Putin, Pope Francis and Syria

How to make a muddier situation muddier (or how to really pile the pressure on Obama) http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/09/05/pope_francis_writes_letter_to_president_putin_of_russia_ahead_of_g20/en1-725816  . I see a world in which using chemical weapons is banned, a rather nasty regime then uses them repeatedly. The world mithers about what to do and the Pope gives Putin a large stick with which to beat Obama. But then the Syrian Orthodox Church and Assad seem to be on one side. It is I know difficult to know what to do but say you see two groups of bullies in the playground having a fight in which a load of innocent girls are caught in the middle, to use Jesus' words spoken in the same area, do you walk on the other side? If the POPE can bring peace to Syria it would be a miracle worthy of the vicar of Christ.