News Briefs

Bishop Pablo Virgilio S. David of Kalookan, Philippines (left), Cardinal Leonardo Steiner, archbishop of Manaus, Brazil (center), and Archbishop Zbigņev Stankevičs of Riga (right) all spoke at the Synod press conference on Oct. 18, 2023. / Credi… […]

Pope Francis presides over his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Oct. 18, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 18, 2023 / 13:08 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis at the end of his general audience on Wednesday morning announced another day of prayer and fasting for an end to the Israel-Hamas war. 

“I have decided to call for a day of fasting and prayer on Friday, Oct. 27,” the pope said.

It will be “a day of penance to which I invite sisters and brothers of the various Christian denominations, those belonging to other religions, and all those who have at heart the cause of peace in the world, to join in as they see fit,” the Holy Father continued.

The vigil will take place at 6 p.m. in St. Peter’s Square, where the faithful will join the pope to participate in “an hour of prayer in a spirit of penance to implore peace in our time, peace in this world. I ask all the particular Churches to participate by arranging similar activities involving the people of God,” the pope said.

The Holy Father’s announcement comes after the Catholic Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, called for a global day of prayer and fasting, which was held on Oct. 17, “to deliver to God the Father our thirst for peace, justice, and reconciliation.”

The Holy Father’s announcement was preceded by his renewed appeal for peace in the Holy Land.

“Our thoughts turn to Palestine and Israel,” the pope said. “The number of victims is rising and the situation in Gaza is desperate. Please, let everything possible be done to avoid a humanitarian disaster. The possible widening of the conflict is disturbing, while so many war fronts are already open in the world. May weapons be silenced, and let us heed the cry for peace of the poor, the people, the children.”

“Brothers and sisters, war does not solve any problem: It sows only death and destruction, foments hate, proliferates revenge. War cancels out the future, it cancels out the future. I urge believers to take just one side in this conflict: that of peace. But not in words — in prayer, with total dedication,” he concluded. 

The Holy Father’s comments come as the death toll continues to rise in the conflict-ridden area. The United Nations issued a press release on Tuesday evening stating that “a staggering” 4,200 people have been killed and “over 1 million people [have been] displaced in just 10 days.” 

Israel was blamed by Hamas after a Tuesday evening blast at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City left an estimated death toll of nearly 500, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The Israeli government has denied these allegations, blaming it instead on Hamas. Several Arab states have joined Hamas in condemning Israel.

An immediate wave of anger and condemnation spread across the Middle East, with some calls for further protests and even “a day of rage,” Al-Jazeera reported.

This escalation and mounting humanitarian crisis comes as U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Israel Wednesday morning to engage in high-level talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Pope Francis at the general audience at St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 18, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 18, 2023 / 09:57 am (CNA).

Pope Francis drew upon the example of St. Charles de Foucauld during his general audience Wednesday in his ongoing catechesis on apostolic zeal to stress the importance of centering our lives on Jesus. 

At the end of his remarks at his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 18, the pope called for peace in the Middle East and announced that Oct. 27 has been designated as a day of prayer and fasting.

Before the assembled faithful, the pope said the “first step” for evangelization and conversion is putting “Jesus at the center of one’s heart.”

The pope, however, admonished that “we risk talking about ourselves, our group, a morality, or, even worse, a set of rules, but not about Jesus, his love, his mercy.” 

He added, in unscripted remarks: “I see this in some new movements that are arising: They talk about their vision of humanity, they talk about their spirituality and they feel they are on a new path… But why don’t you talk about Jesus? They talk about many things, about organization, about spiritual paths, but they don’t know how to talk about Jesus.”

Epitomizing this love for the Eucharist was St. Charles de Foucauld, who was canonized by Pope Francis in 2022. Born in 1858, he dedicated his life to missionary work in the Sahara, living and working among the Tuareg people (a subgroup of Berber people). 

After serving in the French cavalry, he went on to become a Trappist, going to serve the poor in Syria, an experience that had a profound impact on him and helped define his understanding of poverty. He later discerned out of the Trappists and went to Palestine, where he went to live close to the Poor Clares. 

“It is in Nazareth that he realizes he must be formed in the school of Christ. He experiences an intense relationship with him, spends long hours reading the Gospels, and feels like his little brother. And as he gets to know Jesus, the desire to make Jesus known arises in him,” the pope said.

It was this time in Palestine that provided him with the inspiration to write his prolific works, including “Letters from the Desert,” “Hope in the Gospels,” and “Meditations of a Hermit.” These writings became the essence of his spiritual legacy, inspiring the formation of numerous future religious congregations. He was assassinated in 1916 at his hermitage in Tamanghasset in southern Algeria after being kidnapped by an armed tribal group associated with the Senussi Bedouins. 

