The appeal, addressed to negotiators preparing for the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris Nov. 30-Dec. 11, was a response to Pope Francis' letter on the environment and an expression of "the anxiety of all the people, all the churches all over the world" regarding how, "unless we are careful and prudent, we are heading for disaster."

CRS' Sean Callahan urged Congress to consider additional funding relief along with the Middle East Refugee Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act that will make $1 billion available to refugee aid and resettlement.

“We welcome this modest bipartisan first step to reform our nation's broken criminal justice system,” Catholic leaders wrote to Congress.

"If we do not respond justly and humanely to this challenge in our own backyard, then we will relinquish our moral leadership and moral influence globally."

Among practicing Catholics, 90 percent now say they view Pope Francis favorably, up from 83 percent in August, one month before his visit. Among all Americans, the pope's numbers jumped from 58 percent to 74 percent.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and the Anti-Defamation League suggested a racial motive may be at play in fires set at six St. Louis-area churches. In a prepared statement, the ACLU of Missouri’s executive director, Jeffrey Mittman, called the fires “domestic terrorism.”