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Pope Francis, Jerusalem patriarch call for peace after Hamas attack

Pope Francis and the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem called for peace after Israel declared “war” following a major attack by Hamas fighters over the weekend. The pope said at the end of a public address on Sunday he is following the violence “with apprehension and sorrow,” and issued an appeal to “please stop weapons attacks!” […]

Synod, October 4: Pope emphasizes role of Holy Spirit; Cardinal Hollerich calls for ‘new insights’

Following a two-year period of preparation, the first session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops opened on October 4 with Mass in St. Peter’s Square, an Italian-language greeting by Coptic Catholic Patriarch Ibrahim Sedrak, an address by Pope Francis, and an Italian-language report by Cardinal Mario Grech, before the longer […]

Synod, October 9: participants turn to new topic; Orthodox prelate draws sharp contrast between Eastern synodality, current Synod

On October 9, participants in the first session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops turned their attention to a new discussion topic: “How can we be more fully a sign and instrument of union with God and of the unity of all humanity?” An Eastern Orthodox prelate also told participants […]

What name for Jesus in the Indonesian language?

The Indonesian government will no longer use, in Bahasa, Indonesia’s national language, the term “Isa Al-Masih,” a word of Arabic origin, to refer to Jesus Christ and Christian holidays. An end will thus be put to the decades-long practice of using the term routinely used by believers of the Islamic religion, who draw from the […]

Two Asians speak at the Synod, giving voice to basic communities and those who are silent

Asia’s sufferings but also its gifts echoed yesterday at the Synod Assembly in the Vatican through the words of Vanessa Cheng, a lay woman from Hong Kong and a member of the Focolare movement, and Fr Clarence Devadass, a priest from Malaysia, during the public session that opened the days dedicated to the examination of […]

Lawyers, civil society support judge who fled Sri Lanka

Lawyers have decided to boycott court proceedings as protesters took to the streets in support of a judge who fled Sri Lanka after an order on a disputed religious site. Rallies have been taking place in Northern and Eastern provinces almost all days this week, demanding independence of the judiciary after district judge T Saravanarajah […]

Killed and kidnapped in a war not their own: dozens of Thais and Nepalese among Hamas victims

Victims of a conflict that is not theirs. There are also many Asian families among those mourning the dead of the Hamas incursion into the kibbutzim around Gaza or anxious about the kidnapping of loved ones. It is no coincidence: the agricultural settlements of southern Israel are one of the areas where the work of […]

13 Card Francis: inculturation and universality, the challenges for the Church in Malaysia

Bishop Sebastian Fran-cis of Penang (Malaysia) is among the 21 new cardi-nals created by the pontiff on 30 September during a ceremony held in St Peter’s Square. Speaking to AsiaNews, he said, “Pope Francis told me to concentrate and focus my mission on the inculturation of the faith” in his country, promoting the path of evange-lisation in the […]