Month: October 2025

(OSV News) – Scenes of joy, relief and tearful welcomes flooded media across the world Oct. 13 as the remaining Israeli hostages were freed from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip as part of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement.

As part of the U.S.-proposed deal, 250 Palestinian prisoners were also released by Israel, with 1,650 more to be freed.

Minutes before the U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the Knesset on Oct. 13, Joseph Hazboun of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association-Pontifical Mission spoke to OSV News and said that with the deal reached, he was “very happy at long last” but “not optimistic enough to say” it’s “a peace agreement” but “a ceasefire.”

“This is the day that we’ve been waiting for for two years,” said Hazboun, regional director for CNEWA-Pontifical Mission’s Jerusalem office.

“The people that were ordered to evacuate and move all around the Gaza Strip for several times are finally going back to their … areas of residency,” he told OSV News. “I’m not sure what they will find there — probably the ruins of their homes, but at least they will be safe. There is no more bombing from air or from the sea or from the land.”

Addressing the Knesset before Trump spoke, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking in English and turning to the U.S. leader, said: “Two weeks ago you succeeded in doing something miraculous. You succeeded in doing something that no one believed was possible.”

“You brought most of the Arab World — most of the world — behind your proposal to free the hostages and end the war,” he said, thanking the U.S. president. “May God bless the covenant between the two promised lands,” Israel and the U.S., he said, wrapping up his speech.

“We gather on a day of profound joy, of soaring hope, of renewed faith, and above all, a day to give our deepest thanks to the Almighty God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,” Trump said, starting his speech to the Knesset.

Hazboun, who spoke to OSV News from Jerusalem, said that Trump “deserves the credit for putting an end to the war” as he “basically informed Netanyahu he has to stop. And now Trump is the guarantor of the end of the war.”

He also warned that with earlier attempts to stop the war, the parties “on several occasions shifted position for whatever reason,” therefore in the Holy Land, “we have our hands on our heart praying that this agreement will last.”

Now, Hazboun said, all eyes are on Gaza, where tens of thousands began to make their way back to their homes, or what’s left of them.

Many Palestinians returned to see only mostly rubble left, with Father Gabriel Romanelli, the pastor of Gaza City’s Catholic parish, saying the entire enclave has experienced a “tsunami” of destruction.

Asked about the Christian community sheltering in the Holy Family Parish and St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church compound, Hazboun said they will for now “remain in the church compound, because most of them, they lost their homes and their apartments.”

However, Hazboun said, “people will have the freedom now to go and check on their homes,” but “it will take time” to see “who has his home or his apartment intact and can move back, who has minor destruction, who has full destruction.”

What gives people a sense of relief is that “there is no more bombing around them,” he continued, but at the same time “there is no infrastructure, there is no electricity, there is no water, there is no sewage” and “life is going to be complicated for the coming period.”

Hazboun said CNEWA staff was given instructions “to start asking, inquiring about what are the immediate needs as far as maybe not food, but maybe water, probably medicine, medical aid, medical supplies — all remains to be seen.”

“Were there plans before? No, because with this war, it was extremely impossible to plan ahead of time. We had to wait until the end of the war. And of course we have to wait also until the Rafah crossing is open to see who will decide to remain in Gaza and who will not,” Hazboun said.

He predicted that “we will witness an exodus from Gaza for the Muslims and for the Christians” and that for Christians it will be “more catastrophic because of the few, the little number of the Christian community that has remained in Gaza. So every person that leaves is a great loss.”

As hundreds of aid trucks were allowed to reach Gaza starting in the early morning hours of Oct. 12, in a hopeful sign “prices have dropped enormously,” Hazboun said, pointing out that the price of flour dropped to $2-4 from $25 per kilogram ( 2.2 pounds).

Hazboun said that most probably “will need tents. All those families that are coming back to Gaza and are looking for their destroyed homes will require tents to live in for the coming probably year or so. So I expect that that will be a big need,” he said, adding that to make more detailed assessments, two to three days are needed.

Trump, speaking in the Knesset, said that now that all hostages are home, “together we’ve shown that peace is not just a hope that we can dream about. It’s a reality we can build upon day by day, person by person and nation by nation.” Because of that, he said, “the Middle East is finally ready to embrace its extraordinary potential.”

