ORLANDO, Fla.  – In Orlando and major cities around the United States and the world, people gathered June 13 to pay tribute to the 50 killed — including the gunman — and more than 50 injured in the shooting rampage in Orlando the previous day.

BEIRUT – Syriac patriarchs, marking the two-year anniversary since the Islamic State group expelled Christians from a large part of Iraq, denounced "the ethno-religious genocide" of their people and called for the liberation of those areas.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando Bishop John Noonan urged people of faith "to turn their hearts and souls" to God and pray for the victims, the families and first responders following the worst mass shooting in U.S. history June 12.

LOS ANGELES – With California now allowing doctors to prescribe lethal medications for terminally ill patients who ask for them, "we are crossing a line," said the archbishop of Los Angeles.

LAHORE, Pakistan – Christians in Lahore are ramping up security measures following a shooting at a Catholic church in the Punjab capital.

NEW DELHI – Bishops in India have condemned a series of attacks on Africans in New Delhi, calling it a disturbing trend and against Indian culture.

ROME – An Italian archbishop who served as the first apostolic nuncio to Mexico died May 27 at the age of 94.

HUE, Vietnam – Father Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly, a human rights campaigner jailed by Vietnamese authorities, was released from prison three days ahead of the May 22 arrival of U.S. President Barack Obama.

DUBLIN – Archbishop Diarmuid Martin confirmed that Pope Francis, or his successor, will visit Ireland in 2018 for the World Meeting of Families.

WASHINGTON – The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, in a position statement issued earlier this spring, said some of its drugs are not meant to be used for executions and that it would restrict those drugs' availability to government agencies that might use them to make compounds for lethal injections.