Top church leaders visited Gaza on Friday after its only Catholic church was struck by an Israeli shell the day before, an attack that killed three people and wounded 10, including a priest who had developed a close friendship with the late Pope Francis.

Holy Family Church in Gaza was hit by Israeli forces Thursday morning, resulting in several people injured and three people dying from sustained injuries.

"Living our vocation to be protectors of God's handiwork is essential to a life of virtue." Pope Leo XIV holds first 'green mass' with profound message for followers: 'The care of creation' first appeared on The Cool Down.

In a vast hangar near Rome's Fiumicino airport, piles of letters addressed to Pope Leo XIV are being sorted, sent by faithful all over the world to the head of the Catholic Church. "We receive hundreds of letters per day addressed to the pope with peaks of 100 kg per day,

To believe in and follow a loving and compassionate Christ is to allow him to enter one's heart and take on his same feelings, Pope Leo XIV said.

Pope Leo received an official copy of his family tree, which includes his ties to "free people of color" in New Orleans.