Luca Casarini, a longtime and well-known Italian activist, is a special guest at the assembly of the Synod of Bishops; he’s encouraged to speak, but has no vote. And he said he is learning a lot.

Two U.S. bishops have launched the National Catholic Mental Health Campaign, amid a global crisis in mental health and a decline in mental health resources in the U.S.

Pope Francis condemned Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel and pleaded with the militants to free their hostages unharmed, but he also expressed concern about Israel’s tightening siege on Gaza and its impact on innocent civilians.

The life of St. Josephine Bakhita, a former slave from Sudan who became a nun, demonstrates how love liberates people from oppression and frees them to forgive their oppressors and break cycles of hatred and violence, Pope Francis said.

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.

Finding better ways to live “like Jesus did” — reaching out, welcoming, healing and including others — was the focus of Sister Liliana Franco Echeverri’s small group discussions Oct. 9-10 at the assembly of the Synod of Bishops, she said.

Pro-life activists demonstrated in dozens of Brazilian cities Oct. 8 to celebrate the country’s Day of the Unborn Child and protest against the decriminalization of abortion, a possibility that was being analyzed by the Supreme Court in September.

Terrorism, violence, barbarism and extremism undermine the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians and Israelis, said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.

The shock of the surprise attack by Hamas militants on Israel, in which hundreds were killed, wounded or kidnapped, has left a traumatic mark on Israeli citizens, said the country’s ambassador to the Vatican.

The Divine Liturgy, presided over by Melkite Catholic Patriarch Joseph Absi, was celebrated in the Byzantine rite at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica, as synod participants were about to begin the assembly’s second module, focusing on the theme of communion and the question, “How can we be more fully a sign and instrument of union with God and of the unity of all humanity?”