The annual Report to on International Religious Freedom – the International Religious Freedom Report for 2014 was issued with no signs of media uproar as was the case in the past, despite the fact that the past year witnessed the emergence of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) whose early “achievements” was the elimination of religious plurality in the regions that came under its control, namely Mosul as well other villages and cities of the Nineveh Plain in Iraq.

At the Mass celebrated on Friday, October 23, in St. Martha’s House, the Pope said we need to read the signs of the times and be discerning, while remaining faithful to the Gospel, without succumbing to conformism.

Yesterday morning’s (Wednesday October 21) scandalous spoof story represents the latest turn of events at the Synod, following the Charamsa case and the publication of a letter with some inaccurate references to signatures by 13 cardinals. Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano has highlighted the manipulative attempt to falsely raise a hue and cry.

The last small group reports from the Synod of Bishops indicate opening to a path for the divorced and remarried to receive communion. The German speaking group has suggested they might be allowed access to the sacrament under the process of the "internal forum".

The group of German speaking prelates at the ongoing Synod of Bishops -- which includes a rather diverse range of so-called progressive and conservative voices -- has presented a way that certain divorced and remarried Catholic persons might be allowed to take Communion in the church.

Italian newspaper Quotidiano Nazionale has published a front-page news story on Francis’ supposed ill health: a small benign tumour which can apparently be cured. The Vatican spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi has denied the report outright: “No Japanese doctor has visited the Pope in the Vatican and there have been no examinations of the type indicated in the article.
“There have been no arrivals of external parties in the Vatican by helicopter and the Pope is in good health”.

Pope Francis issued a decree on June 27, during the Ordinary Consistory in the Vatican, approving the canonization of Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux. The canonization ceremony due to take place during a massive celebration at St. Peter's Square on October 18 coinciding with the World Mission Day. This day is quite close to October 16, which commemorates the election day of St. Pope John Paul II, and falls on the same day in 1997 when he declared that their daughter is Doctor of the Church.

Jean and Damiana are two Rosary Sisters. They do kneel in reverence at the festival of the “Lady of the Rosary” and pray together. Despite the difference in their ages and experience, one of them raises her hands in prayer, while the other shuts her eyes and closes her hands seeking blessings.

Is this an Intifada?

I returned home on October 3, 2015 after a one week visit to New York to attend our annual meetings at Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), only to find a Jerusalem that was completely different from the one I left a week earlier.
Upon returning, it took me close to two hours to arrive to my home in the Old City of Jerusalem, though it was a Saturday and traffic is usually very light. I found out later that the deadly stabbing of two Jewish people inside Damascus Gate coincided with my landing at the airport.

Opinion is split, with some believing that doctrine cannot be changed as it would confuse faithful and others emphasising that the Church is supposed to accompany everyone. One of the Synod Fathers tells the story of a little boy who broke the host in two and gave half to his father, a remarried divorcee

The residence in Rome’s Via dei Penitenzieri is already up and running and can host up to 34 people a night: the dorms are run by nuns from Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. The restructuring work was paid for by the Papal Office of Charities.