In general, the Pope is passive.
Here and there he raises his voice of concern, kind of like the UN.
Some words, some crocodile tears and then...nothing.
He could speak out more and condemn the slaughter of Christians but like most religious and civic leaders today, they are AFRAID TO OFFEND Islam.
'Today we are dismayed to see how in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world many of our brothers and sisters are persecuted, tortured and killed for their faith in Jesus,''This too needs to be denounced. In this third world war, waged piecemeal, which we are now experiencing, a form of genocide - and I stress the world genocide - is taking place, and it must end.'
Pope Francis
Historically (at least for the past couple of hundred years), the problem is that if the Pope ends up speaking out loudly and calling on nations to act, a lot of people die.
His predecessor called for German Catholics to not allow themselves to be wooed by the Nazis (Mit Brennender Sorge) resulted in an increase in persecution against Catholics throughout Germany.
Consider: the Vatican never ran a crusade by itself. It depended upon Catholic Kings and Princes to supply troops for a crusade.
Seriously, consider: if +Francis was to call for a crusade, which countries would rise to the call?
Would the United States? Certainly not under Obama, but would the US under Bush respond? Not only would the atheistic left pillory Bush for responding, there are a good portion of conservatives that would do the same thing...including a whole host of FReepers who would say this was some sort of conspiracy for the Vatican to take over the world.
Would Great Britain? Less likely than the US.
Would France? Less likely than the UK.
Would Germany? Chuckle...
I agree that it is horribly frustrating to only see crocodile tears, but if there was a call for more, who would listen? You and I might. However, I can't speak for you, but I don't "own" an army.