Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican is funding a job-creation program for Iraqi refugees in Jordan, a country that is hosting close to 1.5 million refugees, but is struggling to provide work for them.
VATICAN CITY – The Catholic Church is not a fancy medical clinic for the rich, but a "field hospital" that – often literally – provides the only medical care some people will ever receive, Pope Francis said.
VATICAN CITY – The tears shed by men, women and children around the world each day cry out for mercy, compassion and consolation, Pope Francis said during a special Year of Mercy prayer service for those who weep.
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.
'It makes you weep,' Pope says of refugees' stories
ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM GREECE – When an aide suggested Pope Francis offer to fly some Syrian refugees back to Rome with him, the pope said he agreed immediately because it was "an inspiration of the Holy Spirit."
Pope prays for refugees, brings 12 Syrians back to Rome
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.
MYTILENE, Greece – Although their speeches were punctuated with policy appeals, Pope Francis and Orthodox leaders focused their visit to the island of Lesbos on the faces, stories and drawings of refugees.
VATICAN CITY – In a "humanitarian and ecumenical gesture," not a political one, Pope Francis is to join Orthodox leaders in personally meeting with hundreds of refugees and migrants stranded in Greece, the Vatican spokesman said.
VATICAN CITY – Before St. John Paul II arrived in Greece in 2001 there were protests by Orthodox faithful and an all-night prayer vigil by Orthodox monks on Mount Athos, praying that the pope would not come.
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis' trip to Lesbos, Greece, April 16 comes at a frightening and critical time for tens of thousands of refugees and migrants waiting and wondering where they will end up, said members of Catholic aid agencies.