Later in the day, Trump was scheduled to take part in signing of a peace deal between Israel and Hamas, along with the other guarantors of the Gaza peace deal, in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

Leaders and foreign ministers from Germany, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Indonesia were expected to participate at the summit hosted by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

Asked how Catholics across the world can help, Hazboun said first of all, with prayers “that this truce, this ceasefire, will hold and move forward towards a permanent peace agreement where Gaza will have the opportunity to flourish.”

By flourishing, he meant open borders so goods can come in freely, access to the sea and freedom of movement. “Early this morning,” he said, “reports claimed that the Israelis are not allowing everything needed to go in, as was the case after every war since 2009. And this is one of the reasons why the situation in Gaza continues to be dramatic and why every now and then we have attacks and counterattacks. It’s because the people of Gaza have been denied the opportunity to have a decent life.”

He said that amid a sea of destruction, “bringing in all the materials that the strip requires without limitations” is crucial.

“Because how can you rebuild Gaza if wood is not permitted or iron is not permitted or cement is not permitted?” Hazboun asked, while admitting he’s hopeful that “it is possible to rebuild, maybe even much better than it was.”

“They say they require two to three years to remove the debris. The hundreds, thousands of tons of destroyed material … but it all depends on the will of the people in power,” he said. “And I hope that President Trump,” along with leaders participating in signing of the peace agreement in Egypt, “will really exert pressure to move forward, as well as provide funding and find the right mechanism to help the people regain their dignity and find a suitable and decent place to live in.”

Assessing humanitarian efforts of the past two years, he said that CNEWA-Pontifical Mission, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Caritas Jerusalem and Catholic Relief Services, “and many other organizations … did marvelous work … in circumstances that were at times extremely challenging.”

“People risked their lives to deliver the goods that were required to save lives.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In separate videos recorded in English, Spanish and Italian, Pope Leo XIV urged every Catholic parish around the globe to observe World Mission Sunday Oct. 19 and take up the annual collection that supports Catholic missionary work.

“When I served as a missionary priest and then bishop in Peru, I saw first-hand how the faith, the prayer and the generosity shown on World Mission Sunday can transform entire communities,” said the Chicago-born pope. As an Augustinian priest, he served in the missions in Peru from 1985 to 1999 and then as apostolic administrator and later bishop of Chiclayo from 2014 to 2023.

In the video message, released Oct. 13, Pope Leo encouraged all Catholics to pray on World Mission Sunday “particularly for missionaries and the fruitfulness of their apostolic labors.”

“Your prayers, your support will help spread the Gospel, provide for pastoral and catechetical programs, help to build new churches, and care for the health and educational needs of our brothers and sisters in mission territories,” the pope said.

According to the Pontifical Mission Societies USA, funds collected on World Mission Sunday support: “82,498 seminarians in formation; 258,540 religious sisters providing care and catechesis; (and) 844,000 catechists sharing the faith at the grassroots.”

The funds also help sustain “12,000 health care centers; 8,750 orphanages and homes for the elderly” and have helped with the construction of 570 new churches, it said.

In the video, Pope Leo asked Catholics to “reflect together on our baptismal call to be ‘missionaries of hope among the peoples,'” and to commit themselves again “to the sweet and joyful task of bringing Christ Jesus our hope to the ends of the earth.”

The annual papal message for World Mission Sunday is released in February. Pope Francis had chosen “Missionaries of Hope Among All Peoples” as the theme for the 2025 celebration.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – All human beings need consistent, lasting and healthy experiences of authentic love, Pope Leo XIV said.

Consecrated men and women, who abandon themselves “like children into the arms of the Father,” spread “the ‘fresh air’ of authentic love throughout the world,” he said in his homily during Mass in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 9, marking the Jubilee of Consecrated Life.

Thousands of men and women religious, monks, contemplatives, members of secular institutes, consecrated virgins, hermits and people belonging to “new institutes” came to Rome from all over the world for their Oct. 8-9 Jubilee.

God is “the fullness and meaning of our lives,” said the pope, who joined the Augustinian religious order in 1977 and served as its leader, or prior general, for 12 years in Rome.

