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

After a heartrending testimony in the synod hall, Father Timothy Radcliffe said: “I hope it changed us.”

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.

Pope Francis today called for “the immediate release” of the more than 100 Israeli hostages taken by Hamas into Gaza and, at the same time, expressed his deep concern at the “total siege” imposed by Israel on Gaza.

“The synod is not a council. It does not take decisions as a council does. Its task is to discern, not decide,” one synod member explained to me.

“We behave completely unjustly, unjustly toward the pope because the opposition to him is always based on one or two phrases taken out of context,” Cardinal Ryś said in an exclusive interview America.

As the death toll rises in Israel, Pope Francis prayer for the families of the victims and “for all those who are living through hours of terror and anxiety.”

What strikes me most about the synod, now in its third day, is the climate of prayer that envelops it, Gerry O’Connell writes.