VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Gazans are in need of urgent medical care and a humanitarian corridor, Catholic Church officials told Vatican Radio."Many have lost hands or legs and need immediate care. Their situation is very difficult: They cannot go to Israel, to Egypt or to Jordan and they can't even leave their homes," Claudette Habesch, secretary-general of Caritas Jerusalem, told Vatican Radio Dec. 29. Caritas Jerusalem is the local affiliate of the Catholic umbrella group of aid agencies, Caritas Internationalis."The situation in Gaza is dramatic.

Caritas staff have confirmed shocking reports of a series of massacres in the Democratic Republic of Congo carried out by Ugandan rebels on Christmas Day and the days following.Caritas Internationalis, the confederation of 162 national Catholic charities, says it has received disturbing reports from the field of a killing spree carried out by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan rebel group.Caritas Dungu-Doruma, the local Caritas, say that over 400 people have been killed in the attacks in an area of northern Congo including Faradje, Duru, Gurba, Doruma, and Province Orientale.The D

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- For some Gazan Catholics, it was a mixed blessing being stuck in the West Bank as Israel attacked the Gaza Strip.Several members of Gaza's Holy Family Parish, who asked not to be named, were given exit permits to spend the Christmas holiday in the West Bank with relatives days before the attack began December 27.For those who had permits for the entire family, it is a blessing they are all together.

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Religious leaders in Jerusalem urged Palestinians and Israelis to "return to their senses" and end the violence that has engulfed the Gaza Strip and southern Israel.They denounced the hostilities in Gaza and "all forms of violence and killings from all parties" and called for Jan.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholic journalist Emilie M. Lemmons died Christmas Eve of complications of sarcoma cancer, but her blog and final column for The Catholic Spirit newspaper continued to inspire readers in the days following her death at the age of 40."Thank you for sharing your words of insight," a reader of her last column wrote on the Web site of The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, December 27, three days after Lemmons died.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI deplored the latest escalation of violence in Gaza, following Israeli airstrikes that left nearly 300 people dead.Addressing pilgrims at his noon blessing at the Vatican December 28, the pope urged serious dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians as the only way out of the "perverse logic of conflict and violence."He called for a restoration of the truce in Gaza, and said the international community has a particular responsibility to leave nothing untried in helping both sides out of the current "blind alley.""I am deeply sadde

KINSHASA, Congo (CNS) -- A Catholic Church official said the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army is killing Congolese civilians to avenge military attacks by the Congolese army."It is the civilian population who are paying the price of this violence," said St. Joseph Sister Marie-Bernard Alima, executive secretary of the Congolese bishops' justice and peace commission.Sister Marie-Bernard told Catholic News Service Dec.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The reauthorization of an anti-trafficking law signed at the White House December 23 was hailed by the chairman of the U.S. bishops' migration committee as "an important step toward eradicating this scourge."Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City said in a statement that President George W. Bush had done much to elevate public awareness about human trafficking.

ROME (CNS) -- The Vatican is concerned about President-elect Barack Obama's positions on the family and on the unborn, but it looks forward with hope to his presidency fostering more attention to the poor and easing violence around the globe, said retired Cardinal Pio Laghi.The cardinal, a former Vatican nuncio to the United States, spoke about the prospects for U.S.-Vatican relations under Obama during a Dec.

NAZARETH, Israel (CNS) -- A large white banner proclaiming the power of Allah in English and Arabic stretches between two light poles and a date palm tree at the entrance of the plaza in front of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth."He is Allah (the) one and only. Allah the eternal, absolute. He begetteth not nor was he begotten.