News Briefs

With a Mass near the tomb of St. Ignatius Loyola in Rome, 215 Jesuits from around the world gathered on Oct. 2 for a general congregation to elect a new superior general to replace Adolfo Nicolás, S.J., who is retiring. • Brazil’s Indigenous Missionary Council in a new report highlighted abuses against the land rights of the nation’s indigenous people and said 137 of them were killed in 2015. • Hailing the Rev. Jacques Hamel, a French priest assassinated on July 26, as “a martyr” and declaring him “blessed,” Pope Francis said on Sept. 14, “To kill in the name of God is satanic.” • Catholic Relief Services announced on Sept. 16 that the agency's chief financial officer, Sean Callahan, will succeed the current chief executive officer and president Carolyn Woo when her five-year term ends in January 2017. • The United States signed a new security agreement with Israel on Sept. 14 that will give the Israeli military $38 billion over 10 years. • Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio Elizondo of Seattle, chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration, said on Sept. 14 that Catholics “are called to overcome the partisan divides that separate us” on migration issues.