BATON ROUGE, La. – The line of destruction caused by historic flooding in southern Louisiana stretches for 25 miles, and according to Red Cross officials, it is the worst natural disaster in the United States since Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Catholic bishops of New Mexico said they oppose Republican Gov. Susana Martinez's plan to reinstate the death penalty and called on the Legislature to reject it.

SEOUL, South Korea – Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai, visiting the South Korean capital of Seoul, urged the international community to end the wars raging in the Middle East "fueled by foreign countries."

MANILA, Philippines – Catholic and Protestant bishops in the Philippines have called for a "deeper analysis" of the spate of killings in the country that have been linked to the government's anti-narcotics campaign.

MANILA, Philippines – Residents of a small island in the central Philippines hailed a government order that stopped one of the country's largest mining firms from removing nickel ore stockpiles from their village.

MILWAUKEE – Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki of Milwaukee called the violence that broke out in the city as part of protests over the fatal police shooting of an African-American man "a self-inflicted wound."

BATON ROUGE, La. – As Louisiana's governor announced the federal government had declared a major disaster for the state Aug. 14, Catholic churches in the Baton Rouge Diocese called for volunteers to help those displaced by extreme flooding and asked flood victims what assistance they needed.

BALTIMORE – The same day a federal Department of Justice report cataloging systemic abuses by Baltimore's police was issued, Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore called that report "sobering and distressing."

NEW ORLEANS – A key action at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Churchwide Assembly in New Orleans was the approval Aug. 10 by 980 voting members of a document that marks 50 years of Lutheran-Catholic dialogue.

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Catholic leaders say they are powerless to stop a growing number of extrajudicial killings that have come with President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs.