MOSUL, Iraq – Christians, Muslims and other victims of ISIS feel relief over the terrorist group being pushed back from the Nineveh Plain area of Northern Iraq, but challenges remain for the region as winter sets in.

MOSUL, IRAQ – Two years after the sound of church bells was replaced by the sound of explosives in Bashiqa, Iraq, just north of Mosul, Christians are again celebrating Mass after forcing the Islamic State out of their homeland.

VATICAN CITY – As nuncio to Syria, Cardinal-designate Mario Zenari resides in Damascus. Even though the city does not come under attack as much as Aleppo, there are constant mortar attacks, and it makes him think of the nation's children.

WASHINGTON – There is only one word to describe the images coming out of Syria as the conflict advances: apocalyptic.

OTTAWA — Help for Yazidis facing genocide and sex slavery by ISIS must not overshadow needs of other refugees elsewhere in the world, say refugee advocates.

MONTREAL – Canada and Western nations can and must do more to stop the war in Syria, said Father Jacques Mourad, a Syriac Catholic priest who was abducted and held captive for nearly five months by the Islamic State group.

VATICAN CITY – As a military operation in northern Iraq fights to wrest control of areas held by retaliating Islamic State forces, Pope Francis criticized the "cruelty" and heinous violence waged against innocent civilians.

ISTANBUL – Yako Hanna, 36, always keeps an eye on his phone waiting for a call that would change his life.

WASHINGTON – The military operation to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group is not the only solution needed to get life back to normal, said Iraqi Archbishop Bashar Warda of Irbil.

BAGHDAD – The Rev. Martin Banni, a Chaldean Catholic priest, grabbed the Eucharist, the church’s official documents and a few personal items ahead of the Islamic State fighters’ assault on Karemlash, a town 18 miles southeast of Mosul, two years ago.

AMMAN, Jordan – Iraqi Christians are cautiously welcoming the start of the battle for Mosul and the Ninevah Plain, their ancestral homeland of the past 14 centuries from which they were brutally driven out by the Islamic State group more than two years ago.

VATICAN CITY – To kill in the name of God is satanic, Pope Francis said at a special requiem Mass for a French priest assassinated by youths claiming allegiance to the Islamic State.

NAIROBI, Kenya – As Turkish authorities push for the closure of African schools affiliated with Imam Fethullah Gulen — accused of masterminding this summer’s coup attempt in Turkey — some caution that the crackdown could inadvertently benefit Islamic fundamentalists on the continent.

BAGHDAD – Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad called for a united and strong stance – by Muslims and non-Muslims alike – to stop the spread of the "cancer" of Islamic State and other terrorist groups.

Is the West’s tepid response to the religious cleansing of Syrian and Iraqi Christians a sign of naivety, greed or maybe cowardice? Or is there a Machiavellian strategy to ease religious tension in the region by silently watching a 2,000-year-old Christian presence simply fade away?