NATION/WORLD

Amid the rubble and bombed out remains of four churches destroyed by Islamic State militants, Pope Francis paid tribute to Iraqi Christians who endured persecution and even death.

Pope Francis told Iraqi Christians that when they suffer discrimination, persecution or war, the Eight Beatitudes are addressed to them.

Traveling to the birthplace of Abraham, Pope Francis urged believers to prove their faith in the one God and father of all by accepting one another as brothers and sisters.

In a low-key meeting followed closely in Iraq and beyond, Pope Francis and Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the influential leader of Shiite Muslims in Iraq, spent 45 minutes speaking privately.

A U.S. government forensic team announced March 4 it has identified the remains of Father Emil Kapaun, a priest of the Diocese of Wichita, who was an Army chaplain and died in a Chinese prisoner-of-war camp during the Korean War.

With abortion and assisted suicide front and center in the New Mexico Legislature, "I wonder, what have we become?" Santa Fe Archbishop John C. Wester said in a March 3 statement.

Weeks before legislative elections in February, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele kept trying to tamp down a report by The Associated Press that Biden administration officials had refused him a meeting during an impromptu trip he made to Washington.

Jesus offers humanity a concrete model for holiness that can be lived each day, said Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, offering the second meditation of Lent for leaders of the Roman Curia and Vatican employees.

Pope Francis visited the cathedral where 48 Christian martyrs died in 2010 when militants detonated explosives and shot people; 48 Catholics -- including two priests -- died inside and more than 100 people were wounded.

To consolidate peace and ensure progress, the government and people of Iraq must never treat anyone as a second-class citizen and must work each day to promote harmony, Pope Francis said.