When the pope was Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, he dragged the hidden problem of human slavery into broad daylight, annually celebrating open-air Masses in the city’s Constitution Square for and with victims of human trafficking. Now, as leader of the universal church, Pope F

State visits are usually occasions of pomp and circumstance signifying little. That was not true, however, of the recent formal introduction of President Michael Higgins of Ireland to Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. During the president’s historic four-day visit, from April 8 to 12,

“I feel called to take responsibility for all the evil some priests...have committed and to ask forgiveness for the damage they’ve done [because of] the sexual abuse of children,” Pope Francis said, speaking at the International Catholic Child Bureau meeting in Rome on April 11. &l

Georgetown hosts dialogue between believers and nonbelievers on role of religion in society.

Frans van der Lugt, a 75-year-old Dutch Jesuit who refused to leave war-torn Syria, was beaten by armed men and killed with two bullets to the head, according to a message sent from the Jesuits’ Middle East Province to the Jesuit headquarters in Rome on April 7. • Linda LeMura, named pres

The number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon passed the one million mark on April 3.