Cindy Wooden - Catholic News Service

Likes millions of refugees around the world, Hassan packed up his family to flee violence and to try to find a safe place where his children could grow and thrive.

The pope “entrusts to God’s mercy those who died and, in prayer, he shares the pain of their loved ones,” the message said.

Catholics at all levels of the church also need to learn to listen to women’s “voices of faith” as input that is not “threatening,” but enriching.

Father Rizzo said he usually hears 20-30 confessions a day in Italian or Spanish, but the number of penitents increases on Saturdays and Sundays, and he will offer the sacrament to at least 50 people each day on the weekend.

Four Missionaries of Charity and 10 to 12 other people at a home the sisters operate for the elderly and disabled in Aden, Yemen.

Pope Francis “is inviting us to lower our voices. You cannot have a dialogue shouting.”

The Cuba meeting was not an improvisation, Father Lombardi said; it took two years of intense planning and negotiations to schedule.

“This visit is important because it gives two important signals: The first signal is continuity,” demonstrating that “the route opened by John Paul II and followed by Benedict XVI is now going forward,” Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, the chief rabbi of Rome, said. The second signal is a recognition of the importance of mutual respect and dialogue at a time of increasing “violence inspired and sustained by distorted visions of religion.”

Interrupted repeatedly with applause at Rome’s main synagogue Jan. 17, the pope said the church “recognizes the irrevocability of the Old Covenant and the constant and faithful love of God for Israel.”