News Briefs

As intersectinginternational interests collide, what is unfolding in Syria is a veritable "workshop of cruelty," Pope Francis told governing members of Caritas Internationalis on Nov. 17. • An outspoken priest in Veracruz, Mexico, who had been reported missing on Nov. 11, the Rev. José Luis Sánchez Ruiz was found aliveby Mexican police two days later, but with injuries consistent with torture. • The Supreme Court of the State of New York ruled on Nov. 17 in favor of the family of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, allowing the transfer of the remains of the candidate for sainthood from  St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York to Peoria, Ill., where he was raised and ordained a priest. • Protests erupted in the Philippines after reports that the remains of former President Ferdinand Marcos were flown from Ilocos Norte province on Nov. 18 and secretly given military honors before burial at the nation’s Heroes' Cemetery. • The vulnerability of the poor and of future generations to theimpact of climate changecreates a "serious ethical and moral responsibility to act without delay,” Pope Francis said in a written message to the conference of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in Marrakech, Morocco, on Nov. 15