Nobel Peace Price-winner Wangari Maatthai, founder of the Greenbelt Movement, which planted more than 30 million trees in Kenya, died on Sept. 25.

On his first state visit to his German homeland, Pope Benedict XVI warned that godlessness and religious indifference were undermining the moral foundations of society.

Chaplains from faiths morally opposed to homosexual behavior fear they will be “marginalized and even punished” for being true to their faith.

 “Healing a Broken World” calls on Jesuits and their collaborators to “cast a grateful look on creation, letting our heart be touched by its wounded reality."

A Vatican representative called for “courageous decisions” after Palestinian leaders appealed for statehood.

Perhaps in response to social unrest, executions in Iran have spiked this year, with more than 320 tallied by the end of June.

The heads of the Christian churches in Jerusalem, including the Latin patriarch, Fouad Twal, reiterated their sense that “a two-state solution serves the cause of peace and justice."

A delegation of Christian and Muslim leaders hope that their visit to Iran will improve relations between the two squabbling countries.

In  2010, 15.1 percent of Americans—46.2 million people, an all-time high—were living in poverty.