Even as some foreign aid has been revived, pledges from donor states remain far below the world’s needs and humanitarian groups are still struggling to recover from 2025’s debilitating cuts.
United Nations
Posted inThe Weekly Dispatch
Catholic sisters bring fight to end human trafficking to U.N. General Assembly
Gertrude Elelegu, S.S.L., of Nigeria and Sarah Puls, S.G.S., of Australia have devoted many years to mitigating the global scourge of human trafficking and restoring the people traumatized by their experiences in this shadow world.
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo appoints Lebanese-born archbishop as Permanent Observer to the UN
The Lebanese-born Maronite Catholic archbishop Christophe-Zakhia El-Kassis will become the Holy See’s new Permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York, succeeding Archbishop Gabriele Caccia.
Posted inEditorials
Venezuela, Trump and the end of ‘Pax Americana’
When it comes to American foreign policy under President Trump, the only guarantee left is that there are no guarantees.
Posted inNews
Pope Leo in COP30 message: ‘Creation is crying out’
“Creation is crying out in floods, droughts, storms and relentless heat,” Pope Leo said, as the U.N. Climate Conference, COP30, began its final week of meetings.
Posted inThe Weekly Dispatch
Trump vs. the Vatican at the UN general assembly
Despite the growing American threats to withdraw, Vatican officials still perceive the United Nations as a fundamental instrument of world peace and justice seeking.
Posted inPolitics & Society, The Weekly Dispatch
With arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, the I.C.C. breaks new ground and draws criticism
While Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant do not face imminent arrest, the announcement has been perceived as a symbolic blow that deepens Israel’s international isolation because of its conduct of the war in Gaza.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Pope Francis couldn’t travel to COP28—but he was still a strong presence there.
“Faith actors at COP28 were there to be the moral voice of the climate talks, reminding negotiators that their words, the texts that they fight about, have real consequences in people’s lives.”
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
The human rights of victims—in Israel and Palestine—must be protected
Our common belief in human rights must be undergirded by a recognition that rights come with duties—including the duty to protect those whose rights are unequally threatened.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Pope Francis to U.N. Security Council: ‘The time has come to say an emphatic no to war’
In a message to the U.N. Security Council, Pope Francis expressed opposition to war: “We are all brothers and sisters, journeying on the same earth, dwelling in a single common home.”