"A great deal is at stake for every country. Progress has too long been based on fossil energy, to the detriment of the environment. This is the moment to take action," Cardinal Peter Turkson told a high-level segment of the U.N. climate change conference taking place on the outskirts of Paris.

If temperatures increase by 4 degrees Celsius, "projections for Africa suggest sea levels could rise faster than the global average and reach 80 cm above current levels by 2100 along the Indian and Atlantic Ocean coastlines, with particularly high numbers of people at risk of flooding in the coastal cities of Mozambique, Tanzania, Cameroon, Egypt, Senegal and Morocco."

"Like Bishop Barnes said, this is a time for prayer, a time to pray for peace...I know there are many people all over who are praying for us here in such a terrible time, and I want to extend my thanks to all of them. We don't need any more violence."

North Americans and Salvadorans gathered Dec. 2 at the precise spot where four churchwomen were killed 35 years ago to emphasize that their work for the country's poor remains alive.

With the recent increase in deadly attacks and kidnappings linked to the Islamic State and other militant groups, however, Imam Shareef has increasingly found himself tasked with the additional—and often daunting—challenge of distancing the "Islam of peace," as his community knows and practices it, from that of what he calls a minority of extremists giving Islam a bad name.

AIDS poses major health challenges on the continent. With about 10 percent of the world's population living in sub-Saharan African, the region accounts for about 70 percent of global AIDS cases, according to the World Health Organization.

"It is profoundly disquieting that the decision of the High Court in Belfast has effectively weighed up one life against another and said to our society" that the lives of some children are "more worthy of our protection, love and care than others."

In 1984, four guardsmen were found guilty of the killings and convicted to 30 years in prison, but those who planned the murders and gave the orders have never been brought to justice, said some of the more than 100 North Americans who traveled to El Salvador to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the murders.

"Yesterday, our community experienced an act of pure evil at the local Planned Parenthood clinic," Bishop Michael J. Sheridan of Colorado Springs said in a statement. "As Pope Francis recently reminded us, 'The path of violence and hate can never solve the problems of humanity.'"

From Seoul, South Korea, to Ottawa, Ontario; New York to Sao Paulo, people marched to demand a response to climate change. Interfaith leaders gathered in Saint-Denis, France, Nov. 28 to hand over a petition with more than 1.8 million signatures—800,000 collected by Catholic organizations.