VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis called on Catholics and Orthodox Christians to pray for children in Syria who are suffering because of the ongoing conflict in the country. 

ZAHLE, Lebanon – On a rainy spring day, the misery of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees is compounded as they shelter in dilapidated shanties dotting a long muddy swathe of the verdant Bekaa Valley.

ROME – After less than 48 hours in Rome, "dream" is the word used most often by the six Syrian adults Pope Francis brought back to Italy with him from a refugee camp in Greece.

MYTILENE, Greece – Pope Francis' five-hour visit to Greece ended with him offering safe passage to Italy to 12 Syrian Muslims, half under the age of 18.

A long-anticipated trip to Ireland, researching ancestors, a poignant story about children playing with a potato, even the name Barack Obama, all eventually led me to pondering the plight of Syrian refugees and the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.

TORONTO - With doctors about to become "agents of death" when assisted suicide comes to Canada in three months, politicians and society should instead be focussed on bringing comfort to the dying, said Cardinal Thomas Collins.