Archbishop Golka on his Oval Office prayer

Oleshky truce agreed a week after Leo’s appeal to Putin

Russia and Ukraine have confirmed a local ceasefire in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, where civilians face a severe food crisis, a week after Pope Leo XIV urged a humanitarian truce there in a phone call with Vladimir Putin. Russia’s chief of the general staff said the ceasefire will begin early Tuesday, Oct. 27, to allow aid deliveries and evacuations; Ukraine’s human rights commissioner credited U.S. mediation involving First Lady Melania Trump. On Friday, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk thanked the pope for his attention to the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Oleshky and handed him a list of hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war held in Russia. The papal almoner, Archbishop Luis Marín de San Martín, will visit Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, and Fastiv Oct. 27–30 with food and medicine. — Vatican News (Stefano Leszczynski) · Vatican News (Salvatore Cernuzio) · Vatican News (Benedetta Capelli)

Gunmen kill at least seven at a church funeral in Jordan

Gunmen opened fire Friday during a funeral at St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church in Hamoud, in Jordan’s Karak governorate, killing at least seven people and wounding dozens, authorities said. Jordan’s interior minister called it a terrorist attack by “extremists,” King Abdullah II vowed the “harshest penalties,” and the government declared three days of national mourning. No one has claimed responsibility, and the search for the attackers continues. Karak is home to a longstanding Christian minority. — AP · BBC News · Vatican News

Archbishop Golka on his Oval Office prayer: “That was never my intention”

Denver Archbishop James Golka told the Denver Catholic that he understands many people saw the White House video of him praying over President Donald Trump, posted 12 days before the election, as an endorsement, and said, “That was never my intention.” He said the Oct. 22 meeting was organized by the White House Faith Office, not the USCCB, and covered immigration enforcement, religious worker visas, the protection of life, religious freedom, and school choice. “I was able to say what the Church teaches, and I would say the same to a president of either party,” he said, adding that he is “heartbroken that people are hurt.” — Denver Catholic (André Escaleira Jr.)

Also today

• Pope Leo receives Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who is in Italy for an honorary doctorate at the Angelicum, a pilgrimage to Loreto on Monday, and the Sant’Egidio peace meeting in Assisi — Holy See Press Office [IT] · Also: Vatican News [IT] (Salvatore Cernuzio)
• Pope: ‘Hearts of young people are longing to discover Christ’s love’ — Devin Watkins, Vatican News. Leo meets the Jesus Youth movement, founded in Kerala 40 years ago. · Full text (Vatican)
• [IT] Pope approves heroic virtue of six servants of God — Holy See Press Office. They include Salesian Bishop Oreste Marengo, a missionary in India, and Focolare consecrated laywoman Margarita “Luminosa” Bavosi.
• [IT] Bishop Joseph Francis Janvier Badji succeeds Bishop Jean-Pierre Bassène in Kolda, Senegal — Holy See Press Office.
• Pope Francis on the Thirst for Peace — Where Peter Is (Fridays With Francis).

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Compiled from publicly available reporting as of about 6:50 a.m., Oct. 24, 2026 (ET). Quotations are as published by the linked outlets. Headlines from non-English sources are our translations.

This weekend edition was compiled with the help of AI tools and published automatically without editor review. Summaries reflect the reporting of the outlets linked, not the views of Where Peter Is. Please report any errors to the editors.

Photo: Jorge Royan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.