By OSV News - OSVNews

Hundreds killed in Gaza hospital rocket strike on the day of prayer, fasting for peace

JERUSALEM (OSV News) | While Christian faithful across the globe prayed and fasted for peace in the Holy Land, a rocket struck the Christian hospital in Gaza City where hundreds of people were being treated, but also where hundreds were taking shelter. U.S. President Joe Biden is on his way to Israel to make a quick visit Oct. 18, 2023.

While Palestinian officials said the hospital was hit in an Israeli strike and had killed some 500 people, the Israel Defense Forces said intelligence showed Palestinian Islamic Jihad group was responsible for the "failed rocket launch" that struck the Anglican-run al-Ahli Arab Hospital. The hospital was sheltering more than 5,000 people at the time of the strike, said Joseph Hazboun, regional director for CNEWA's Jerusalem office.

CNEWA, Catholic Near East Welfare Association, is a pontifical charity founded by Pope Pius XI in 1926 to help residents of "historic but unstable" lands of the ancient Eastern churches — the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India and Eastern Europe. The Catholic organization supports the hospital.

Jerusalem churches held prayers for peace throughout the day Oct. 17. Abbot Nikodemus Schnabel led the monks and students at the Benedictine Dormition Abbey in a 24-hour recitation of the 150 psalms, which he called uniting prayers. Michael La Civita, director of communications for CNEWA USA, in an interview with OSV News described his reaction as one of "disbelief" and "horror." 

Nicaraguan priests transferred to prison notorious for torture, deplorable conditions

BUENOS AIRES (OSV News) | Eight priests have been transferred to a prison notorious for torture and deplorable conditions as the Nicaraguan regime again ramps up its repression of the Catholic Church. The churchmen were moved Oct. 15, 2023, to El Chipote prison on the outskirts of the nation's capital, Managua, after being held under house arrest in the National Seminary of Our Lady of Fatima, sources told independent Nicaraguan news organization La Prensa.

Six of the priests had been abducted by police and paramilitaries from their parishes and parish residences between Oct. 1 and Oct. 9 in the dioceses of Estelí, Jinotega and Bluefields. Two other churchmen from the Diocese of Estelí, being held in the seminary, were also moved to El Chipote, according to La Prensa. The priests were identified as Father Osman Amador Guillén, diocesan Caritas director, who was taken from the cathedral residence on Sept. 8; and Father Eugenio Rodríguez Benavides.

The transfer of the priests from the national seminary to El Chipote followed news that Father Harving Padilla, parish priest in the municipality of Masaya, escaped the archdiocesan seminary in Managua after being held there for 16 months. He fled the country Sept. 28, according to Nicaraguan media outlet Confidencial. La Prensa reported 13 priests are currently imprisoned in Nicaragua, including Bishop Álvarez. Most of the imprisoned priests are from the Diocese of Estelí, where Bishop Álvarez is apostolic administrator. 

Illinois man who killed Palestinian boy, wounded mother is Catholic parishioner

PLAINFIELD, Ill. (OSV News) | An Illinois man accused of murdering a Palestinian boy and stabbing his mother because they were Muslim is a member of a local Catholic parish. Joseph Czuba of Plainfield has been charged with killing 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and injuring the child's mother, 32-year-old Hanaan Shahin, in an Oct. 14, 2023, knife attack. The Diocese of Joliet confirmed to OSV News that Czuba and his wife are members of St. Mary Immaculate Parish in Plainfield. Father Pat Mulcahy, the parish's pastor, told OSV News that "our hearts are absolutely broken, and ache for the family and all those affected."

Czuba, the victims' 71-year-old landlord, allegedly confronted his tenants Oct. 14, arguing with them over the Israel-Hamas war and demanding that they vacate their rental rooms. According to prosecutors in Will County, Illinois, Czuba feared Shahin would rally her family and friends to attack him and his wife amid the war. Court documents state that Shahin — who described her landlord as an angry man — had tried to calm Czuba just prior to the attack by urging him to pray for peace in Israel. In response, Czuba stabbed her a dozen times and her son 26 times with a military-style knife, and now faces multiple charges. "The entire community is grieving this situation," said Father Mulcahy. "Plainfield is a multiethnic community, and we are all affected by this tragedy."

