Free Republic

Its parish priest, the Rev. Gabriel Romanelli of the Holy Family Church, became well known after it was revealed that Pope Francis used to call him every evening during the war in Gaza. A man and a woman who were seriously injured in the midmorning strike died in surgery at the nearby al-Ahly Hospital, according to the hospital’s director of surgery, Mostafa Naim. The patriarchate later confirmed the death of a third person, Najwa Abu Daoud. Naim identified two of the dead as Foomya Ayad and Saad Eissa Salama. They were Orthodox Christians but were sheltering at the church, according...

The pope’s right-hand man is reshaping the church, becoming a targetMost Catholics have little sense of the liberal archbishop behind the Vatican’s pronouncements. But critics of the pope see Víctor Manuel Fernández as Enemy No. 2.“Fernández’s appointment was the most consequential of [Francis’s] pontificate,” said Massimo Faggioli, a Catholic theologian at Villanova University. “After one year of Fernández, we’ve witnessed a series … of frequent, specific, out-of-the-ordinary actions the likes of which have never been observed. And this from a prefect who knows full well that he’s Francis’s own alter ego and enjoys the pope’s complete trust.” ... Senior church...

How Pope Francis opened the Vatican to transgender sex workersThe outreach, reflecting the most radical stage of his papacy, has prompted backlash while also altering the lives of the nearly 100 people he has met.