Ten children from Gaza in need of medical attention arrived in Rome on a military plane late Jan. 29, the first group of young patients who will receive treatment in Italy thanks to the lobbying of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land and negotiations involving the governments of Italy, Israel, Palestine and Egypt.

A leading Catholic immigration advocate has raised questions about whether restrictions in a bipartisan border proposal now before Congress will help the situation or make it worse for migrants trying to enter the U.S.

Father Robert Hoeffner and his sister, Sally Hoeffner, were found slain at a Palm Bay, Fla., residence on the evening of Jan. 28, as police investigated a domestic disturbance at another area home that turned deadly.

France’s bishops stand in solidarity with farmers protesting across the country. After days of protests in the local provinces, farmers were determined to block the main roads leading to Paris, with spectacular traffic jams of tractors and farm vehicles they formed Jan. 29 across the French capital.

Keeping the Catholic faith and caring for the poor, sick and afflicted are inseparable, Pope Francis said.

A television or radio network that calls itself Catholic must help people overcome their prejudices, seek the truth with charity and build bridges between people, Pope Francis said.

Today’s wars and conflicts have put humanity on the brink of the abyss, Pope Francis said, calling for a worldwide cease-fire.

Making a list of which sinners are welcome in the church and which sinners are not goes against the teaching of the Gospel, Pope Francis told an Italian newspaper.

Addictions, fear, impossible perfectionism, consumerism and the inability to choose and love life are just some of the traps the devil uses to take away people’s freedom, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis has expressed his closeness to the small Catholic community in Turkey after gunmen attacked a church during Sunday morning Mass Jan. 28, leaving at least one worshipper dead.