ROME - While government officials had an obligation to find a safe and dignified alternative for housing some 800 refugees squatting in an abandoned building in the center of Rome, the way police went about it led to violence, said Rome's Caritas agency.

Pope Francis offered his condolences and his prayers to the people of Sierra Leone after flooding and a major mudslide Aug. 14 led to the deaths of hundreds of people and displaced thousands.

CARACAS, Venezuela – A year ago, Miledi Berdu and her husband, Robert Rodriguez, began skipping meals to keep their children fed as Venezuela's economic crisis continued. Rodriguez's salary as a welder in Caracas was not enough to cover soaring prices, and shortages made food expensive.

ZAHLE, Lebanon – Balancing boxes and bags filled with warm clothes for his family, Malak Elias Mnayeri waited for a taxi in the near-freezing temperatures outside Caritas Lebanon's center in Zahle, close to the Syrian border.

The Indian branch of the Catholic social welfare organization, Caritas, has announced plans to fight discrimination and recruit transgender people — a striking step for an official church organization.

There’s another $7.5 million heading out to help Syrians stuck inside the war ravaged republic or living as refugees in surrounding countries thanks to Catholic donors and Ottawa’s promise to match donations.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Churches in eastern and southern Africa are appealing for humanitarian aid in the region, as 36 million people grapple with the worst drought in decades.

The Canadian Catholic Organization For Development and Peace greeted 2016 with a new look that reflects its evolving mandate and its role in the global Caritas network of Catholic development and humanitarian agencies.

BEIRUT - While the flow of migrants into Europe and the West has sparked controversy, Lebanon continues to bear the brunt of absorbing massive numbers of refugees. A commonly cited figure is that one in four people in Lebanon is displaced from Syria.

As the worst Ethiopian drought in 60 years threatens as many as 20 million people living in more than half of Africa’s second largest country, Catholic aid agencies in the desperate nation are asking for help as the crisis continues into 2016.

IDOMENI, Greece - Weary faces, fussy babies, little boys teasing little girls to the point of tears and repeated uses of the Arabic word "inshallah" (God willing) reflect the uncertainty faced by refugees trying to reach northern Europe.

MEXICO CITY - Pope Francis aims to touch the hearts of people so that they act to stem climate change and change their lifestyle to reduce negative impacts on the planet in his encyclical on the environment, said a priest at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina.

TORONTO - Nepalese are busy rebuilding their country a month after the first of two devastating earthquakes. But the mountainous Asian nation got its practice in disaster recovery putting communities back together during more than a decade of civil war between Maoist rebels and government forces — a war that set individual communities in violent opposition to one another.

The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace has so far collected $600,800 for relief efforts in Nepal.

The development arm of Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs Trade and Development will match all funds collected by May 25.

ROME - Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo, Syria, and his people are exhausted.