VATICAN CITY - As the death toll from the Brussels terror attacks rose on March 24, Pope Francis began three days of solemn observances leading to Easter Sunday by denouncing those who help fuel terrorism the way some once backed Judas against Jesus.

VATICAN CITY - Five years after the war in Syria began, there is a "feeling of helplessness in front of an endless human tragedy," a Vatican official told the UN Human Rights Council.

With seven million Syrian children forced into poverty, almost three million out of school and two million living in cities under siege, the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF estimates 80 per cent of Syria’s children have suffered harm in the five-year-old war.

CANTERBURY, England - Labelling people who are worried about mass migration into their country as racist is “absolutely outrageous,” Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby wrote in The House, a magazine read mainly by members of Parliament.

Retired lawyer Bob Doherty has no illusions about becoming fluent in Arabic but he’s taking a language course at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax in order to ease the transition for the Syrian refugee family his parish will soon welcome.

TORONTO - As refugees come streaming down the ramp at Pearson International Airport, there are screams, sighs, tears and laughter. Mothers, aunts, fathers, brothers extend their arms to touch, to encircle their daughters, nieces, sons and friends. It’s a mad, mysterious, inspiring breakdown of order and decorum.

VATICAN CITY - Even in the midst of constant bombing, Jesuit and Salesian priests remain in war-torn Aleppo, Syria, trying to create a sense of normalcy for those unable to leave.

OTTAWA - The federal government announced Feb. 18 it will be restoring health care for all refugees seeking a new life in Canada.

PARIS - Germany’s Christian churches, long the most positive voices greeting waves of Middle Eastern refugees pouring into the country in recent months, have begun to admit the need to limit the flow now that public opinion towards the newcomers has turned from welcoming to wary.

TORONTO - The federal government is seeking to pair displaced Syrian refugees fleeing the civil war in their homeland with their families already in Canada or with groups ready to sponsor them.

BRAMPTON, ONT. - Almost seven years ago the Shakar family fled to Canada as war refugees from Iraq with little beyond the clothes on their backs.

AL-KHALDIYA, Jordan - As a donors conference to stem the Syrian refugee crisis opens in London, Syria's neighbors, which have hosted hundreds of thousands of refugees for the past five years, say they cannot continue to bear the brunt of the burden.

BERLIN - Catholic bishops in Germany and Austria have urged their countries to continue accepting refugees, despite demands for new restrictions after New Year's Eve violence in Cologne and other cities.

BEIRUT - Myrna calmly begins describing the challenges she faces as a Syrian refugee in Lebanon, but soon breaks down in tears over the enormous problems that have upset her family life: her husband has no work and her 7-year-old son with a heart condition now wets in his sleep because of stress. Some days the family goes without eating.

VATICAN CITY - Welcoming thousands of migrants and refugees to the Vatican for their own Year of Mercy celebration, Pope Francis urged them to resist everything that would rob them of hope and joy.