“When we think of Syria, there comes to mind the verse of the Book of Lamentations: ‘Vast as the sea is your ruin; who can heal you?’” Pope Francis said.

The New Taliban is about the same as the Old Taliban, but punishing the regime indiscriminately could push Afghanistan toward economic collapse and lead to another refugee crisis.

Sean Callahan, president and C.E.O. of Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services, returned last month from tours and consultations with C.R.S. partners in Ukraine, Ghana and Ethiopia.

Fra’ John Dunlap is one of the few professed religious of the Order of Malta and is the first North American to lead the Order as the lieutenant of the grand master.

The pope joined the Sri Lanakan Catholic bishops in an “appeal for peace” and to the country’s political leaders “not to ignore the cry of the poor and the needs of the people.”

“The church of Odesa shares the pain of its inhabitants. The church is not a building; it is people,” said Archpriest Maximian Pogorelovskiy, a spokesperson for the Orthodox Diocese of Odesa.