Researchers from Vanderbilt University found that middle-aged adults who attended religious services at least once in the past year were half as likely to die prematurely as those who didn’t.

“Yes, some are H.I.V.-positive, but what is that?” asks Sister Agie. “They are precious children; they have their whole life before them.”

With soaring food prices and a free-falling economy, child malnutrition in Venezuela has crossed the threshold of a humanitarian crisis.

One by one, Francis blessed and greeted each of the family members and their caregivers who traveled from around the world for the audience.