Two gunmen targeted Jewish beachgoers at an event celebrating the first day of Hanukkah in an apparent terror attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, New South Wales police said.

The Nativity scene and the Christmas tree are signs of faith and hope, Pope Leo XIV said.

Loyola University Maryland announced Dec. 15 it has received a $10 million commitment from Ellen and H. Edward Hanway.

Even in difficult situations and harsh places, like prisons, when people focus on caring for one another, respecting each other and offering forgiveness, “beautiful flowers spring forth from the ‘hard ground’ of sin and suffering,” Pope Leo XIV said.

Hong Kong’s prominent Catholic, media tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai has been convicted of national security offenses under the city’s controversial national security law.