VATICAN CITY - Hope is the first act of resistance to evil, Pope Francis told the people of Naples as he pleaded for respect for the dignity of immigrants, jobs for the unemployed and the conversion of the city's notorious mafia families.

BANGUI, Central African Republic - An archbishop in Central African Republic compared citizens of his country to the people of Israel wandering in the desert and urged them to use the Pope's planned autumn visit to escape from their "prolonged crisis."

WASHINGTON - Caritas Internationalis is going big-picture with its first global campaign, aiming to end hunger worldwide by 2025.

OTTAWA - As Catholics mark the Year of Consecrated Life, the president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops looks to a future of hope for Canadian religious.

WASHINGTON - In his Jan. 20 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama hit on numerous themes that resonated with Catholic advocates for social justice issues.

VATICAN CITY - Families who have lots of children do not cause poverty, Pope Francis said.

ROME - Roman Catholic bishops from the U.S. and Europe concluded a visit to Gaza with a call for the end of Israel’s long-running blockade, and greater action to alleviate poverty after last year’s violent war with Israel.

MANILA, Philippines - The Gospel has the power to transform society, ensuring justice and care for the poor, but that can happen only if Christians -- beginning with the church's ministers -- allow the Gospel to transform them, Pope Francis said.

Following half a century of hostility, and guided by the intervention of Pope Francis, the United States and Cuba have agreed to try to become good neighbours. The detente announced between the two nations on Dec. 17 is welcomed news to end a year that witnessed too much hatred.

TORONTO - At Bishop Allen Academy’s annual charity dinner for the community Dec. 8, Vanessa Rasile was served a cocktail of emotions.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis marked his 78th birthday by giving hundreds of sleeping bags to the homeless in Rome, Vatican officials said Dec. 18.

The world’s newest nation is in big trouble.

Following more than 20 years of civil war between north and south Sudan, the independent nation of the Republic of South Sudan was born in 2011.

But the birth of the new nation didn't come without pain. The many years of war brought not only much death, but also drained South Sudan of valuable resources, leaving it extremely poor.

Nov. 24 marked the 25th anniversary of a trail paved with good intentions but marred by broken promises.

What Fr. Pat Cosgrove started in anger is ending in communion. Chalice, the Catholic Canadian child sponsorship agency, has matured into a real partner to help feed poor communities in Africa, Latin America, Asia, Haiti and Ukraine.

MANILA, Philippines - Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila said the Synod of Bishops on the family was more than a series of discussions on divorce and gay unions and that the impact of poverty on families, especially in Asia, was a major concern of participants.