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.

At the opening of the Synod session, on Friday October 9, Pope Francis called on the international community to resolve conflicts using weapons of diplomacy and respecting the law.

According to the Chaldean Patriarch, the Church needs to show solidarity and offer encouragement to people. Hierarchies cannot be detached from the people.

Pope Francis' address at the United Nations was not the first that a Pontiff makes from the United Nations rostrum. Other Popes had delivered speeches at the United Nation, namely Pope Paul VI (1965), John Pope II (1979 and 1995) and Benedict XVI (2008).

Apostolic courage, evangelical humility and trusting prayer. The “deposit of faith” “is not a museum to be visited or even simply preserved”.