“For you — for us — the Lord is everything,” he said. “Without him, nothing exists, nothing makes sense, nothing is worthwhile.”

“He is everything in different ways: as Creator and the source of existence, as love that calls and challenges, as the strength that impels and inspires us to give,” he said. “Living out your vows means abandoning yourselves like children into the arms of the Father.”

The Catholic Church “entrusts you with the task of being living witnesses to God’s primacy in your lives,” the pope said.

“By stripping yourselves of everything, you help the brothers and sisters you meet to cultivate this friendship themselves,” he said. “After all, history teaches us that an authentic experience of God always gives rise to generous outpourings of charity.”

Some people believe that “it is vain to serve God,” he said.

“This way of thinking leads to a genuine paralysis of the soul,” the pope said. “We end up settling for a life made up of fleeting moments, superficial and intermittent relationships and passing fads — things that leave a void in our hearts,” and do not lead to true happiness.

“Instead, we need consistent, lasting and healthy experiences of love,” he said, and members of consecrated life have a role to play in that through their example.

“Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord, to whom you have given everything, has rewarded you with such beauty and richness, and I would like to urge you to treasure and cultivate what you have received,” Pope Leo said.

“Do not seek to be numbered among the ‘learned and clever,'” he said, quoting St. Paul VI’s 1971 apostolic exhortation “Evangelica Testificatio.”

“Be truly poor, meek, eager for holiness, merciful and pure of heart,” he said, quoting the late pope. “Be among those who will bring to the world the peace of God.”

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV sent a letter commending the work of Catholic Charities USA, the domestic charitable arm of the Catholic Church in the U.S., to mark its 115th annual gathering Oct. 6-9 in San Juan.

“Dear friends, I express my heartfelt gratitude for all that you and those who work with your networks do each day to put into practice the Lord’s admonition to see and serve him in the poor, hungry, homeless, and people in any kind of need (cf. Mt 25:31-46),” Pope Leo wrote. “May Christ continue to accompany you and give you his joy and peace.”

The organization said its annual gathering was held for the first time in a U.S. territory, Puerto Rico, in concert with Cáritas de Puerto Rico, a member agency that serves the island. Pope Leo encouraged CCUSA in its work “providing food, shelter, medical care, legal assistance, and many other gestures of kindness,” and highlighted in particular its work “assisting displaced persons.”

“It might be said that through assisting displaced persons to find their new homes in your country, you also act as bridge builders between nations, cultures and peoples,” Pope Leo wrote. “I encourage you, then, to continue helping the communities who receive these newly arrived brothers and sisters to be living witnesses of hope, recognizing that they have an intrinsic human dignity and are invited to participate fully in community.”

Kerry Alys Robinson, president and CEO of CCUSA, said in a statement, “We are profoundly grateful to Pope Leo XIV for the Apostolic Blessing he has imparted upon the Catholic Charities network, and we are inspired and invigorated by the solidarity and encouragement he offered in his letter.”

“As we celebrate our 115th anniversary during this Jubilee Year of Hope, our network leaves our annual gathering resolutely committed to serve, in the words of the Holy Father, as ‘agents of hope’ for our vulnerable and suffering sisters and brothers across the United States,” she said.

CCUSA, which has 168 independent Catholic Charities member agencies, said its annual gathering brought together about 600 staff, volunteers and supporters from around the country.

SCRANTON – On Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025, the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will designate eight deacon candidates for the Diocese of Scranton as Lectors in the Rite of Institution of Lectors.

The candidates are: William Chechel of Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Brodheadsville; Daniel B. Cosacchi of Saint Gregory Parish in Clarks Green; Jeffrey R. Kovaleski of Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Dickson City; Thomas J. Krzan  of Saint Jude Parish in Mountain Top; Kevin J. Martin of Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Brodheadsville; Stephen O. Muntzenberger of Saint Jude Parish in Mountain Top; Justo Paula-Martinez of Saint Teresa of Calcutta Parish in Scranton; and Paul M. Zwolan of Saint Therese Parish in Shavertown. 

The Rite is a major step on the path to becoming a permanent deacon, allowing the candidates to read the Word of God, except for the Gospel, at liturgical assemblies. The next step will be the Rite of Acolyte.

