The Catholic aid agency Caritas appealed on Sept. 7 for food and clothing for the victims of torrential rains in Guatemala.

The increase in poverty rates in 2009 was the second-largest year-to-year uptick since 2004.

Donating over $700 million a year to international aid agencies, Australia places first in the World Giving Index.

“I am absolutely overwhelmed at the response of people for their church,” Davenport’s Bishop Martin J. Amos said.

As France continues its campaign to expel foreign-born Roma, Pope Benedict XVI called on Aug. 22 for greater acceptance of cultural differences and urged parents to teach their children “universal fraternity.”

The California Catholic bishops’ conference alerts parents of public school children of ways to “opt out” of classes that contradict their family’s values.