Saint Joseph Catholic Church

On October 9, 343 of the 365 participants in the second and final session of the synod on synodality gathered in Paul VI Audience Hall for the third day of their four-day consideration of the session’s second module, “Relations” (synod agenda).

“Intolerance and discrimination motivated by anti-Semitism and religious prejudice against Muslims, Christians and members of other religions are on the rise, both in the East and in the West,” Mattia Ferrero said on October 8.

“The Hamas attacks of 7 October in Israel and the subsequent violence in the Middle East have unleashed a wave of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim discrimination and hatred,” he added. The Holy See, he said, “is particularly alarmed by the growing number of attacks against synagogues, mosques, churches, cemeteries and religious sites, which constitute a large percentage of acts of violence motivated by anti-Semitism and anti-religious prejudice.”

“To her, the caring mother, we entrust the sufferings and the desire for peace of the peoples suffering the madness of war, especially the martyred Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, Sudan,” the Pope added.

The Pope’s words, delivered in Italian, were omitted from the Vatican’s English translation of his remarks.

“Pope Francis is following with great interest everything we are doing in Brazil with the work led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,” Trinidade said after the meeting. “In addition to discussing major health challenges, such as comprehensive care for the population, we also discussed a topic of great interest to the Pope, which is the impact of climate change on health.”

Trinidade also met with Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. According to a Brazilian government statement, the parties discussed artificial intelligence, as well as legislation to assist the elderly.

In a recent article, The Pillar examined the nature of the dispute between Opus Dei, which has run the shrine since its inception, and Bishop Ángel Pérez Pueyo, HSOD, the bishop of Barbastro-Monzón since 2015.

The Jubilee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Security Personnel culminates with a Mass at which Pope Francis is scheduled to preside.

The USCCB also offered suggestions to dioceses and parishes for celebrating the jubilee locally.

In his October 9 statement, the apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations lamented domestic violence and human trafficking and said that “education must be made available to women and girls on an equal basis with men and boys.”

He added:

The advancement of women cannot be fully achieved without respecting women’s unique capacities, including motherhood. This requires a renewed commitment to reducing maternal mortality, where progress has stalled for the past decade ... Far more resources are devoted instead to preventing pregnancy and applying Malthusian theories aimed at reducing global population ...

Furthermore, it is alarming to note that surrogacy, which is another form of exploitation of women, has become more prevalent in recent years, buoyed by technology and wealth. Surrogacy is an unacceptable commercialization of women’s unique capacity for motherhood ... While a number of States already prohibit this practice, Pope Francis has repeatedly called for it to be banned on a universal level.