VATICAN CITY - Seventy years after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, Pope Francis on Aug. 9 described the bomb as a “lasting warning to humanity.”

HIROSHIMA, Japan - For a long minute on a sunny morning, silence fell over the memorial park that commemorates the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing of the city.

WARSAW, Poland - The head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church expressed concern that the world's richest countries are failing to honour a 1994 agreement that promised Ukraine security for giving up its Soviet-era nuclear weapons.

BALTIMORE - As the city cleaned up after a night of riots, looting and fires following the funeral of Freddie Gray, Baltimore Archbishop William Lori said the Church's place is to pray, be a voice for peace and participate in a wider community dialogue to solve the systemic issues that led to the unrest.

The U.S. Catholic bishops have welcomed the Obama administration������Ƶapp tentative agreement aimed at limiting Iran������Ƶapp nuclear ambitions, and their top spokesman on international affairs bluntly warned Congress against doing anything to undermine it.

Project Ploughshares will not surrender.

Despite the loss of significant government contracts and grants, the 38-year-old organization is launching a new strategic plan, searching for a new executive director and settling into a new home in Waterloo, Ont.