Starting at 4 p.m. on Jan. 19, crowds of Israelis arrived at what has become known as Hostages Square in the centre of Tel Aviv to support the hostage families and watch the release screened on the giant screen in the square.

The Vatican's top diplomat met with papal representatives to various Middle Eastern countries to discuss possible avenues toward peace in the region and the state of the Catholic Church there.

Gunfire and shouts of jubilation echoed through the streets of Damascus, SyriaöÏÓãÊÓƵapp capital, as rebel forces opposed to Bashar AssadöÏÓãÊÓƵapp government took control of the city on Dec. 7 and proclaimed an end to the 50-year rule of the Assad dynasty.

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.

While faith cannot change anything in moments of great darkness such as the one Israelis and Palestinians are currently living through in the Israeli-Hamas war, it can, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa said, create "a small light" which will give "orientation."

BEIRUT -- The pilgrimage of the icon of the Holy Family of Divine Will of Unity and Peace has begun. The icon, written by Melkite Father Samir Rouhana of St. Elias Parish near Haifa, Israel, will be in Lebanon for a month.

For nine years, Randa Aweis battled kidney disease, urgently in need of a transplant.

BEIRUT -- Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai warned that the Christian presence in the Middle East is shrinking and church leaders "are called to face the winds that blow in our homelands."

VATICAN CITY -- Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, met with the U.S. and Israeli ambassadors to the Vatican to express concern that "possible unilateral actions" on their part would further jeopardize peace in the region.