The federal budget crunch should not be eased by cutting programs that help the poor, refugees and the unemployed, warned church leaders.

John Sweeney, former president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., was honored along with a Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony on Feb. 15.

Representatives of Catholic organizations said that massive foreign investment in Africa is pushing small farmers off their land.

Will young Egyptian Catholics turn away from the church because it did not back protests that led to the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak?

A 2009 joint statement by Catholic hospitals and labor unions concerning the right of workers to organize is still waiting for its first application.

“The history of the church includes moments when the people of God are called to reform and renew the church. This is one such moment.”

Bread for the World’s president David Beckmann describes himself as a careful follower of Catholic social teaching.

Christians and Muslims are involved together in the democracy and reform movements in the Middle East, said a leading Lebanese scholar.

Christian leaders demanded that the federal government conduct its own inquiry into a series of attacks on Christian targets in southern Karnataka State.

Church leaders watched the unfolding political drama in Egypt with a mixture of hope for reform and concern over potential violence.