Demonstrators burned two Catholic churches in Chile, where gatherings to mark the one-year anniversary of mass protests against inequality descended into chaos.

"Our biggest problem is hunger; we are helping feed people who have watched their livelihoods evaporate with the pandemic," said Father Rolón.

Amid the tensions in Mexico — which include the president’s opponents camping out in the heart of the capital — the Archdiocese of Mexico City published an editorial Oct. 11, saying, “It appears the pope is speaking directly to Mexico when he says politics is being used as a mechanism to exasperate and polarize in many countries.”

The church has faced repression—including attacks on clergy and places of worship and constant surveillance from police outside parishes—as it has tried to pay a mediating role, but has come to be seen by the regime as an opponent.

New social actors, especially evangelical Protestant groups and right-wing movements, have joined the debate on the liberalization of abortion law.

Over the past two years, 31 people from the municipality of Tocoa, on the lush north shore of Honduras, have faced criminal prosecution as a result of their opposition to an iron ore mining project in the Botaderos Mount “Carlos Escaleras” National Park.