“This war destabilized not only our region, but all of Mozambique,” said Luiz Fernando Lisboa, C.P., bishop of the Diocese of Pemba, the province’s capital. “The church’s role has been to help victims. But we must also speak out.”

"Our biggest problem is hunger; we are helping feed people who have watched their livelihoods evaporate with the pandemic," said Father Rolón.

The committee also said it hopes the prize will highlight the need to strengthen global solidarity and cooperation in an era of go-it-alone nationalism.

"I'm extremely concerned about the food shortage and the inability of people to purchase food for their families or to pay their rents. To deprive them of their well-being and the well-being of their children in this time seems to me to be extremely cruel," Sister Markham said.

Bishop Barber said Oct. 1 the "economic devastation" in this country wrought by the pandemic "has already led to the closure of at least 150 Catholic schools, many in low-income areas that serve children of color."

Caravans formed regularly in Honduras prior to the pandemic, though Mexico had started deploying its national guard to impede large groups of migrants from transiting the country.