Rhina Guidos

An Aug. 9 event outside the White House by Catholics to promote peace in the world was interrupted by what the U.S. Secret Service said was an unprovoked assault on one of its officers.

"It is a time when, as the people of God ... we must put prayers of intercession into practice," said Bishop Emilio Aranguren Echeverria after the fire broke out Aug. 5 after a lightning strike hit a tank at an oil facility.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Aug. 8 that it was set to end, in "a quick, and orderly, manner," a Trump-era policy that keeps asylum-seekers out of the country while they wait for immigration courts to hear their cases.

Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando José Álvarez offered a message of love to the world Aug. 7 even as he continued to be detained by police inside a church building in Matagalpa.

Faith-based groups are voicing worries that lawmakers will extend already existing provisions to further prevent immigrants from entering the U.S. as legislators haggle over what will be included in a historic $260 billion spending bill focused on health care and the environment.

En Washington, un grupo de alrededor de 100 hombres y mujeres católicos, directores de organizaciones católicas, ministros laicos, religiosas y obispos, se reunieron a fines de julio para definir su papel y el de sus iglesias locales en América Latina en sus respectivos países durante un periodo de transición pospandemia.

In Washington, a group of about 100 Catholic men and women -- directors of Catholic organizations, lay ministers, women religious and bishops -- gathered in late July to define their role and that of their local churches in Latin America as their respective countries transition into a post-pandemic period.

Some border residents and organizations are speaking out against the Biden administration after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security revealed plans to fill in gaps of a border wall to keep migrants out near Yuma, Arizona.

New York's Catholic Charities has spoken out against what it called a "chaotic approach" to dealing with asylum-seekers coming into the country who are being sent from Texas officials by bus to cities around the nation.

Ahead of Guatemala's upcoming election season, the country's bishops said religious gatherings in the coming months should "not fall into the temptation of mixing political propaganda with apparent prayer."

The Texas Catholic bishops urged immigration reform, saying it is necessary to prevent what happened to 53 migrants discovered dead and dying inside a trailer June 27 from happening again.

Immigration supporters expressed a mix of gratitude and disappointment with a Biden administration decision on Temporary Protected Status with regard to Venezuelans.

Auxiliary Bishop Mario Dorsonville of Washington said on the anniversary of DACA that in the years that have passed "its beneficiaries have come to be known for their abundant contributions to our society."

Twenty countries from the Americas, including the United States, signed a declaration June 10, the last day of the troubled Summit of the Americas, committing to help and protect "all migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, and stateless persons, regardless of their migratory status."

Some U.S. bishops spoke out against the easy accessibility to guns in the country following a May 24 rampage that left at least 19 children and two of their elementary school teachers dead in Uvalde, Texas.

The  deadline on Title 42 came and went at the U.S.-Mexico border without any changes allowing migrants in, including asylum-seekers, after a federal judge blocked the government from lifting the health measure instituted during the pandemic.

The chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace praised a  statement announcing the lifting of restrictions against Cuba by the Biden administration, particularly those measures that will help family reunification.

Several US Catholic bishops expressed sorrow and called out racism and gun violence after reports of mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, that left at least three injured and 10 dead — a crime  likely motivated by hatred for Black people.

Days after the Salvadoran government extended emergency measures suspending some personal freedoms, a national Catholic organization of men and women religious called attention to the arbitrary detention of one of its members.

Retired Archbishop Fernando Saenz Lacalle was laid to rest May 2 in the crypt of the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Salvador, El Salvador, close to the resting place of St. Óscar Romero, whom he befriended and advised. But some human rights groups and others criticized Saenz.