Catholic bishops end refugee aid partnerships with US government, citing funding cuts

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced Monday that it is ending a half-century of partnerships with the federal government to serve refugees and migrant children, saying the “heartbreaking” decision follows the Trump administration’s abrupt halt to funding. The break will inevitably result in fewer services than what Catholic agencies were able to offer in the past to people in need, the bishops said. “As a national effort, we simply cannot sustain the work on our own at current levels or in current form,” Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the conference, said in a statement.