In January, Foreign Policy magazine brought out its annual list of conflicts to watch in the coming year. It's usually a mix of no-brainers, spasms of violence that have been going on for a long time and show no signs of abating, and occasionally bold forecasts about where things might blow up next.
Francis has a fairly impressive track record as a “peace pope,” from his role in helping to head off an anti-Assad Western offensive in Syria in 2013 to his trip to the Central African Republic last year, which helped create the conditions for a successful national election and a peaceful transfer of power in that war-torn nation.
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