Administration officials, in fact, have repeatedly condemned ISIS for its treatment of religious minorities, including Christians. But a bipartisan resolution now moving through Congress calls on the administration to go further and say ISIS is guilty of genocide.

Fidel Castro was not interested in personal enrichment. His supporters say he deployed his enormous authority on behalf of health, education and welfare programs that brought Cuba attention around the world.

The collapse of the Soviet bloc ended the massive subsidies that had kept the Cuban economy afloat. The once-vaunted education and health care systems fell into disrepair. Fidel Castro's stubbornness, meanwhile, made political and economic change difficult in Cuba.

At one congressional hearing, Bishop Francis Kalabat complained that administration officials are overlooking what's happening to his fellow Chaldean Christians.

You shouldn't face discrimination because of your sexual orientation. That should be illegal.

Many who later lost faith in Fidel Castro can remember how they once admired the man who needed just a dozen men to launch the Cuban revolution.

And the pressure to clarify what exactly is happening to Christians and other minorities in the Middle East is certain to intensify in the New Year.