In his audiences and public liturgical duties this week, Pope Benedict XVI, leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, has highlighted the concerns of World Food Day and International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

The chaplaincy crisis in the National Health Service needs urgent ministerial attention, following new research revealed swinging cuts to the service throughout England, says a trade union group representing multi-faith chaplains.

A five-year campaign by human rights campaigners, including the Franciscan religious order, has influenced the Human Rights Council of the United Nations to has decide to appoint a Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery.

Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican's Secretary for Relations with States, has called on the 62nd session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, currently being held in New York, for a consistent ethic of life in relation to development, poverty, ecology and human dignity.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said on a visit to the Armenian genocide memorial that violence targeted against whole communities is ‘one of the greatest disgraces of the twentieth century’ and must be utterly repudiated in the twenty-first.

It was six years ago this month, but some scars do not heal quickly. The two planes came out of a perfect September morning sky, and nothing at all could have prepared the world for what followed - writes Giles Fraser of the anniverary of 9/11.

A US Christian leader has asked a World Council of Churches peacemaking team visiting the United States for assistance to rid his country of the "scourge" of gun violence during the team's September 2007 visit.

Evacuations from coastal areas have begun in earnest, as a ‘potentially catastrophic’ hurricane threatens Central America. Church and development agencies have been working with local emergency committees to help communities create shelters.

A war-damaged Anglican church building along Jaffna's main road in Sri Lanka is to become a centre for peace and understanding - as the church seeks to join other non-violent groups within civil society working for an end to the country's decades long conflict.

An international interfaith conference on HIV/AIDS held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, has called on religious leaders throughout the world to use their places of worship, and educational and health facilities to help in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

As two hostages are released today, the general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the Rev Dr Ishmael Noko, calls on the international community to South Korea in its efforts to secure the safe release of the remaining hostages still held by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Church leaders in Manchester are calling a meeting with community leaders and other agencies to discuss what many see as a worrying growth of gun crime in the region. But the issue remains one of credibility and practical alternatives

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), the North American development and peace agency, is working with local partners to provide a 10-day supply of food for 5,050 families caught up in the post-flood crisis in Bangladesh.