Catholic News Service

Social Service Sr. Simone Campbell, a longtime advocate for economic justice and health care policy, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in a White House ceremony July 7.

When the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg opens its new $4 million museum and visitor center next year, it will be a milestone for those with a deep devotion to America's first native-born saint.

Congregations of women religious throughout the world can feel overwhelmed with the care needed by older sisters, but often, resources taken for granted in developed countries do not even exist in other countries.

The Missionaries of Charity have been expelled from Nicaragua, the latest in a series of attacks on the Catholic Church and its ministries from the Central American country's increasingly repressive government.

It is striking to hear from so many parts of the world where people had the opportunity to take part in a true synodal consultation like this.

In Alitena, a remote village in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, the Daughters of Charity host a gathering to support each other in their grief, mourning and trauma in the wake of the terror and violence that has raged in the region since November 2020. 

Participants said they hoped the June 18 Moral March on Washington, organized by the Poor People's Campaign, would get more people "to understand the plight of the poor in our country."

Polish families and women religious have opened their homes or assisted in some way the estimated 3.6 million Ukrainians who fled the war in their homeland. 

Activists called on Sri Lankan authorities not to arrest an activist nun who has supported anti-government protesters.

Senior Catholics see the beatification of 10 Polish nuns murdered by Russian soldiers at the end of World War II as highlighting the need for radical Christian witness while offering a prophetic reminder of current sufferings in Ukraine.

By sharing their experiences of working with the poor and the marginalized and building partnerships with government and business leaders committed to improving people's lives, religious sisters are convinced that "we can bring about substantial and systemic change," said Loreto Sr. Patricia Murray.

In what may have been the first such ceremony held by a Catholic religious community in Wisconsin, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross hosted a land acknowledgment ceremony on the grounds of St. Francis Convent on May 14.

Good Shepherd Sr. María Agustina Rivas Lopez, who was murdered by terrorists during Peru's political violence, was beatified May 7 during a liturgy in the same plaza where she was shot to death in 1990.

The Christian vocation is for all members of the church to work together and show that one human family united in love is not a utopia but is the reason God created humanity, Pope Francis said.

The leaders of religious orders around the world are taking very seriously not only preparations for the Synod of Bishops assembly in 2023, but the whole idea of making the Catholic Church more "synodal" -- a place where everyone is called to prayer, discernment and responsibility for the church and its mission.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Albanians for supporting Ukraine in the war with Russia and compared their help to the actions of St. Teresa of Kolkata.

The pope's message, released by the Vatican on May 4, was sent to participants in an international conference in Rome May 4-5. The gathering was dedicated to discussing ways to protect, evaluate and manage the cultural heritage of communities of consecrated life.

Brazilian Cardinal João Braz de Aviz told the superiors May 3 that their organization has been operating in a synodal manner since its founding more than 50 years ago, recognizing each other as sisters and accepting differences among them as something that enriches them all.

Officials at the Catholic University of America dedicated and blessed a campus street April 29 named in honor of the late Sr. Thea Bowman, a noted educator and evangelist who studied at Catholic University and whose cause for canonization was opened in 2018.

Sr. Norma Pimentel is the 50th recipient of the award, inspired by Pope John XXIII's 1963 encyclical, "Pacem in Terris" (Peace on Earth), which called all people to secure peace among the nations.