David Agren

The Mexican bishops' conference has questioned accusations of untoward behavior by retired Bishop Salvador Rangel Mendoza of Chilpancingo-Chilapa amid conflicting accounts of his disappearance and subsequent reappearance in a hospital bed — with the conference secretary general saying the situation had assumed political overtones.

The Mexican bishops' conference, the Society of Jesus and the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious of Mexico convened the country's three presidential candidates March 11 to sign their National Agenda for Peace -- a roadmap for pacifying Mexico and the starting point for dialogue with the next government.

Shortly after New Year's Day, 32 kidnapped migrants appeared in the border city of Rio Bravo, Mexico, after a media storm over their disappearance -- having been forced off an intercity bus by a drug cartel convoy.

Pope Francis has expressed sorrow for the victims of a bus crash in Panama, which claimed the lives of 39 migrants transiting the Central American country.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega blasted Catholic leaders as a "gang of murderers," in comments amping up persecution of the church and scorning Pope Francis' call for dialogue in the Central American country.

The arrest of Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Álvarez marks another escalation in the repression against the Catholic Church in the Central American country.

U.S. members of Congress have sent a letter to President Joe Biden, urging him to "work closely with the Mexican government to sure there is full accountability for the murders" of two Jesuits in their parish and a tour guide they were protecting.

Two Jesuit priests were murdered in a rugged region of Mexico rife with violence as they provided refuge to a person being pursued by a gunman, according to the Society of Jesus and state officials.

 An audit ordered by the Vatican into the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires has revealed irregularities in the sales of church assets, with properties being disposed of controversially. The audit said no crimes were committed.

A Mexican border diocese has issued an urgent appeal for assistance as hundreds of Haitian migrants arrive in the oft-violent city of Nuevo Laredo, hoping to apply for asylum in the United States.

Speaking in a conference with Mexico's foreign relations secretary, the Vatican secretary of state lauded church-state relations in Mexico as exemplary.

Nicaragua has approved a law increasing government control over educational institutions and stripping funds from Jesuit-run Central American University, which has been at odds with the government.

Honduran church leaders have called for a thorough investigation into the abduction and murder of a priest in the Diocese of San Pedro Sula, a crime causing outrage in the Central American country.

The Sisters of Mercy celebrated the release of six anti-mining protesters in Honduras, who spent nearly two-and-a-half years in pre-trial detention — in a case the country's Supreme Court said should have never proceeded.

The Nicaragua national assembly ordered the revocation of the legal status of five universities — including a Catholic university — along with several Catholic educational and charitable projects.

The Honduran bishops' conference has urged dialogue as a political crisis threatens to torpedo the Central American country's presidential inauguration.

 An ecumenical coalition of religious representatives and laypeople has condemned the murder of an Indigenous leader in Honduras and called for a thorough investigation of the death.

A tractor-trailer carrying more than 150 migrants crashed in Mexico's southern Chiapas state, claiming at least 53 lives and leaving dozens more injured.

'Remain in Mexico' policy forces asylum seekers to wait in dangerous border cities while U.S. courts hear their cases.