In a world of 79.5 million forcibly displaced people, 26 million of them officially designated refugees, Pope Francis wants us thinking and praying about our borders in moral, ethical and spiritual terms.

TAPACHULA, Mexico - Pope Francis has donated $500,000 to assist migrants attempting to travel through Mexico, but who are increasingly being impeded by Mexican officials from reaching the U.S. border.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and Congress "must come together" to reach a bipartisan solution that reopens the government and "recognizes the economic struggle" now facing federal workers and their families and all those helped by federal nutrition and housing programs, said two U.S. bishops.

Sr. Vicky Nguyen was ready to profess her final vows this year and enter fully into the life of the Congregation of the Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood, but one obstacle stood in her way. Her application for Canadian permanent residence was rejected. 

SAN JUAN, Texas -- In less than 48 hours, a group of Catholic bishops saw the faces of triumph and relief from migrants who had been recently released by immigration authorities, but ended their two-day journey to the border with a more "somber" experience, visiting detained migrant children living temporarily within the walls of a converted Walmart.

WASHINGTON – Following a conversation involving a border bishop and Catholic leaders, migrant advocates from around the U.S. got behind a July 18 pastoral letter issued by the bishop of the Diocese of El Paso calling for a stop to militarization along the border with Mexico and showing compassion for migrants.

WASHINGTON – Denouncing the "demonization of migrants," hateful rhetoric, the militarization of the border and a system that divides families, Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, called on Catholics to heed the church's teachings to welcome the migrant.

MEXICO CITY – Some 30,000 people gathered last Sunday for the 17th March for Life, Peace and Migrants in Tijuana, Mexico.

WASHINGTON – Talk in the U.S. presidential campaign about restricting entry of Muslims into the United States has some religious leaders concerned that the country's religious liberty heritage is under threat.

BRUSSELS – Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai urged the international community and the European Parliament to stop the wars in the Middle East through dialogue, and he called for a return of the displaced to their countries of origin.

A German Catholic leader’s defense of religious freedom has triggered a backlash following anti-Muslim statements by far-right politicians in the country.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - Speaking from the symbolic platform of the U.S.-Mexico border, Pope Francis pleaded for the plight of immigrants while warning those refusing to offer safe shelter and passage that their actions and inhospitable attitudes were bringing about dishonor and self-destruction as their hearts hardened and they "lost their sensitivity to pain."

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - At the border of Mexico and the United States, Pope Francis blessed a large cross in memory of all the people who have crossed the frontier.

BEIRUT - Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs called for an end to financing terrorists and suggested that borders be closed when necessary to prevent their movement.

WASHINGTON - As millions of immigrants to the United States celebrate the possibility of protection from deportation under a new Obama administration plan, among those who cannot take advantage of it will be the 68,445 families and 68,541 unaccompanied minors who were apprehended at the border in the last fiscal year.