Giovanna Dell'Orto | Associated Press

A clandestine opposition movement remains active in Nicaragua, but options for restoring democracy in the Central American country are dwindling, former presidential challenger and political prisoner Félix Maradiaga told The Associated Press from his forced exile in South Florida.

Packed pews, rollicking singing and emotional devotions have marked Lent worship services at Notre Dame d'Haiti, the Catholic church at the heart of the largest Haitian diaspora in the United States.

Growing numbers of Catholics are taking part in Eucharistic adoration – which this year’s Jubilee will mark this weekend with “24 hours for the Lord.” At one suburban Miami church, the coordinator of 400 registered adorers goes with her husband twice a week from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m.

Like hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans hit by political and economic crises, Johann Teran, his wife and her mother applied for different kinds of humanitarian protections in the United States that the Trump administration has curtailed or is expected to end soon.

Many migrants make the perilous journey because they can’t find another way out of extreme poverty. Guatemalans are the largest group of unaccompanied minors crossing the U.S.-Mexican border illegally.

Christian voters and faith leaders have long been in the frontlines of providing assistance to migrants. But priorities diverge when it comes to support for immigration policies, from border security to legalization options for migrants already in the U.S.

Preparing for Hanukkah feels uniquely somber yet defiant this year for the Jewish communities in and around Miami Beach.

For the auxiliary bishop of Managua, and many in the pews who have had to flee or were exiled from Nicaragua recently, the Sunday afternoon Mass at the Miami parish is not only a way to find solace in community, but also to keep pushing back against the Ortega regime's violent suppression of all critics, including many Catholic leaders.

Jews in communities far from Israel gathered at synagogues this weekend for Shabbat services held amid the ongoing war ignited by Hamas militants' attack on Israel a week earlier. In Miami Beach, it was an emotional service.

In the last 18 months, an estimated 250,000 migrants and asylum-seekers, mostly from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti, have arrived in the Miami area, straining the faith communities.

With the storm now passed and its devastation abounding, churches across hard-hit Southwest Florida are providing a steadying force in the lives of those plunged into chaos and grief.