The Board of Trustees of the Parliament of the World’s Religions—after much thought, prayer and heartfelt deliberation, realizing the complex and critical situation at hand—issues the following non-unanimous statement:

In the midst of the Israel-Hamas War, the Parliament of the World’s Religions prays for those suffering. We acknowledge the right of a people to self-defense within the bounds of international law and call for the release of all hostages and the cessation of hostilities. We call for the norms of international humanitarian law to be respected by all parties as they seek to resolve this escalating war through peaceful dialogue and negotiation.

Khizr Khan said about Trump, “A person who has never sacrificed is incapable of love: love of country, love of purpose, love of fellow human beings. Trump is nothing but appetite and ego. Trump is incapable of leading the U.S. again. I wish to pay tribute to General John Francis Kelly and his family. General Kelly is a gold star father as well. We stand with you and are saddened to hear the remarks that Trump made in the White House and after his presidency.”

Khizr Khah is a gold star father, having lost his son Humayun Saqib Muazzam Khan in 2004. Humayun was a United States Army officer who was killed by a suicide attack near Baqubah, Iraq during the Iraq War. He came to national attention in the United States during the 2016 presidential campaign as an example of a Muslim American soldier who died in service to the U.S. military.

Watch his interview on MSNBC.

Dear Sisters, Dear Brothers,

The phones are the first to go off. Almost every Ukrainian has an app installed on his smartphone informing us about the alarms in progress. A few seconds later, the sirens start shrieking. On Saturday this happened three different times, the last one during the evening Mass that I celebrated in the chapel of the Kyiv priory. We’ve gotten used to it, so there’s no panic, no nervousness, like there was at the beginning of the war. I doubt, however, whether anyone is capable of accepting the recurring alarms with complete calm. Especially at night, when the Russian drones and rockets fly over most often. I have to admit that for over a year and a half, almost every morning I have been starting off with checking the news, even when I’m not in Ukraine and don’t have sirens waking me up in the middle of the night.