Gloria.TV News on the 22nd of October 2015

Tumor: The Vatican claimed, a report of the Quotidiano Nazionale that Pope Francis has a curable brain tumor is “totally unfounded.” But the denial says nowhere that the report was “wrong”. Andrea Cangini, the newspaper's editor, said he expected the denial. Quote: "We waited a long time before publishing the report in order to carry out every possible check. We don't have the slightest doubt that it is founded."

Everybody: For Ross Douthat the Synod debates about whether conversion precedes Holy Communion or Communion precedes conversion. If Communion should precede conversion, then Douthat asks: “Why should only remarried, gay or polygamous Catholics be welcomed at the altar? If the template for Holy Communion is Jesus’s meals with the unconverted, then this would apply to any human being, period, since who wouldn’t Jesus have dined with?” Then, according to Douthat, barring anyone whether Protestant, Jew, Moslem or atheist from receiving Communion makes no sense at all.

Not Smart: Damian Thompson writes that Pope Francis is at war with the Vatican. Quote: “If he wins, the Church could fall apart.” Pope Francis told the Synod last Saturday that decentralization of the Church will be imposed from above. Thompson comments: “If the Pope wants to make far-reaching changes to pastoral practice, even to doctrine, then there are smarter ways of achieving this than by hosting a catastrophically divided synod and then hinting that he intends to do his own thing anyway.

Hope At Last: Msgr Georges Abou Khazen, the Latin Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo, Syria, has said that the Russian intervention has led to greater efficiency in the fight against ISIS – quote – “because their fighter jets hit their targets, they do not pretend to hit them." He says that the U.S. military operation – quote - "was purposely not effective." He accuses the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to support foreign fighters who came from outside and have no interest in creating a modern and democratic nation". He believes that Moscow wants a political process to start. Quote: “We, Christian leaders and Syrian civilians, have some hope."