Pope Francis calls violence against women an 'insult to God' in New Year's Day homily
CNN
Pope Francis has condemned violence against women as an "insult to God" in his New Year's Day homily.
His address to the faithful from the Vatican in Rome during Saturday's mass focused on Mary, the mother of Jesus, as Francis drew inspiration from her delivering her child in a humble manger.
"Mary now finds herself in the dark stable of Bethlehem. Yet that is where she gives God to the world. Others, before the scandal of the manger, might feel deeply troubled. She does not," Francis preached. "Let us learn from the Mother of God how to have that same attitude: to keep and to ponder [...] We hope that everything will be alright and then, like a bolt from the blue, an unexpected problem arises. Our expectations clash painfully with reality."
President Joe Biden asserted Friday that Hamas has been degraded to a point where it can no longer carry out the type of attack that launched the current 8-month conflict in Gaza, laying out a three-phase proposal Israel has submitted to wind down the grinding crisis as he declared, “It’s time for this war to end.