Canada joined an exclusive international club last month, but there is no reason to brag.

AMMAN, Jordan – Aid agencies and Catholic officials are sounding the alarm on Yemen's spiraling humanitarian crisis, calling on the combatants to end the war and make badly need assistance available.

AMMAN, Jordan – The Saudi-led coalition's assault on Hodeida, Yemen's main port city, will have a "catastrophic impact" on the ability of relief groups to get food, medicine and other aid to vulnerable Yemeni families in urgent need of assistance, a Catholic aid agency warned.

ROME – Salesian Father Tom Uzhunnalil was sitting in a room in an unknown location -- one of several he had been relocated to during his 18-month imprisonment -- when he received some unexpected news.

VATICAN CITY – Indian Salesian Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who was abducted by Islamic State militants in Yemen and held captive for more than a year, was freed.

With the final numbers in, the Canadian government is kicking in $21.3 million to protect 20 million people in Africa and Yemen from imminent starvation, but Canada’s Catholic development agency is continuing to collect more funds even as Ottawa closes down its matching fund program.

An interfaith donation blitz on behalf of 20 million people threatened with famine in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen has resulted in $3.8 million headed overseas in the name of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.

NEW DELHI – Yemen's foreign minister told Indian officials that Salesian Father Thomas Uzhunnalil, kidnapped in Yemen last year, is still alive, and efforts to trace him continue.

There are 20 million people on the edge of starvation in just four countries and Development and Peace thinks we should do something about it.

NEW DELHI, India – A member of India’s Legislative Assembly is encouraging the Church to raise money for the release of kidnapped priest Father Tom Uzhunnalil, claiming a need for concrete action beyond prayer.

VATICAN CITY – Indian Salesian Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who was kidnapped in Yemen more than a year ago, in a video message pleaded for the Indian government and the Catholic Church to do more to secure his release.

COCHIN, India – A year after an Indian priest was abducted by suspected Islamic militants in Yemen, Catholics in his home state of Kerala are still praying for his release, reported ucanews.com.

BANGALORE, India – The Salesians have organized a special prayer meeting to mark the one-year anniversary of the kidnapping of Indian Salesian Father Tom Uzhunnalil.

VATICAN CITY – Salesians in the Bangalore province of India held a prayer vigil Jan. 4 for the release of Salesian priest Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil, who was kidnapped in Yemen March 4, 2016.

ADEN, Yemen – A Salesian priest kidnapped in Yemen on March 4 personally appealed for Pope Francis’ help in a

Dec. 26.