For the men receiving the ministry of Lector, this moment is not merely just another stepping stone in their path to becoming a deacon. In receiving the ministry of Lector, each man is being called to a special recognition of the Word of God in their lives that is essential to the life of the Church. 

The Institution of Lectors Rite will take place at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton at 10:00 a.m. on Oct. 11, 2025.

The Rite will be broadcast live on CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton, in addition to being available on YouTube and other Diocesan social media links. 

Please join in prayer with these men as they faithfully continue their preparation to serve the people of our Diocese through the Diaconate Formation Program.

(OSV News) – Five months into his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV has promulgated his first official document, making as his own the draft of a text unfinished by his predecessor.

Described as an exercise in “continuity” with Pope Francis, the apostolic exhortation is an ode to the 265th Successor of Peter while at the same time a further indicator of the priorities of the 266th. The title “Dilexi Te” (I have loved you) — taken from an expression of Christ’s love for his people in Rv 3:9 — positions the text as complementary to Pope Francis’ fourth and final encyclical letter “Dilexit Nos” (He has loved us), promulgated in 2024. And in the new text, Leo renews Francis’ invitation to “all Christians [to] come to appreciate the close connection between Christ’s love and his summons to care for the poor.”

At the same time, at about 21,000 words, “Dilexi Te” in many ways further manifests Pope Leo’s desire to bring unity to a fractured church. “I would like that our first great desire be for a united church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world,” Leo said in his homily at the Mass inaugurating his Petrine ministry.

This unity can be found only in conformity to Christ, and conformity to Christ means loving the least among us, as Pope Leo points out when he writes, “Love for the Lord … is one with love for the poor.” This succinct thesis — and even the topic itself — sets up the rest of the document as both an invitation to examine consciences and as a framework for growing in unity with Christ and the church.

Employing what has emerged as characteristically robust Christological underpinnings to support his ecclesial vision — with copious references to Scripture and patristic sources, and a generous survey of historical figures who took seriously the Lord’s words on the topic — Pope Leo squarely situates the love and care due to the poor within the church’s tradition.

“Dilexi Te” not only draws from the magisterium of Pope Francis, but also several other of Pope Leo’s predecessors, particularly Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. And in relying on the witness of so many saints and founders of movements — from the familiar St. Francis of Assisi to the lesser-known St. Joseph Calasanz — Leo illustrates the longstanding tradition in the church for taking seriously, in no divisive or polarizing way, faith’s insistence to care for those in poverty. And Leo does not focus exclusively on material poverty, but also on poverty in all of its forms, such as in the realms of health care, migration, education and issues pertaining to human liberty (the imprisoned).

Building upon this foundation, Leo continues to cement the care for the poor as intrinsic to the church’s mission by providing intelligent commentary to comprehend how such themes were portrayed in the early church through to the present day. The text makes implicitly clear that care for the poor should be a unifying issue, as it lies at the heart of orthodoxy and holiness.

To this end, interestingly, Pope Leo positively includes in the exhortation an extended quote from a document produced by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — Instruction on Certain Aspects of the “Theology of Liberation” — which Leo describes as “a document that was not initially well received by everyone,” in subtle reference to that text’s intention to preserve the best of the proposals of Latin American liberation theology while also keeping in doctrinal check many of its perhaps less doctrinally sound champions.

An essential, yet difficult, aspect of effecting unity in the church — itself willed by Christ (see Jn 17:21) — will be Pope Leo’s treatment of Pope Francis’ legacy. There is no denying that the church Leo now leads is much more divided and polarized than the church inherited by his predecessor. For ecclesial unity to be nurtured, particularly after a pontificate that was content to let divisions simmer, Leo needs to take the best of Francis and situate it squarely within the church’s tradition — something Francis himself often had difficulty doing. Leo must also “thread the needle” as he seeks common ground between the church’s factions and looks for ways to build consensus and communion. From this perspective alone, and to Leo’s great credit, it appears “Dilexi Te” quite adroitly achieves these goals.

