VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis condemned the "absurd violence" being used against Christians in several countries and called on people of good will everywhere to take up the cause of religious freedom.

THRISSUR, India - Catholic leaders in Pakistan protested the Nov. 4 beatings and burning of a young Christian couple accused of desecrating the Quran.

VATICAN CITY - Although divided by ancient disputes and new developments, Christians in Europe still have an obligation to work together to help confused men and women find the answers to their spiritual thirst and their search for life's ultimate meaning, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY - Christian life is a constant battle against the devil, who is not the stuff of legend, but really exists, Pope Francis said in a morning homily.

VATICAN CITY - Despite its many positive advancements, globalization also has brought about greater indifference, exploitation and suffering, said the leaders of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

Under blue skies, dressed in black, stand the members of Christian band Darkness Divided. In the serenity of a forest clearing, the band members’ hands are stretched straight up, revealing streams of thick, dark blood pouring from wounds artificially created on their open palms. In the background, lyrics suggestive of Christ’s crucifixion are belted out supported by the severe guitar and drum sounds typical of a metalcore band. This is a scene from “The Hands that Bled,” a single off the band’s newly released album, Written in Blood.

Religious leaders agree the Islamic State — also known as ISIL or ISIS — must be stopped. Their struggle is how best to do it.

TORONTO - Fr. Darren Dias asks Christians to learn from history and become agents of reconciliation amidst modern religious violence.

TORONTO - Mahir Aboudi’s aging mother and father — on the run from the Islamic State and holed up with thousands of refugees in Irbil, Kurdistan — can’t join their son and his family in Canada as refugees because they haven’t yet crossed an international border, Conservative cabinet member Jason Kenney told Aboudi and his family. 

VATICAN CITY - Iraqi Christians are true and courageous witnesses of Christ's message of hope, forgiveness and love, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY - Cardinal Fernando Filoni said Pope Francis "was really taken" by the cardinal's description of Christians and other minorities forced from their homes in northwestern Iraq by militias belonging to the Islamic State terrorist group.

MANCHESTER, England - A group of 11 sick, disabled and elderly Iraqi Christians — including an 80-year-old woman with breast cancer — defied terrorists who ordered them to convert to Islam or be beheaded, saying they preferred death to giving up their faith.

OTTAWA - Canadian Catholic charitable agencies have put out urgent appeals for assistance to help Iraqi Christians fleeing for their lives from Islamist extremists from the Islamic State (ISIS}.

TORONTO - Dressed in shirts that proclaimed “I am Christian, I am Iraqi,” carrying signs pleading for protection of their families still in Iraq, 5,000 Iraqi Christians and their supporters marched on Queen’s Park August 10 to draw attention to the plight of their brethren back home.

Suffering, violence and persecution have always been central to Christian experience. This is the religion that adopted the ultimate Roman instrument of torture, used to not only kill but humiliate its victims, as its central image.