OXFORD, England – Mali's Catholic church has urged a common front against Islamist violence after al-Qaida-linked terrorists attacked a tourist resort just days before the creation of the country's first cardinal.

OXFORD, England – Cardinal-elect Jean Zerbo of Bamako, Mali, the first from the western Africa nation, will use his position to ease the multiple crises facing sub-Saharan regions, an aide said, despite new media accusations linking him to a financial scandal.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis announced he will create five new cardinals June 28; the new cardinals-designate come from Mali, Spain, Sweden, Laos and El Salvador.

BAMAKO, Mali – Four people have been arrested in Mali in connection with the February kidnapping of a nun who remains missing.

VATICAN CITY – Mali security forces arrested two suspects who they believe were involved in the kidnapping of a Colombian nun Feb. 7 in southern Mali.

OXFORD, England - The secretary-general of Mali's Catholic bishops' conference said he fears the Nov. 20 hotel attack in Bamako forms part of a wider Islamist campaign, but insisted Catholic-Muslim ties will not be affected by the latest violence.

VATICAN CITY - Show kindness, understanding and mercy in today's broken and wounded world, Pope Francis said.

OXFORD, England - A Catholic bishop in war-torn Mali whose diocese lies in the path of Islamic insurgents said "people are hiding in their homes, unable to venture out."

VATICAN CITY - Rebels fighting to establish a separate state in northern Mali destroyed a Caritas office and a local church in Gao, one of the cities they captured in late March and early April, according to Caritas Internationalis.

"Caritas staff fled Gao on Saturday. We learned from our guard today that the center and the church compound have been destroyed," the priest who directs Caritas Gao told the organization's Vatican-based central office April 2.

"We have received calls from the small Catholic community left in Gao. They are now in hiding, fearing for their lives," said the priest, identified only as Father Jean-Jacques. He said there are about 200 Catholics living in Gao, a city with a population of more than 85,000 people. The vast majority are Muslims.