“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.”

Mugabe was forced out in a de facto coup in November 2017.

Dorian has been pushing its way up the Southeastern U.S. coast, menacing Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

The synod requires some delicate diplomacy for the Vatican, which under this pontificate has made numerous efforts to strengthen relations with Russia, notably signing a joint declaration with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow during Pope Francis’ February 2016 visit to Havana.

Pope Francis, who was visiting Mozambique Sept. 4, expressed his sorrow after hearing the news of the cardinal's death.

A yearlong investigation by Seton Hall University confirmed that Theodore McCarrick, the laicized cardinal who had been archbishop of Newark from 1986 to 2000, had sexually harassed seminarians during his tenure as head of the archdiocese.