With daily phone calls, pope offers Palestinians encouragement

Rome - Pope Francis is calling for prayer and fasting on October 7, the first anniversary of the start of the ongoing conflict in Gaza. As the death and destruction continue, so too do the daily phone calls from the pope to the Catholic Holy Family Church parish in Gaza City, offering spiritual sustenance to the priests, nuns and parishioners seeking shelter there.

At the start of a special synod on October 2 of