The United Nations reports that the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon has exceeded 265,000 and that it expects 1.1 million Syrian refugees overall in surrounding nations by June. • Human rights groups are concerned by reports that the Zimbabwean prison service, where 74 men and 2 women are believed to reside on death row, has hired a hangman, replacing one who retired in 2005. • In a message on Feb. 13 to the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Pope Benedict XVI “recognized” biodiversity “as a precious good that the Creator has placed at the disposal of the entire human family.” • Giving new life to closed churches in the Archdiocese of Chicago, St. Raphael the Archangel Church in Old Mill Creek, Ill., uses the “recycled” facade of Chicago’s demolished St. John of God Church and eventually will include the interior of the closed St. Peter Canisius Church. • Guatemala’s President Otto Pérez Molina has joined other regional leaders advocating the legalization of cocaine and other narcotics in order to quell crime related to drug trafficking. • Pastor Saeed Abedini of the United States was sentenced to eight years in Iran’s notorious Evin prison on Jan. 27 because of his efforts with that country’s house churches.
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The direct action of San Diego Bishop Michael Pham is likely to leave a stronger impression in the minds of the public—and of the immigrants who are circling in and out of court—than any written statement.
“This is not policy, it is punishment, and it can only result in cruel and arbitrary outcomes.”
“Let diplomacy silence the guns!” Pope Leo XIV told the crowd in St. Peter’s Square a few hours after the United States entered the Iran-Israel war by bombing three of Iran’s nuclear sites.
Pope Leo XIV’s statement was read at the premiere of a play about the Peruvian investigative journalist Paola Ugaz, who was subject to death threats because of her reporting on sexual abuse.