Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, came to Des Moines, Iowa, to receive the World Food Prize on Oct. 16. The cardinal urged groups on both sides of the divide on bio-engineered and genetically modified food to engage in conversation and dialog

On Sept. 23 the Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Court issued a decision effectively denationalizing an estimated 250,000 people residing in that country. The ruling retroactively denies Dominican nationality to anyone born after 1929 who did not have at least one parent of Dominican blood.

The country with the largest number of people in modern slavery is India.

Caroleen Hensgen, S.S.N.D., the first woman appointed superintendent of schools for a U.S. diocese, died on Oct. 15 in Chatawa, Miss., at the age of 98.• On World Food Day, Oct. 16, Pope Francis denounced widespread hunger due to wasted food as a symptom of a “throwaway culture” and

Jesuit Refugee Service is serving thousands of internally displaced Syrians.

Perhaps the fastest growing “religious” demographic among Hispanics is the unaffiliated.