KATHMANDU, Nepal - Anam Tamang was excited: A truck of earthquake relief supplies had finally arrived at Caritas Nepal headquarters in Kathmandu.

VATICAN CITY - Catholic charities around the world have no doubt about the reality of a "Francis effect" on their work.
Because of the ongoing global economic crisis, most of the 164 national Catholic charities that form the Caritas Internationalis confederation report no significant increase in donations. However, the secretary-general of the Vatican-based network says Pope Francis has had a huge impact on their programs and priorities, on the number of volunteers and, especially, on their sharing.

KATHMANDU, Nepal - Truckloads of relief material organized by church charities began moving across Nepal a week after the Himalayan nation was rocked by a magnitude-7.8 earthquake April 25.

KATHMANDU, Nepal - Inclement weather and logistical pressures were delaying aid to hundreds of thousands of Nepalese earthquake victims.

When the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace launched its Share Lent “Sow Much Love” campaign, it didn’t know just how much love it might get. Thanks to its first-ever mobile phone app, it is getting a better idea.

BEIRUT - The Middle East is suffering a "Way of the Cross" that is the greatest tragedy since the Second World War, Melkite Catholic Patriarch Gregoire III Laham said in a Lenten message about suffering.

SHARIAH COLLECTIVE, Iraq - Young children happily sing songs in Kurdish and Arabic, play interactive games, learn to count and how to read and write under a big colorful tent. Meanwhile, teens and pre-teens study more serious subjects.

BEIRUT - Officials of a pontifical aid agency said they saw much that needed done in Lebanon -- if they could get beyond crisis mode.

AMMAN, Jordan - A Catholic official warned that funding will soon run out to feed and house thousands of Iraqi Christians sheltering in Jordan after being made homeless by Islamic State militants.

WARSAW, Poland - Ukrainian Catholic leaders have warned their Church is being driven underground again, a quarter-century after it was re-legalized with the end of communist rule.

Latin American Church leaders apologized for historical complicity with colonial atrocities in the Amazon and called for a Church with an "Amazonian face" in a pastoral letter issued as negotiators from around the world met for a climate summit here.

The planet produces enough food to feed everyone, yet more than 800 million people go hungry every day.

DUBLIN -- The president of Caritas in Syria has appealed to Pope Francis to use his Nov. 28-30 trip to Turkey to raise the issue of the ongoing supply of arms being sent across the Turkish border to rebel factions in northern Syria.

As the ebola death toll in West Africa surpassed 3,300, North American media were reporting a single, isolated case in Dallas with minute-by-minute, 24-hour coverage. For the Caritas network the focus is on Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone where fragile, underfunded health care systems are faced with daily deaths and new infections. 

VATICAN CITY - Christians cannot follow Jesus while turning away from people who are hungry, Pope Francis said.