Globe Trot: Lawmakers warn against naïve reaction to Syrian migrants

SYRIA: Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., co-chairman of the Helsinki Commission, is in the “trust but verify” camp when it comes to Europe’s migrant crisis. “We can’t be naïve,” he told me. “We want to give a humanitarian welcome to strangers—that’s living out the gospel, that’s Matthew 25. But we must be aware others have a different outcome in mind, and that’s killing people.”

IRAN: Friday’s unprecedented gathering of lawmakers from around the globe to discuss religious freedom brought some strange associations—an Iranian ayatollah addressed the group, as did Naghmeh Abedini, the American whose husband is imprisoned in Iran for his Christian faith.

Abedini, who is on day 16 of prayer and fasting on her husband’s behalf, also met privately in New York with U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power.

VATICAN: Pope Francis is in Cuba ahead of his arrival in the United States tomorrow, where he will become the first pontiff on Thursday to address a joint session of Congress. He is likely to make the migrant crisis and immigration a focal point of his speech, and to potentially annoy both sides of the aisle. Catholic scholar George Weigel has historical perspective on U.S. papal visits.

RUSSIA: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss Russia’s military buildup in Syria.

BURKINA FASO’s army is moving toward the capital with intent to disarm the presidential guard that seized power in a coup last week. This afternoon, the coup leader apologized to the nation and said he would cede power to a civilian government.