NEWS BRIEFS

Pope asks migrants to forgive indifference

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is asking migrants to forgive what he says are societies’ “closure and indifference” toward them.

The pope made the remarks Tuesday in a message to a Jesuit center in Rome that has assisted refugees for 35 years.

Francis says people fleeing oppression, war and “unjust distribution” of the Earth’s resources are brothers with whom to share bread, homes and life. He said instead of being seen as a problem or expense, migrants should be seen as a gift. Francis said migrants can be a “bridge that unites faraway peoples.”

Last week, Francis took three Syrian Muslim refugee families to Italy aboard his plane after a visit to a Greek island. Some 3,000 migrants on the island face possible deportation back to Turkey under an EU deal.

— The Associated Press

Man charged after body of priest found

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Authorities in South Carolina say a man has been charged in connection with the case of a missing Florida priest whose body was found in Georgia.

Aiken County sheriff’s office Capt. Eric Abdullah released an arrest warrant Wednesday saying that 28-year-old Steve James Murray of Jacksonville, Fla., has been charged with possession of firearm or ammunition by a person convicted of a violent felony, and with receiving stolen goods.

Police say Murray knew the Rev. Rene Wayne Robert of St. Augustine and led authorities to the body in woods near Waynesboro, Ga.

Murray was arrested in South Carolina while driving the priest’s Toyota Corolla.

— The Associated Press

2 churches vandalized; 3 teens investigated

GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Authorities say three young people are suspected of vandalizing two churches in western Michigan.

The Ottawa County sheriff’s office says information from the public led investigators to the teens, ages 13, 15 and 16.

Authorities say the front door was pried open about 3 a.m. Sunday at Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church in Georgetown Township. Bibles, books and other church literature were found thrown around the lobby. Fire extinguishers were discharged. Damage to the church was estimated at $2,500.

Deputies say the same three young people are believed to be responsible for vandalizing the Jamestown Christian Reformed Church, also on Sunday.

— The Associated Press

Missouri man guilty of burning mosque

JOPLIN, Mo. — A Joplin man pleaded guilty Monday to setting a fire that destroyed a mosque and twice trying to burn down a Planned Parenthood clinic.

Jedediah Stout, 32, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Springfield after waiving the right to a grand jury review, The Kansas City Star reports.

The building for the Islamic Society of Joplin burned in August 2012, about a month after another fire was set at the building.

Stout confessed to setting fire to the mosque after he was arrested in 2013 for twice trying to burn down the Planned Parenthood clinic in Joplin. Prosecutors said he threw a backpack containing flammable liquid onto the clinic’s roof and lighted a rope attached as a fuse.

He will be sentenced after a pre-sentence investigation is completed.

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