Lebanon

While Pope Francis was hospitalized in Rome's Gemelli hospital, one of the cardinals closest to him traveled to Lebanon to demonstrate the pope's ongoing concern for refugees and for peace in the Middle East.

One out of four people living in Lebanon is a refugee, and the majority of children born in refugee camps are unregistered at birth, said Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

The election of Joseph Aoun, a Maronite (Eastern-rite Catholic), as the 14th president of Lebanon and a fragile ceasefire have raised hopes that the war-ravaged and crisis-ridden country will finally reverse its steep descent into chaos.

As airstrikes continue to pound southern Lebanon, adding one more catastrophe to the avalanche of tragedies that have pushed its people to the limits of human endurance, churches and humanitarian organizations are urgently seeking help from international donors to provide emergency relief to millions fleeing their homes in desperation.

As Israel has escalated its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon across a United Nations-drawn boundary between the two countries, more than a million people have fled their homes.