NATION/WORLD

Nearly 1,000 years after the schism between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, their respective leaders embraced and prayed inside Christendom’s most revered site, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, May 25.

The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics arrived in this ancient city May 25 to find buildings bedecked with papal flags and huge banners proclaiming “Welcome to the Holy Land, Pope Francis!”

Memorial Day, the traditional kickoff of summer marked by family getaways, cookouts, picnics and parades, also includes somber events the day was created for such as wreath-laying ceremonies, prayer services and visits to war memorials. A few miles from the major war memorials, two Vietnam veterans at the U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home, planned to mark the holiday without any fanfare.

Pope Francis invited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres to pray together at the Vatican for peace between their nations.

A long line of cars trailed down the road next to the Church of the Nativity as Franciscan Father Ibrahim Faltas helped coordinate the placement of the electricity generator for the May 25 papal Mass.

Catholics in Libya are "living in fear" as conflict escalates between Islamist militias and followers of a rebel general, said priests in Tripoli and Benghazi.

Asking prayers for his May 24-26 trip to the Holy Land, Pope Francis said his visit to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories would be "strictly religious."

Polluting or destroying the environment is like telling God one does not like what he created and proclaimed to be good, Pope Francis said. On the other hand, he said, safeguarding creation is safeguarding a gift of God. Continuing a series of audience talks about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Pope Francis said the gift of knowledge helps people see creation with God's eyes.

It looked like any other military parade with bands playing, flags waving and thousands of men and women marching in colorful uniforms decorated with medals and ribbons. But instead of impressive displays of tanks and trucks, troops from dozens of nations fell in line behind religious banners, a large wooden cross and a rose-strewn statue of Mary.

Initial reviews of responses from around the world on questionnaires about church teaching on the family in advance of this fall's extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family show that the teaching is misunderstood, said a cardinal who will run one the synod's sessions.