Energetic, resolutely modern, as comfortable with technology as with theology, and deeply cosmopolitan, Patriarch Pizzaballa shares Pope Francis’ intention to restore Jerusalem to its former glory.

There are just under 20 million primary-grade girls out of school in sub-Saharan Africa. The Bakhita Partnership for Education is working to change that.

“The drug cartels have taken over our territory, and we are under a state of siege, suffering widespread psychosis from narco blockades,” the local Roman Catholic Diocese said in a statement.

On his visit to Marseille last week, Pope Francis decried the “fanaticism of indifference” on the plight of migrants who risk their lives—and all too often lose them—in the attempt to reach Europe across the Mediterranean Sea.

In a pastoral letter, titled “All Citizens to Reclaim the Dream,” the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference encouraged South Africans not to lose hope.

James Carney pledged his life to the cause of destitute campesinos in Honduras, living and working among them as a parish priest and organizing campesino cooperatives to fight for land reform and human rights.