After a quarter million dead, six million driven from their homes and 50 years of violence, what Colombia needed was a pastor, not a politician, said Colombian-born Toronto pastor Fr. Carlos Augusto Sierra Tobon.

MEDELLIN, Colombia - In a city many think of as being synonymous with new directions for the Catholic Church, Pope Francis told Colombian Catholics faith is not measured by how well they follow rules, but by the depth of their prayer life and the degree to which it pushes them to share the Gospel.

VILLAVICENCIO, Colombia (CNS) -- People in need in this city set in the heart of Colombia's cattle country line up outside the Pope Francis food bank, a warehouse built with a donation from the pontiff.

YANGON, Myanmar – Pope Francis is expected to focus on trying to improve the troubles of about a million ethnic Muslim Rohingya when he visits Myanmar the last week of November, reported ucanews.com.

VATICAN CITY – Vatican spokesman Greg Burke confirmed that while Pope Francis had voiced his desire to travel to South Sudan for an ecumenical visit alongside Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby, it won’t be happening this year.

Atlantic Canada bishops will lead off two months of visits to Rome which will see all of Canada’s active bishops participate in “ad limina” meetings with a Pope for the first time since 2006.

VATICAN CITY - Despite ongoing violence in the Central African Republic, Pope Francis said he hopes to be able to visit the country in late November and to anticipate the Year of Mercy by opening the Holy Door of the cathedral in Bangui, the nation's capital.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - Pope Francis' visit to Cuba is a sign of his closeness to the nation's people at a time they "breathe the air of hope" that relations with the United States will improve, said Bishop Wilfredo Pino Estevez of Guantanamo-Baracoa.

LIMA, Peru - When Pope Francis lands in Ecuador July 5, he will be returning to a country where he has long-standing bonds of ministry and friendship.

VATICAN CITY - It took place in silence and lasted only a few minutes, but Pope Francis' time of prayer and contemplation before the Shroud of Turin was marked with gestures of reverence and tenderness.

MEXICO CITY - Pope Francis is expected to arrive July 6 in Ecuador, starting a three-country tour of his home continent, the Associated Press reported from Quito.

HAVANA - Sitting outside the church where she was baptized, 65-year-old Clementina Torres recalls the time when anyone who publicly admitted being a Catholic in Cuba faced a host of problems. It could mean not getting into the "right" university or program, being taunted by classmates or isolated by neighbours, or it resulted in being fired, demoted or not allowed to advance professionally.

TIRANA, Albania - In a world "where an authentic religious spirit is being perverted and where religious differences are being distorted and exploited," Albania is an "aspiring example" to everyone that peaceful co-existence is possible, Pope Francis said during a one-day visit to the country Sept. 21.

STONY BROOK, N.Y. - What are the prospects of the world witnessing a papal motorcade driving through the streets of Beijing in the near future?

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle confirmed July 29 that Pope Francis will visit Jan. 15-19, after spending several days in Sri Lanka.