“There are more martyrs in the world today than in the early centuries of Christianity,” Francis told thousands of pilgrims.

Moving quickly to strengthen the Section for Refugees and Migrants in the new Vatican department for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, Pope Francis has appointed as under secretaries a Canadian Jesuit, Michael Czerny, and an Italian member of the Scalabrini Fathers, Fabio Baggio. The Vati

The struggle to liberate Mosul from ISIS militants has entered a third month of often savage combat.

In a world marked by violence, "the choice of nonviolence as a style of life is increasingly demanded in the exercise of responsibility at every level," the pope said.

Government licenses and German arms exports had risen 96 percent in 2015 to a value of $13.6 billion, a priest said.

Syrian TV showed live footage of a long convoy of ambulances and green buses driving out of Aleppo.