The Jesuit program’s emphasis on nutrition, health and education components is a trifecta of basic social needs that its sponsors say are essential for the nation’s future development.

“The hour is serious, poverty is increasing; the common good is threatened,” Haiti’s bishops wrote. “The country is on the brink of collapse!”

“As long as there is a dictatorship in Venezuela, it is better not to return,” said Alexander. “I feel that there is an illegitimate government, a power that literally controls everything, but also an opposition that has defrauded the people many times.”

A new report says that military budgets continue to spiral upward, but global spending on peace initiatives is already low and is further endangered by domestic politics.

Catholic Relief Services cut its services to needy people in the Gaza Strip by closing a U.S. government-funded program because of the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act.

Mexico's call for a summit is the latest twist in a crisis that continues to divide the world after Venezuela’s embattled socialist president, Nicolás Maduro, was sworn in for a second term.