Mentally and physically disabled children and adults in Mexico continue to live in abusive and squalid conditions.
Erwin Kräutler, a Catholic bishop, received the Right Livelihood Award for his work defending the rights of indigenous people in Brazil.
Making African farmers reliant on proprietary, genetically modified seeds "stands out like a new form of slavery," said Cardinal Peter Turkson.
Many of the travelers were children whose mothers left Guatemala years ago to earn money to send back to their families.
The decrease in the number of Catholics in the House of Representatives will not be as great as expected because of the election of 33 new Catholic Republicans.
The Pax Christi International Peace Award for 2010 was given on Dec. 8 to Louis Sako,the Chaldean archbishop of Kirkuk, Iraq.