VATICAN CITY – Conveying Pope Francis' closeness to the Syrian people, a Vatican delegation visited Aleppo following the end of the hostilities that left thousands dead and the city in ruins.

WASHINGTON – Syrians don't want to leave their homeland, they want a safe place to live in peace, said a Franciscan friar from Aleppo, Syria, who spoke on Jan. 5 with the Archdiocese of Washington's Holy Land Committee.

An iconic soft drink commercial in 1971 invited the world to sing in perfect harmony. But the ad was hardly original. It came three years after Pope Paul VI made a profound pitch to teach the world to live in peaceful harmony.

VATICAN CITY – During the Angelus for the third Sunday of Advent, also called Gaudete Sunday, Pope Francis made a special appeal for prayers for the people of Aleppo and Syria, and for all those affected by the recent terrorist attacks which have taken place in places such as Turkey and Egypt.

WASHINGTON – There is only one word to describe the images coming out of Syria as the conflict advances: apocalyptic.

TORONTO – When Christine Shekherdmian, a Syrian refugee from Aleppo, registered her two children at Annunciation Catholic School in Toronto, she was given a welcome she never expected.

LANCASTER, England – A religious sister working with Christian families in Aleppo, Syria, has criticized Western media for their allegedly biased coverage of the six-year conflict.