While around 40% of the exhortation’s quotes footnote Pope Francis, those which are cited warrant little controversy. And while it seems almost impossible for the pope to say anything in modern times without causing some kind of reaction, the exhortation shouldn’t present intellectual concerns for those who embrace the totality of the church’s social doctrine. To those shaped more by politics, economics or ideologies, however, which might “lead to gross generalizations and mistaken conclusions” on the poor, Leo warns of “the need to go back and re-read the Gospel, lest we risk replacing it with the wisdom of this world.”

An Augustinian friar and priest, Pope Leo has often quoted St. Augustine of Hippo — and “Dilexi Te” is no exception. The section on Augustine is perhaps one of the document’s most original as it considers care for the poor in light of Augustine’s gift to elucidate and effect ecclesial unity.

Closer consideration of what Leo has to say about his beloved saint, whom he describes as “a vigilant pastor and theologian of rare insight,” is warranted — for therein might exist some clues for what lies ahead on Leo’s intended path toward unity. To this end, consider that, amid the church’s many contemporary divisions and challenges, Leo writes: “Today, fidelity to Augustine’s teachings requires not only the study of his works, but also a readiness to live radically his call to conversion.” “Dilexi Te,” a document written from the heart of the church, with a style that encourages communion and with a command to love the poor as Christ did, calls each of us to conformity with Christ – that is, to holiness.

More than all else, attentiveness to Leo’s reflections on St. Augustine, that credible minister of unity and father of the church, might give clearer insight into where he is guiding the church. Leo’s exhortation echoes what Augustine taught: “The Church consists of all those who are in harmony with their brothers and sisters and who love their neighbor.” But even more than inviting the church to live that reality, there might not be anything more timely and needed from a pope than to model it.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Many Christians “need to go back and re-read the Gospel” because they have forgotten that faith and love for the poor go hand in hand, Pope Leo XIV said in his first major papal document.

“Love for the poor – whatever the form their poverty may take – is the evangelical hallmark of a Church faithful to the heart of God,” the pope wrote in “Dilexi Te” (“I Have Loved You”), an apostolic exhortation “to all Christians on love for the poor.”

Pope Leo signed the document Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, and the Vatican released the text Oct. 9.

The document was begun by Pope Francis, Pope Leo said, but he added to it and wanted to issue it near the beginning of his papacy “since I share the desire of my beloved predecessor that all Christians come to appreciate the close connection between Christ’s love and his summons to care for the poor.”

The connection is not new or modern and was not a Pope Francis invention, he said. In fact, throughout the Hebrew Scriptures “God’s love is vividly demonstrated by his protection of the weak and the poor, to the extent that he can be said to have a particular fondness for them.”

“I am convinced that the preferential choice for the poor is a source of extraordinary renewal both for the Church and for society,” Pope Leo wrote, “if we can only set ourselves free of our self-centeredness and open our ears to their cry.”

As he has done from the beginning of his papacy in May, the pope decried the increasing gap between the world’s wealthiest and poorest citizens and noted how women often are “doubly poor,” struggling to feed their children and doing so with few rights or possibilities.

Pope Leo also affirmed church teaching since at least the 1960s that there are “structures of sin” that keep the poor in poverty and lead those who have sufficient resources to ignore the poor or think they are better than them.

When the church speaks of God’s preferential option for the poor, he said, it does not exclude or discriminate against others, something “which would be impossible for God.”

But the phrase is “meant to emphasize God’s actions, which are moved by compassion toward the poverty and weakness of all humanity,” he wrote.

“Wanting to inaugurate a kingdom of justice, fraternity and solidarity,” Pope Leo said, “God has a special place in his heart for those who are discriminated against and oppressed, and he asks us, his Church, to make a decisive and radical choice in favor of the weakest.”

That choice, he said, must include pastoral and spiritual care as well as education, health care, jobs training and charity — all of which the church has provided for centuries.

The document includes a separate section on migrants with the pope writing, “The Church has always recognized in migrants a living presence of the Lord who, on the day of judgment, will say to those on his right: ‘I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.'”

The quotation is from the Gospel of Matthew 25:35, which is part of the “Judgment of the Nations” in which Jesus clearly states that his followers will be judged on how they care for the poor, the sick, the imprisoned and the foreigner.

“The Church, like a mother, accompanies those who are walking” in search of a better, safer life for themselves and their families, Pope Leo wrote.

