VATICAN CITY -- Food, cooking fuel, jobs and, especially, hope are hard to come by in Syria, said two Catholic leaders reflecting on the 10th anniversary of the war.

AMMAN, Jordan -- Turkey and Greece are trading blame following the deaths of Syrian refugees trying to flee to Europe, but some observers believe Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is weaponizing the Syrian refugee humanitarian crisis.

Syrian Christians have been neglected, forgotten and cast aside like “the scum of the world,” charged the patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church.

CORNWALL, Ont. – Western nations must support Syrian refugees in Lebanon who want to return home, Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï told Canada’s Catholic bishops.

The recess bell rings and a child dives for cover underneath her desk. A teacher is at the front of the classroom but a student is wandering from desk to desk starting conversations of his own. The lunch bell rings and several pupils have arrived without lunch, or uniforms, or gym clothes. A six-year-old turns up in school mid-morning, but doesn’t have enough English to tell the school secretary who she is, where she’s from or where she’s supposed to be.

OTTAWA – Suzanne Le earned two degrees during her years in university — a bachelor’s in comparative religion and a master’s in conflict studies.

OTTAWA – Holy Redeemer, a parish in the Ottawa archdiocese, didn’t stop at bringing in one Syrian refugee family. They brought in three — and plan to bring in three more.

OTTAWA – While much of the world’s attention is on Syrian refugees, there is also a great need to help rebuild the lives of those who chose to remain in the war-ravaged country, says a Syrian refugee who manages centres funded by the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.

ZAATARI, Jordan – As the U.N. secretary-general visited the world's biggest camp for Syrian refugees this week, he made an impassioned plea: Stop Syria's devastating war.

DAUPHIN, Manitoba – Ken Yakielashek, a Catholic and semiretired farmer in the Canadian Prairies, says he remembers when Christians of varying denominations “wouldn’t talk to one another.”

VATICAN CITY – With the 6th anniversary of the start of the Syrian war as backdrop this week, Pope Francis met Thursday morning with the President of Lebanon, Michel Aoun.

OMAHA, Neb. – It's families helping families. That's the bottom line as parishes and Catholic ministries step up to help refugee families – most recently, several from war-torn Syria – adjust to a new life in the United States.

AMMAN, Jordan – Promised resettlement in the United States after escaping death and destruction in their homeland, many Syrian refugees are frustrated and angry over President Donald Trump’s executive action banning their entry to the U.S. until further notice.