World

Pope Leo XIV presided over a special Mass this evening in St Peter's Basilica for the opening of the Pontifical Universities' new academic year, attended by around 5,000 students and professors. In his homily, the Holy Father stressed that the beginning of a new year is about far more than simply returning to lectures and research. Study, he said, must become service, sustained by the Holy Spirit ... Read More

An Orthodox priest narrowly escaped being shot after armed men opened fire during an outbreak of violence in a Christian village in western Syria. Violence broke out on the night of 3rd October following an altercation between young people from the Christian village of Al-Suqaylabiyah and the neighbouring Muslim village of Al-Qalaa (also known as Qalaat Al-Madiq) . Local sources told Aid to the Ch... Read More

On 7 October 2026, in New York, Archbishop Christophe Z El Kassis, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, delivered a statement at the Third Committee of the 81st session of the General Assembly, under Agenda Item 70: 'Promotion and protection of human rights.' The Holy See reaffirmed its position that the death penalty is inadmissible because it attacks the inviolability and di... Read More

The Church's first mission in the contemporary world "is to help people be attentive to the profound questions of life: those of our origin and destiny, as well as those concerning the meaning of love and suffering," Pope Leo XIV said in his catechesis during the weekly General Audience. Continuing his reflection on the Second Vatican Council's Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes, the Pope contr... Read More

Pope Leo XIV has recorded a special video message for the celebration of World Mission Sunday on Sunday 18 October. Missio, the Holy Father's charity for world mission and tasked with coordinating World Mission Sunday, is appealing for prayers and donations to support missionaries who serve communities in need, often in some of the poorest and most challenging places on earth. This year's theme, c... Read More

Forty years ago, on October 27, 1986, Pope St John Paul II took part in the historic World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi, central Italy. For the first time in history, representatives of all world religions were invited by the Pope to pray together for peace. Among those inspired by that meeting was the Community of Sant'Egidio, a Catholic lay organisation, which since then has continued to pr... Read More

Rabbi GIlad Kariv, a legal scholar, member of the Knesset and former CEO of Reform Judaism in Israel wrote on Facebook yesterday: Tonight, I met with Father Constantine, one of the leaders of the Greek Orthodox community in Jaffa. With tears in his eyes and a voice choked with emotion, he described to me the violence he experienced at the hands of police officers on Jaffa's main street, and th... Read More

Daoud Nassar, from the long-established Christian Palestinian farming family at the Tent of Nations, near Bethlehem, urged the Church to stand up for Palestinians when he spoke at St John's Anglican Church, in Waterloo, London, last Thursday. He said this was 'very important' in the Palestinians' imperilled situation in which it was easy to feel lonely and forgotten. The presence and solidarity of... Read More

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the start of Cameroon's Anglophone Conflict. The international community will shrug with indifference. The continuing suffering of more than six million Africans who cherish the right to speak English, teach an English curriculum and practice English common law counts for little in our age of post-morality politics. Yet, three geopolitical reasons explain wh... Read More

Fr David Neuhaus SJ, an Israeli Jesuit priest, born in South Africa to a Jewish family writes: Every day Palestinians mourn their dead especially in Gaza. The small Christian community is no exception to this devastating reality. Since the so-called ceasefire on October 10, 2025, at least 1, 454 Gazans have been killed and 5090 have been wounded. Just after midnight, early on Saturday morning, Oct... Read More

Fr Bashar Fawadleh, Parish Priest of the Latin Patriarchate in Taybeh, the last fully Christian village in the West Bank, writes: As the olive harvest begins, the same fears are returning to homes across Taybeh. What is happening on the ground suggests that this season may be little different from the previous three, when many families faced repeated difficulties in reaching their land safely and... Read More

Pope Leo gave a reflection on the relationship between the Church and art in an address to participants in a meeting on Friday, promoted by the Dicastery for Culture and Education, entitled: "The Art of Possibility: Weaving Together." Especially in "the age of search engines," Pope Leo said, the Church stands in need of artists," who can aid pastors in making the Gospel "accessible and understand... Read More

On Sunday, 4 October, the 800th feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi will be celebrated throughout Italy as a national holiday, for the first time in half a century. The bells of Assisi will ring at midnight tonight. Thousands of pilgrims began arriving in Assisi from 24 September to take part in many events commemorating the great saint. A Solemn Commemoration of the Transitus: remembering the f... Read More

The Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam has confirmed that two Vietnamese-born Catholic activists who had been reported missing by family members while visiting Cambodia have been arrested and charged in Vietnam. Both men work on a range of democracy and human rights issues, including on the right to freedom of religion or belief. According to Vietnamese authorities, Ho Pham Hiep Huy (also know... Read More