“Where the world sees threats, she (the church) sees children; where walls are built, she builds bridges,” he continued. “She knows that her proclamation of the Gospel is credible only when it is translated into gestures of closeness and welcome.”

The church knows, he said, “that in every rejected migrant, it is Christ himself who knocks at the door of the community.”

In his exhortation, Pope Leo went through biblical references to the obligation to love and care for the poor and cited saints and religious orders throughout history that have dedicated themselves to living with the poor and assisting them.

A section of the document focuses on the “fathers of the church,” the early theologians, who, he said, “recognized in the poor a privileged way to reach God, a special way to meet him. Charity shown to those in need was not only seen as a moral virtue, but a concrete expression of faith in the incarnate Word,” Jesus.

Of course, for Pope Leo, an Augustinian, St. Augustine of Hippo was included in the document. The saint, “The Doctor of Grace, saw caring for the poor as concrete proof of the sincerity of faith,” the pope wrote. For Augustine, “anyone who says they love God and has no compassion for the needy is lying.”

And while the pope wrote that “the most important way to help the disadvantaged is to assist them in finding a good job,” he insisted that when that is not possible, giving alms to a person asking for money is still a compassionate thing to do.

“It is always better at least to do something rather than nothing,” Pope Leo wrote.

Still, the pope said, Christians cannot stand idly by while the global economic system penalizes the poor and makes some people exceedingly wealthy. “We must continue, then, to denounce the ‘dictatorship of an economy that kills,'” he said, quoting a phrase Pope Francis used.

“Either we regain our moral and spiritual dignity, or we fall into a cesspool,” he wrote.

“A Church that sets no limits to love, that knows no enemies to fight but only men and women to love,” Pope Leo said, “is the Church that the world needs today.”

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Israel and Hamas “have both signed off” on the first phase of a White House peace proposal for Gaza, President Donald Trump said late Oct. 8 in a social media post.

Trump’s announcement came the day after the second anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

During a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sept. 29, Trump released a 20-point peace plan to end the Israel-Hamas war. The proposal itself was met with cautious optimism from some world leaders — including Pope Leo XIV — and skepticism from others about whether Hamas, which is designated a terrorist entity by the U.S., would ultimately accept the agreement amid increasing international concern about humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip.

“I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan,” Trump wrote on his social media website Truth Social. “This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace. All Parties will be treated fairly!”

“This is a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this Historic and Unprecedented Event happen.”

“BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!” he added.

Trump’s post did not immediately make clear what the agreement entailed. But Trump’s proposal called for an immediate ceasefire and for Hamas to release all of its remaining hostages within 72 hours, living or dead. The militant group still holds 48 hostages, and Israeli officials believe 20 of them are still alive, AP reported. In exchange, Israel would free 250 Palestinians serving life sentences in its prisons and another 1,700 people from Gaza it detained, including all women and children.

“Gaza will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza, who have suffered more than enough,” the White House plan stated.

Mary Ellen O’Connell, a professor at Notre Dame Law School who specializes in international law and conflict resolution, told OSV News, “Any movement toward peace, release of the Israeli hostages, and emergency aid for Gazans is welcome.”

“But I will be paying close attention to what Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government partners say at their meeting on Thursday,” she said. “If they support the deal, and President Trump is willing to ensure Israeli compliance, there will be room for real hope.”

Previous ceasefire proposals may have succeeded, she argued, if the U.S. had been willing to put enough pressure on Israel.

Reports of the deal circulated prior to Trump’s announcement. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was pictured earlier in the day handing Trump a note at a White House roundtable that read, “You need to approve a Truth Social post soon so you can announce (the) deal first.”

“I was just given a note by the secretary of state saying that we’re very close to a deal on the Middle East, and they’re gonna need me pretty quickly,” Trump said at the time.

In his own post, Netanyahu said only, “With God’s help we will bring them all home,” an apparent reference to the hostages.

In a second post, he said: “A big day for Israel. I will convene the government tomorrow to approve the agreement and bring all our precious hostages home. I thank the heroic IDF soldiers and all the security forces, thanks to whose courage and sacrifice we have reached this day.

