"Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding room in the world."

Praying the Angelus with some 25,000 visitors in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis urged listeners to disconnect from the “pollution of vain words and chatter” present on social media platforms.

After a canceled trip to Dubai due to a bronchial infection, Pope Francis went into the center of Rome to continue the tradition of praying before the elevated statue of Mary next to the Spanish Steps.

Pope Francis prayed for Mary's intercession and asked for her guidance in bringing peace to a world torn by conflicts and wars during a prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica.

In a new letter to the People of God, the synod participants emphasized the importance of continued discernment for the Church's future.

The letter, the drafting of which was approved by the synod assembly, will be discussed both during small group working sessions and among the entire assembly Oct. 23.

“Synodality helps us a lot because it is the communities that tell us how to be a church, rather than a bishop telling the people how to be church,” Cardinal Leonardo Ulrich Steiner of Manaus, Brazil, said.

The Catholic Church’s highest ranking prelate in the Holy Land offered his “absolute availability” to be exchanged for Israeli children taken hostage by Hamas.

The synod on synodality is not geared to “resolve particular problems” in the Catholic Church, such as the blessing of same-sex unions or women’s ordination, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo of Kinshasa, Congo, said.

Pope Francis has responded to a “dubia” letter written by five cardinals in regard to their concerns on the church clarifying doctrinal questions such as the ordination of women and blessing homosexual unions.