David Argen

Retired Bishop Onésimo Cepeda Silva of Ecatepec — the colorful and controversial Mexican bishop who rubbed shoulders with the rich, served one of the country's roughest dioceses died Jan. 31. He was 84.

A Vatican official urged Mexican bishops to prioritize migrant ministries — even in dioceses without significant migrant flows — saying, "No diocese exists in Mexico that can avoid this call."

Jesuit provincials have demanded that Nicaraguan authorities end a "campaign of slander and aggressions" against the Jesuit-run Central American University in Managua and its rector, Jesuit Father Jose Alberto Idiaquez, "as well as other institutions and people linked to the Society of Jesus in Nicaragua."

The Guatemalan bishops' migrant ministry has rejected talk of the U.S. and Guatemalan governments sending asylum-seekers to a remote and rugged jungle region rife with drug cartel activities. The bishops said conditions there are not secure for Guatemalan citizens, much less migrants.

Bolivia's bishops have called on electoral officials to "make transparent" the vote-counting process as protesters rioted in the