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The event was sponsored by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, which wanted to “draw attention to the dramatic issue of anti-Christian persecution.”

One idea being considered is a detailed map laying out “safe zones” where civilians and members of moderate opposition groups covered by the truce.

In Greece, the faithful attended Easter Mass holding candles lit with “Holy Fire” from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

“Our ancestors lived there for thousands of years, so we have to go and retake our homes and lands and churches. We don’t want to live like exiles in someone else’s land.”

Beseiged Aleppo came under another deadly barrage of airstrikes and shelling on April 29. The assaults—which involve both regime airstrikes and rebel attacks on pro-government neighborhoods—have killed 200 people in the last week, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Hum

“The bad news, though it is not really bad news, is that the global population of Catholics has grown dramatically since then, so today we have far fewer priests per Catholic.”

In his welcome message, Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore thanked those who gathered noting, “We are united in prayer for the welfare of Baltimore. We are united in prayer for the people of Baltimore.”

Promising new treatments that are emerging every year cannot be available “only to the privileged and the powerful,” Biden told some of the 350 top cell therapy doctors, researchers, philanthropists, ethicists and activists.