The small town of West has been flooded with donations, disaster response teams, volunteers, news media and, perhaps most importantly, prayers since an explosion at a fertilizer plant the evening of April 17.

Pope Francis called on Venezuela’s political leaders to resolve their differences through respectful dialogue and he urged the nation’s people to reject all forms of violence as the country seeks to move ahead.

Emergency personnel were carefully combing through blocks of wreckage in this town of 2,900 a day after a chemical fertilizer factory caught fire and exploded with the force of a small earthquake April 17, injuring perhaps hundreds and killing others.

In the teaching of Pope Francis, the devil has a more dastardly agenda than just convincing people to break one of the Ten Commandments; “the enemy” wants them to feel weak, worthless and always ready to complain or gossip.

In an April 18 interfaith prayer service, religious and political leaders emphasized the enduring strength of the people of Boston and urged them to find consolation and healing in their continued support of one another.

Traveling deep into the Amazon basin in a canoe filled with medicine, food and young missionaries to visit remote villages sounds like an extraordinary adventure, but for Father Peter Bui, it was part of a journey to share the love of Christ with the poor.

Pope Francis called for prayers for the victims of a deadly explosion in Texas. In a short message sent from his @Pontifex Twitter account, the pope told the more than 2.3 million followers on his English account to “Please join me in praying for the victims of the explosion in Texas and their families.”

The Christian faith teaches that God is a real, concrete person, not some intangible essence or esoteric mist like “god-spray,” Pope Francis said.

Jeff Pauls, a member of the national Life Runners team from Belleville, Ill., was planning on participating in the race, but his qualifying race came too late — registration for the Boston run had already filled to capacity not long after his October run in St. Louis. When the news broke that two bombs went off near the finish line of the April 15 Boston Marathon, Pauls and his fellow Life Runners responded immediately, coming together to pray.

Unless western nations immediately find ways to bring peace to Syria instead of debating whether to arm opposition forces, the country will continue to be in turmoil and a victim of the West’s indecision, said a Syrian patriarch.