“I thank President Trump and his team from the bottom of my heart for their commitment to this sacred mission of freeing our hostages. With God’s help, together we will continue to achieve all our goals and expand peace with our neighbors.”

In its attack on Israel in 2023, Hamas carried out mass killings, kidnapped hostages and provoked Israel to declare war the following day. About 1,200 people were killed in the surprise attack by Hamas, with militants engaging in sexual violence and taking hostages before retreating to Gaza.

In the nearly two years since, the Israeli government’s management of the ensuing conflict has been met with scrutiny and criticism, including from the United Nations, over its actions that led to civilian casualties, mass displacement and famine.

After announcing the proposal, Trump later set a deadline for Hamas to accept the proposal, warning of a “a sad end” if they did not. Hamas indicated Oct. 3 it would negotiate through mediators.

Previously, in comments to reporters Sept. 30 at Castel Gandolfo about the White House plan, Pope Leo said it appeared to be “a realistic proposal.”

“There are elements that I think are very interesting, and I hope Hamas accepts it in the established timeframe,” he said.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Court documents show that a New Jersey man arrested Oct. 5 outside of St. Matthew’s Cathedral just hours before the start of the annual Red Mass had a “fully functional” arsenal of explosives that he threatened to detonate.

According to the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, after officers took Louis Geri — a 41-year-old resident of Vineland, New Jersey — into custody, they discovered he had “multiple suspicious items, including vials of liquid and possible fireworks” inside a tent he erected on the steps of the cathedral.

Geri had previously been barred from the cathedral premises and was encountered when authorities were making a security sweep several hours in advance of the annual Mass to mark the start of the Supreme Court’s new term.

Published reports indicate that Geri had in his tent 200 incendiary devices including handmade grenades, bottle rockets, Molotov cocktails and vials of nitromethane, the compound used in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

Agents from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Metropolitan Police Department’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Arson Task Force, were able to take Geri into custody when he stepped away from his tent.

After his arrest, Geri was found to have a lighter and an explosive device on his person. He was charged with unlawful entry, threats to kidnap or injure a person, and possession of a Molotov cocktail, according to authorities.

Court documents show that Geri had expressed hostility and disdain for the Supreme Court, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Catholic Church and Jewish people.

The Red Mass is offered each year on the Sunday before the first Monday in October to mark the opening of the Supreme Court’s term and to invoke God’s blessings on those responsible for the administration of justice as well as on all public officials.

The start of the Red Mass was delayed because of the incident. In a later statement, police said the scene had been secured and there was no ongoing threat to public safety. Normally several Supreme Court justices attend the annual Red Mass, but as the security situation unfolded, none of the justices attended this year’s Mass.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV’s first papal trip abroad will be to Turkey and Lebanon Nov. 27-Dec. 2, the Vatican press office announced.

The trip was built around Pope Francis’ promise to join Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople in celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and the beginnings of the Nicene Creed, recited by all mainline Christians.

While not releasing a detailed itinerary for the trip, the Vatican said Oct. 7 that Pope Leo would be in Turkey Nov. 27-30, and his visit would “include a pilgrimage to Iznik,” the modern site of the ancient Nicaea.

In an interview in July with the Catholic online news outlet Crux, Pope Leo said that while initial plans were for the Nicaea celebration to be mainly a joint pilgrimage of the pope and patriarch, he requested that it involve other Christian leaders as well. The drafting of the Creed occurred “before the different divisions took place” and so is “a common profession of faith.”

The pope also could go to Ankara, the Turkish capital, to meet government officials and fulfill elements of diplomatic protocol as the leader of the Holy See. And in the past, popes have gone to the Phanar, the headquarters of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, for the Nov. 30 celebration of the feast of St. Andrew, the patron saint of the patriarchate.

The Vatican also said that “in response to the invitation of the Head of State and Ecclesiastical Authorities of Lebanon,” Pope Leo would go from Turkey to Lebanon Nov. 30-Dec. 2.

In addition to visiting government and church officials, the pope is expected to commemorate in some way the 2020 explosion at the port of Beirut, which killed more than 200 people, injured some 7,000 others and displaced more than 300,000. Many of those killed were Christians because the port is near predominantly Christian neighborhoods.