Family members of an Italian Jesuit priest who was kidnapped in Syria by members of ISIS in 2013, held a press conference in Rome on Monday, July 29, to mark the anniversary of his disappearance and appeal to international authorities to find answers.

“It’s been six years and we haven’t been able to learn anything,” said Francesca Dall’Oglio, sister of the kidnapped Jesuit, Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, at the Foreign Press Association in Rome, July 29.

“It’s true that he was kidnapped in a war zone, but some areas have now been liberated since November 2017,” she added.

When Jesus’ disciples ask Him to teach them to pray, He gives them much more than simply words to say. How?

Just weeks into President Trump’s first term, David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network asked the businessman-turned-politician whether he would make the plight of Christians facing religious persecution abroad a priority of his administration.

“Yes,” Trump said. “They’ve been horribly treated.”

The president spoke about Christians fleeing violence in Syria, concluding: “We are going to help them.”

Visit the Home of Jesus’ Grandparents
Saints Joachim and Anne received the astonishing grace to be the grandfather and grandmother of God.
Susanna Bolle Parent
While on pilgrimage to the Holy Land earlier this year, our group was given a tour by a White Father. He spent a few minutes of his day to teach us about the Church of St. Anne, but more importantly, about those who lived just below it.

Sts. Joachim and Anne can intercede for grandparents who seek help and guidance for their grandchildren.

Throughout the remainder of this liturgical year, we will hear predominantly from Saint Luke’s Gospel in the Sunday Masses. As the only Gentile author in the New Testament, his perspective and emphases are different from the other gospel writers.

On the 13 July Our Lady taught the children of Fatima the marvelous prayer to be inserted into the Rosary at the end of each mystery: “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins...”

Forgive us our sins: The thought of our sins, which threatens to cause our ruin, is present everywhere in the message of Fatima. There is not one of the nine apparitions of the Angel and Our Lady that does not make some allusion to it. It echoes the invocation in the Pater Noster, “forgive us our trespasses”, as well as in the Ave Maria “pray for us sinners”.

The teachings of Lord Jesus Christ introduced a call within the human family for mercy, compassion, and universal charity. Of all his parables and sayings, few emphasized these points as beautifully and succinctly as the story of the Good Samaritan.

While the story is a shining example of love and concern, it also has an interior theological meaning. What’s the basic storyline on this notable allegory? What is the deeper meaning for Christian believers?

Politicians, journalists, photographers and a few other professional persons often share the dizzying experience of being able to observe the course of history while it happens. One such privileged observer is none other than Most Rev. Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, since 2016 and, a long time before, Custos of the Holy Land.

"What man among you having a hundred sheep
and losing one of them
would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert
and go after the lost one until he finds it?”
(Luke 5:4)

These words of Our Lord, drawn from the Gospel reading for the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, reveal both profound truths about God’s heart — the Sacred Heart — and deeply practical wisdom for our daily life and work.

Human and Divine Assumptions