Pope Francis closed his 2020 encyclical on fraternity and social action Fratelli Tutti with a reflection on the saint, writing: “Blessed Charles directed his ideal of total surrender to God towards an identification with the poor, abandoned in the depths of the African desert. In that setting, he expressed his desire to feel himself a brother to every human being, and asked a friend to ‘pray to God that I truly be the brother of all.’ He wanted to be, in the end, ‘the universal brother.’ Yet only by identifying with the least did he come at last to be the brother of all. May God inspire that dream in each one of us.” 

Pope Francis, in today’s catechism, noted that while de Foucauld lived “a youth far from God” he converted “by accepting the grace of God’s forgiveness in confession.” He was someone who “drawing upon his intense experience of God, made a journey of transformation towards feeling a brother to all,” the pope said, quoting Fratelli Tutti. 

In contrast to the life of de Foucauld, the pope lamented the loss of Eucharistic devotion today. “I am convinced that we have lost the sense of adoration; we must take it up again, starting with us consecrated people, the bishops, the priests, the nuns, and all the consecrated people. ‘Wasting’ time in front of the tabernacle, to take up again the sense of adoration,” the pope said in an unscripted remark. 

The pope presented the life of de Foucauld as an antidote to this tendency, saying that we “by kneeling and welcoming the action of the Spirit, who always inspires new ways to engage, meet, listen and dialogue, always in collaboration and trust, always in communion with the Church and pastors.” 

“Every Christian is an apostle,” the pope said, quoting de Foucauld. In this way, he continued, “Charles foreshadows the times of Vatican Council II. He intuits the importance of the laity and understands that the proclamation of the Gospel is up to the entire people of God.” 

The Holy Father concluded Wednesday’s general audience by renewing his appeal for peace in the Holy Land. “My thoughts turn to Palestine and Israel. Victims are increasing and the situation in Gaza is desperate. Please do everything possible to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe,” the pope pleaded. 

He added: “War does not solve any problem… It increases hatred and multiplies revenge. War erases the future; it erases the future.” 

In calling for a day of prayer and fasting , the pope invited members of other faiths to join an interfaith prayer vigil for peace on Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. in St. Peter’s Square.

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Archbishop Gintaras Grušas of Vilnius offers Mass on the feast of St. Luke for the Synod on Synodality delegates in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 18, 2023. / Evandro Inetti/EWTN News/Vatican Pool

Vatican City, Oct 18, 2023 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Synod on Synodality must not be an end in itself, but at the service of the Catholic Church’s evangelizing mission, Archbishop Gintaras Grušas told Synod delegates on Wednesday. 

The Lithuanian-American archbishop of Vilnius addressed the members of the Synod assembly in a homily on the feast of St. Luke as the Synod begins its discussions on “governance and authority” in the Church.

“As we continue to talk about what processes, structures, and institutions that are needed in a missionary synodal Church, we need to make sure that these do in fact assist the mission of bringing the Good News to those who are in need of salvation,” Grušas said on Oct. 18.

“Synodality, including its structures and meetings, must be at the service of the Church’s mission of evangelization and not become an end in itself.”

Over the next three days, the Synod on Synodality will discuss questions posed by section B3 of the Instrumentum Laboris, or Synod working document, such as, “How can we renew the service of authority and the exercise of responsibility in a missionary synodal Church?”

In his homily in St. Peter’s Basilica, Grušas urged the Synod delegates to imitate St. Luke’s faithfulness and fortitude.

“We too are called to remain faithful in our commitment to walk together in the life of the Church and through the difficulties of the journey, even when it is not clear where God is leading us in the short term,” he said.

The 62-year-old archbishop noted how St. Luke’s Gospel “highlights the important role of women in the life of the Church and in announcing the Good News.”

Not only is St. Luke “the Marian evangelist par excellence,” but he also passed down to us the account of “the Samaritan woman at the well who announced the Messiah, Mary Magdalene, the first to announce the message of the Resurrection, as well as the various women throughout the Acts of the Apostles who assisted the growth of the early Church.”

Grušas underlined that “all of the baptized” are called to announce the Good News of the Kingdom of God, “not just ordained ministers.”

 “It is important that all the baptized hear this call, this vocation and respond to it, committing their lives, words, and actions to Jesus’ mission. For this we must continue to pray,” he said.

Grušas was born in Washington D.C., to Lithuanian parents who came to the U.S. during the Cold War. After earning a degree in mathematics at UCLA, he worked for IBM before studying for the priesthood at Franciscan University of Steubenville and the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum). 

He returned to Lithuania, where he was ordained and incardinated for the Archdiocese of Vilnius, in 1994. Benedict XVI named him a bishop to serve as the Military Ordinary of Lithuania in 2010 and Pope Francis appointed him archbishop of Vilnius in 2013. Grušas was elected president of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences in 2021. 

At the end of his homily, Grušas asked for prayers for peace in Israel, Palestine, Ukraine, and other places in the world that lack peace.

“Through our prayers let us be those channels of God’s peace in today’s world,” he said. “And let us continue to pray for St. Luke to pray for us as we continue on our synodal journey.”

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