging the assembled migrants to "wait well" as they bided their time in trying conditions.
A person hearing God's call to follow him does not mean that person then belongs to a special or privileged clique of the perfect or the "elected," Pope Francis said.
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.
When Pope Francis visits Dubai in the United Arab Emirates Dec. 1-3 to address the opening of the U.N. Climate Change Conference, he will be the first pope ever to attend one of the global gatherings that began in 1995.
Pope Francis expressed his concern about concrete initiatives individual dioceses and the Catholic Church in Germany as a whole are taking, including the establishment of a synodal council, which, he said, threaten to steer it away from the universal church.