Check out these recent articles from around the web:

The papal bull: Misericordiae Vultus by Michael Sean Winters: “Sadly, for too long the Church itself has failed to give mercy the centrality of focus it deserves and which Jesus Christ requires. This is the core of the Pope Francis Revolution. It is exhilarating to witness.”

The surprisingly simple way Utah solved chronic homelessness and saved millions by Terrence McCoy: “That conversation spawned what has been perhaps the nation’s most successful — and radical — program to end chronic homelessness. Now, more than a decade later, chronic homelessness in one of the nation’s most conservative states may soon end. And all of it is thanks to a program that at first seems stripped from the bleeding-heart manual.”

A Century After Armenian Genocide, Turkey’s Denial Only Deepens by Tim Arango: “The genocide was the greatest atrocity of the Great War. It also remains that conflict’s most bitterly contested legacy, having been met by the Turkish authorities with 100 years of silence and denial. For surviving Armenians and their descendants, the genocide became a central marker of their identity, the psychic wounds passed through generations.”

152 Innocents, Marked for Death by NY Times: “However much Americans may disagree about the morality of capital punishment, no one wants to see an innocent person executed. And yet, far too often, people end up on death row after being convicted of horrific crimes they did not commit. The lucky ones are exonerated while they are still alive — a macabre club that has grown to include 152 members since 1973. The rest remain locked up for life in closet-size cells. Some die there of natural causes; in at least two documented cases, inmates who were almost certainly innocent were put to death.”

Who cares about Syria? by Valerie Amos: “There have been three Security Council resolutions on humanitarian access and protection of civilians in Syria, but here we cannot claim significant progress. Why not? Because in a war zone, without incentives to de-escalate violence and without agreement on the mechanisms needed to protect civilians — the establishment of no-fly zones and safe areas, for example — civilians will continue to be targeted.”

Count your gains, don’t tally your losses this Tax Day by Allison Walter: “Taxes are a means of societal contribution to the common good, not simply a complex burden on our personal capital. After all, where would we be without clean tap water, sanitation, or public education?”

Dying in Darfur: President Obama’s Forgotten Promise by Tom Andrews: “Silence, acquiescence, and paralysis in the face of genocide is wrong. With millions of lives at risk, President Obama, the Unites States and the world cannot abandon Darfur again. The lives of untold numbers of innocent people stand in the balance. Again.”

Raise the smoking age to 21 by Washington Post: “The public health benefits of the projected decline in smoking from raising the age to 21 would take years to realize, but they would be significant. There would be 249,000 fewer premature deaths, 45,000 fewer lung cancer deaths and 4.2 million fewer total years of life lost among those born between 2000 and 2019. Not to mention how much healthier people would be in the years they are alive. The benefits wouldn’t end with smokers themselves: Between now and 2100, 286,000 fewer babies would be born prematurely , and the effects of secondhand smoke on children would diminish. The researchers insist that their projections are conservative.”

Tom Catena by Andrew Berends: “Meeting Tom Catena is the closest I have come to meeting a saint. He runs the Mother of Mercy Hospital in the war-torn Nuba Mountains of Sudan with an unparalleled level of devotion to his Catholic faith and the Nuban people who seek his care.”