Pray and dialogue for peace, Pope Francis told the Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and other religious leaders taking part in the meeting.

Karen O'Donnell writes her own trauma theology as a “survivor’s gift that is offered as both a comfort and a challenge.”

“We need to help our society to see our common humanity—that we are all children of God, meant to live together as brothers and sisters.”

Pope Francis does not aspire to fulfill his role as a theologian but as a pastor.

Heading home from his trip to Africa, the pope criticized “schools of rigidity” in the church but said he welcomed criticism and did not see a U.S. schism as imminent. America’s Vatican correspondent, Gerard O’Connell, reports.

“Infrastructure has been severely damaged, as have institutions and businesses,” Archbishop Pinder said. Though the official death count was 30 on Sept. 6, “we are assured the death toll is bound to increase.”