FRANKFURT, Germany (CNS) -- Germany's Third Ecumenical Convention concluded in Frankfurt May 16 with an open-air church service on the bank of the River Main. With the city's skyline of office towers providing the backdrop, some 400 people attended the service, including German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The injury and death of so many innocent people, especially children, caused by escalating violence between Israel and the Gaza Strip is "terrible and unacceptable," putting the area at risk of sinking into "a spiral of death and destruction," Pope Francis said.

Father George "Jerry" Hogan, a priest of the archdiocese since his 1974 ordination, died on May 5 at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, at 75. The occasion of his death brought accolades for his kindness, his wonderful sense of humor, and his outstanding priestly service. More impressive were the tributes from his brother priests who, to a man, recounted Jerry's fraternal interest in priests and his evident happiness in any and all of his assignments.