Band of brothers: Franciscan friars unify nationwide, form Our Lady of Guadalupe province

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (OSV News) | The Order of Friars Minor have formed a new, unified Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe that spans the United States coast to coast. The minister general of the Order of Friars Minor, Brother Massimo Fusarelli, established the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe Oct. 17, 2023, during a meeting called the "synodal Chapter of Unity," during which the province's first minister provincial, vicar provincial and seven councilors were installed.

The new province, headquartered in Atlanta, unifies more than 700 friars who were previously part of six legacy provinces, which were established over the long history of the Order of Friars Minor in the United States. Tracing their history to St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi, the friars believe combining provinces paves the way for a renewal of Franciscan life, spirituality and fraternity by living the Gospel through service to the poor and people living on society's margins. 

Thousands of children will meet with Pope Francis to share their dreams

VATICAN CITY (CNS) | Thousands of children from Italy and many others representing other parts of the world will meet Pope Francis at the Vatican Nov. 6, 2023, to express their hopes, dreams and questions. "It will be a meeting to show the dream we all have: to go back to having the pure sentiments of children, because the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like children," the pope had said Oct. 1 when he announced the initiative called, "Let us learn from boys and girls."

"Children teach us about transparency in relationships, about spontaneously welcoming those who are strangers, and about respect for all of creation. Dear children, I too look forward to learning from all of you!" the pope had said. Cardinal José Tolentino Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, which is sponsoring the event, told reporters Oct. 17 that the pope has repeatedly encouraged young people to use their courage to turn their dreams into reality. The cardinal said that young children by nature have courage, enthusiasm and hope, which are the qualities so many adults need today. 

Pope mentions planned Argentina trip, hints at Oceania tour

VATICAN CITY (CNS) | Pope Francis said a trip to his native Argentina remains on his schedule and that he has been encouraged to travel through Oceania. Asked by an Argentine reporter what important trips remain pending in his pontificate, the pope said "I would like to go" to Argentina in an interview released Oct. 16. "Talking a bit farther away, Papua New Guinea is still left." He added that someone had told him, "Since I'm going to Argentina, to have a layover in Río Gallegos (Argentina), then the South Pole, land in Melbourne and visit New Zealand and Australia." Though the 86-year-old pope said, "It would be a bit long."

In the wide-spanning interview recorded in September with the Argentine state news agency Télam, Pope Francis said that while he receives many invitations to visit countries and there is a list of possible papal trips, ideas for trips also originate from the Vatican, such as his Aug. 31-Sept. 4 trip to Mongolia. Pope Francis also spoke about the synod on synodality, relating it to the vision of St. John XXIII at the start of the Second Vatican Council. "It is not only about changing style, it is about a change of growth in favor of people's dignity," he said. 

Synod discussions include addressing pain church has caused people

VATICAN CITY (CNS) | The synodal way is not an invention of Pope Francis, but it is based on Jesus' way of inclusivity and listening, and on divine revelation itself, said Redemptorist Father Vimal Tirimanna, a leading moral theologian from Sri Lanka.

As participants in the assembly of the synod on synodality begin their third week Oct. 16, 2023, continuing with their small group discussions, "the round tables themselves are a symbol of the ecclesiology of 'Lumen Gentium,'" he said, referring to the Second Vatican Council document on the nature of the church and the role of its members.

"This synodal process is not a private agenda of Pope Francis. It is a continuation of Vatican II," said Father Tirimanna, who teaches theology at a number of pontifical universities in Rome and is a voting member of the synod.

He and others spoke to reporters Oct. 16 about their synod experience. A reporter asked the panel of synod participants whether discussions had included recognizing the hurt or pain the church may have caused people in the LGBTQ+ community and others as well.

Loreto Sister Patricia Murray, executive secretary of the International Union of Superiors General, responded saying, "there is a deep awareness of the pain and suffering that has been caused," and "the question of hurt and the woundedness of people both individually and collectively" has been brought up "and listened to." There has also been discussion about "how to symbolically, in a sense, represent that hurt. Some people have said, 'sorry' is not enough," she said.