Vatican announces pope will bring migrants from Cyprus to Italy

After Pope Francis denounced putting up “barbed wire” to keep out migrants and the practice of pushing boats back to countries where they face conditions similar to an encampment, the Vatican announced he would help move a dozen migrants from Cyprus to Italy before Christmas.

United in faith, Cypriot Christians have mission to console, pope says

Meeting Dec. 3 with Archbishop Chrysostomos II, head of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, the pope heard a long litany of the offenses and atrocities Orthodox and other Christians of northern Cyprus have suffered at the hands of Turkish Cypriots and the Turkey military since the island nation was divided in 1974.