Judith Sudilovsky

The Sister of Charity of the Incarnate Word from Peru, who is serving in the Catholic parish in Gaza, recalled the pain of watching the funeral of Christians killed in an Oct. 19 blast at a Greek Orthodox church.

An explosion at the St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church campus in Gaza has left the administration building in ruins, and at least 17 people dead, though numbers have not yet been officially confirmed.

Bodies still remain strewn along roads and in communities as authorities go through the arduous and gruesome process of identifying so many bodies, some of which first responders have said were mutilated and burned beyond recognition.

Pilgrims who were in Israel following a surprise terrorist attack by Hamas terrorists against civilian communities in southern Israel Oct. 7 lit candles and said prayers of peace at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as fighting continued in southern Israel.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem called Oct. 7 for secular and religious leaders around the world to help de-escalate the violence between Hamas and Israel following an unprecedented surprise dawn attack by Hamas militants on a major Jewish holiday.