“We can’t go backward,” Cardinal Robert McElroy told America’s Vatican correspondent Gerard O‘Connell at the end of the first session of the Synod on Synodality.

Today, Pope Francis prayed “for all those who suffer” and said he hoped that “paths of peace” may be found for the conflict in the Middle East.

Pope Francis again called for a stop to the fighting in Israel and Palestine, as he appealed to both sides: “Brothers, stop! Stop!”

Pope Francis today called for the silencing of guns in Gaza and declared Oct. 27 a World Day of Prayer for peace.

Francis did not say whether this “compañero” was in fact among those killed, injured or taken hostage.

Pope Francis has called for the respect of “humanitarian rights…above all in Gaza,” as well as the guarantee of “humanitarian corridors” and the release of the hostages.