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.

The persecution of Christians around the world has intensified over the last two-and-a-half years, according to a review of religious freedom in 30 countries by the United Kingdom branch of the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. Christians also are persecuted by religious nationalists in so

The number of people living in extreme poverty around the world has sharply declined over the past three decades, but in 2010 it still included roughly 400 million children, according to a new World Bank analysis that for the first time gives an in-depth profile of the poorest people in the world.Th

More than half the land in the West Bank, much of it agricultural and resource rich, is inaccessible to Palestinians, because of Israeli security restrictions. The first comprehensive study of the potential economic impact of this “restricted land,” released by the World Bank on Oct. 8,