Pope Leo XIV said he was "deeply saddened" by the loss of life, which a witness said was the result of a tank shell hitting the church. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem named the dead as Najwa Abu Daoud, Saad Issa Kostandi Salameh and Foumia Issa Latif Ayyad.
Cardinals elect a new pope to lead Catholic Church
Cardinals chose a new pope to lead the world's 1.4 billion Catholics on Thursday, sending up white smoke from the Sistine Chapel on their second day of voting in conclave. Tens of thousands of people packed in St Peter's Square cheered, applauded and wept as the smoke appeared, while the...
Pope Francis is dead at 88, world leaders pay tributes to the energetic reformer
"Today, we lost a faithful friend of the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights," Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said, noting that the pope "recognized the Palestinian state and authorized the Palestinian flag to be raised in the Vatican".
Families of Gaza’s Christians tense due to war
Jerusalem - Khalil Sayegh lives in the United States and for days he anxiously awaited news of his family who had taken refuge in Gaza churches to escape the Israel-Hamas war. A few days before Christmas, he learned his father had died due to a lack of medical care, Sayegh...Pope deplores death of two women in Gaza parish
Pope Francis spoke a day after the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said a Christian mother and daughter had been shot dead by an Israeli soldier on the grounds of the Gaza Strip's only Catholic church. He said at the end of the Angelus prayer that he continues to receive "very serious...Pope Francis first ever pontiff scheduled to visit Bahrain
Francis will visit the capital of Manama and city of Awali during the November 3 to 6 trip. He will attend the "Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence". Further details of the visit -- the 39th international trip of Francis's papacy -- will be released at...
