Pope urges respect for Olympic Truce tradition
THE Pope has called for an Olympic Truce, in respect of ancient tradition, before the Milano-Cortina Winter Games begin on Friday in northern Italy. Speaking after leading the Angelus from the Vatican on Sunday, Pope Leo said that the Olympics and Paralympics represented an important message of fraternity and hope for world peace. “This is also the meaning of the Olympic truce, a very ancient custom that accompanies the holding of the Games,” he said. The truce dates to 776 BC in ancient Greece, when states would lay down their arms before and during the Games. “I hope that those who care deeply for peace among peoples, and all those in positions of authority, will take this opportunity to make concrete gestures to ease tensions and seek dialogue,” Pope Leo said. The 2026 Winter Olympic Games will end on 22 February.
RCs may keep feast for Newman on 9 October
THE Pope has inscribed St John Henry Newman in the General Roman Calendar, with his optional memorial (the lowest rank of feast day) to be on 9 October, the Dicastery of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments decreed on Tuesday. The founder of the Oxford Movement who became a Roman Catholic and was later made a cardinal, Newman was beatified in 2010 and canonised in 2019. On 1 November, Pope Leo proclaimed him a Doctor of the Church and co-Patron, with St Thomas Aquinas, of the Church’s educational mission (News, 7 November 2025). In the Common Worship calendar, Newman’s commemoration falls on 11 August (the day of his death in 1890), and 9 October is assigned to Bishop Robert Grosseteste of Lincoln.
Khartoum Anglican Cathedral in recovery, Primate says
ALL SAINTS’ CATHEDRAL, in war-torn Khartoum, is entering a phase of recovery, the Archbishop of Sudan, the Most Revd Ezekiel Kondo, reports. The cathedral had resumed activities in October, he told the Religion News Service last month. The congregation are believed to be some of the 1.2 million Sudanese people who have returned to Khartoum and other cities after government-aligned troops pushed out the rebel paramilitary Rapid Support Forces nearly a year ago. The cathedral was among five of the 33 Anglican churches in the country forced to shut down in the early phase of the civil war. It was severely damaged. The Archbishop and the Dean’s residences and offices were completely destroyed, as were grave crosses in the cathedral cemetery.
