On March 5 St. Francis Xavier Church in Henryville, Ind., became the main aid center for local victims of a devastating chain of tornadoes.

According to the president of Caritas Lebanon, families escaping Syria "are coming out in the cold with nothing but the clothes on their backs.”

In a letter to Congress, Bishop Stephen Blaire and Bishop Richard Pates supported moves to strengthen programs that help the poor and vulnerable at home and abroad.

Demographic data show the U.S. church is younger and more ethnically diverse, though increasingly Latino.

Attacks on Christians in Africa, the Middle East and Asia more than tripled between 2003 and 2010

The unregulated sale and transfer of weapons harms the poor and threatens peace and security around the world, said the Vatican's UN representative.