WAU, South Sudan – Rita Williams slept under a tree beside St. Mary Catholic Cathedral, her three hungry children beside her. Around them, as many as 16,000 other displaced people filled the cathedral compound, hoping the church would keep them safe as their country spirals into greater violence.

VATICAN CITY – Given the ongoing crises in the Middle East, North American, European and other Western nations will need to be more generous in coming to the aid of refugees and displaced peoples, said two prominent church leaders.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – When aid worker El-hedji Gombe Abba was growing up, very little happened on the road that runs through Niger's Diffa region into the city, but nowadays people fleeing Boko Haram violence form a seemingly endless line along it.