The second edition of the Human Fraternity Fellowship program, inspired by the Document of Human Fraternity signed by Pope Francis and Grand Imam Al-Tayeb of Al-Azhar in 2019, leads 10 student leaders to Jakarta, Indonesia, to prepare “the next generation of leaders to engage across cultural and religious divides.”

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Pope Leo XIV meets with members of the St. Andrew School of Evangelization, and invites all Christians to embrace our mission to proclaim Jesus Christ.

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The Catholic Church in South Korea is set to relaunch the “Pro-Life Movement” nationwide as bishops and organizations intensify opposition to proposed legislative changes on abortion and growing calls for euthanasia.

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Pope Leo XIV sends a video message to the Augustinian Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova on the feast of their spiritual father, and invites everyone to listen to God's loving voice, which alone can bring peace.

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Dr. Maher Ayyad describes the current dire situation of hospitals in the Strip: People “are living in small tents without any services—no electricity, no water supply, and, despite food recently coming across the border, no food.”

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christian hope is not about avoiding pain and suffering but about knowing that God gives people the strength to persevere and to love even when things go wrong, Pope Leo XIV said.

When Jesus allowed himself to be arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, he showed that "Christian hope is not evasion, but decision," the pope told thousands of people gathered in the Vatican audience hall Aug. 27 for his weekly general audience.

"The way that Jesus exercised his freedom in the face of death teaches us not to fear suffering, but to persevere in confident trust in God's providential care," the pope said in his address to English speakers.

"If we surrender to God's will and freely give our lives in love for others, the Father's grace will sustain us in every trial and enable us to bear abundant fruit for the salvation of our brothers and sisters," he said. 

A person of faith, the pope said, does not ask God "to spare us from suffering, but rather to give us the strength to persevere in love, aware that life offered freely for love cannot be taken away by anyone."

Jesus lived every day of his life as preparation for the "dramatic and sublime hour" of his arrest, his suffering and his death, the pope said. "For this reason, when it arrives, he has the strength not to seek a way of escape. His heart knows well that to lose life for love is not a failure, but rather possesses a mysterious fruitfulness, like a grain of wheat that, falling to the ground, does not remain alone, but dies and becomes fruitful."

Naturally, Pope Leo said, Jesus "is troubled when faced with a path that seems to lead only to death and to the end. But he is equally persuaded that only a life lost for love, at the end, is ultimately found."

"This is what true hope consists of: not in trying to avoid pain, but in believing that even in the heart of the most unjust suffering, the seed of new life is hidden," he said. 

After spending more than 90 minutes greeting people in the audience hall, including dozens of newlywed couples, Pope Leo went into St. Peter's Basilica, where hundreds of people who did not get a place in the hall had been watching the audience and waiting for their turn to see the pope.

The pope thanked them for their patience, which, he said, "is a sign of the presence of the Spirit of God, who is with us. So often in life, we want to receive a response immediately, an immediate solution, and for some reason God makes us wait."

"But as Jesus himself taught us, we must have that trust that comes from knowing that we are sons and daughters of God and that God always gives us grace," the pope said. "He doesn't always take away our pain or suffering, but he tells us that he is close to us."
 

Famine has taken hold in Gaza and is expected to spread further by the end of September, a top U.N. humanitarian has said.

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In a message to French elected officials, Pope Leo insists on the need for Christian political leaders to turn to Jesus, to live their faith without compromise and bear witness to Him in order to face modern challenges and make the world a better place.

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The church in the United States expresses its grief and condolences following Wednesday's tragedy in Minneapolis, where a young man opened fire during Mass at Annunciation Catholic School. The attack resulted in the deaths of two children and around seventeen injured before the shooter took his own life.

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SIGNIS Africa President, Fr. Prof. Walter Chikwendu Ihejirika, has said that the recent SECAM Plenary Assembly of Africa’s Catholic Bishops has warmly welcomed the Catholic communication association’s plans to hold the SIGNIS World Congress in Kigali, Rwanda, next year.

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