Lise Alves is a freelance journalist based in São Paulo, Brazil. She has contributed to English-language news outlets across the world, including The Rio Times, Catholic News Service, The Lancet, The Guardian and National Catholic Reporter. She has also worked as a radio journalist for Monitor Radio, Deutsche Welle and Vatican Radio.
In Brazil, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva beat incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro Oct. 30 by less than 1%. Catholic sisters expressed hope for da Silva and celebrated the end of Bolsonaro's presidency.
A new species of screech owl discovered in the Amazon was named Megascops stangiae, to honor the martyred Sr. Dorothy Stang. Her congregation, and the researchers who discovered the new species, say the name fits.
Religious women working in Brazil's Amazonas state have been a driving force of support, helping the population cope with the devastation of COVID-19 in the region. Yet they have faced their own anguishes.
Feb. 12 was the 15th anniversary of Sr. Dorothy Stang's assassination in the Amazon region of Brazil. The U.S.-born nun is remembered as a crusader for the poor and the landless and for her love of the land and the Amazon forest.
The canonization of the first Brazilian-born female saint is making headlines across the country, putting news coverage of the country's current political and economic difficulties on the backburner.
