OSV News

"Never have we ever faced such a charge (of forceful religious conversion) in our history," Mother Superior Isabel Francis of the Assisi Sisters said. 

Two Catholic service organizations have joined forces to back three new pieces of legislation designed to both help victims of human trafficking and enhance safety for children online.

David Quinn, director of the Iona Institute, a Dublin-based religious think tank, told OSV News July 15, "There was a rush to believe the worst about the nuns and about Catholic Ireland."

The Trump administration's ending of deportation protections for those who have fled Honduras and Nicaragua shows "no discernment," an immigration policy expert told OSV News — while a pastor at one Philadelphia parish said the moves have sparked fear and a sense of powerlessness among his community.

“People usually think nuns are rigid, even grumpy women. When they see us singing and dancing, when they get to know us better, they realize we’re not,” Sister Marizele said.

The president's proclamation says nationals from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen will no longer be admitted.

On May 31 in Braniewo, Poland, 15 nuns from the Congregation of St. Catherine Virgin and Martyr were beatified — recognized as martyrs who gave their lives during the final, brutal months of World War II.

Over 90,000 pilgrims flocked to Alba de Tormes, Spain, May 11-25, to venerate the incorrupt body of St. Teresa of Ávila — marking just the third public exposition of her relics since her death on Oct. 4, 1582.

Catholics in Normandy commemorated the 100th anniversary of St. Thérèse of Lisieux's canonization with three days of solemn celebrations May 16-18. These included a live broadcast of Pope Leo XIV's May 18 inauguration Mass on giant screens in the Basilica of St. Thérèse in Lisieux.

A hidden chapter of Christ's Passion has come to light through the mystical revelations of Servant of God Sr. Leonia Nastal, a Polish nun whose spiritual diary offers harrowing details of Jesus' imprisonment before the crucifixion.

Scalabrinian Sr. Idalina Bordignon is director of the Center for Attention to Returned Migrants, a joint effort of the Catholic Church and several government and nongovernmental agencies. As deported migrants disembark from flights, which arrive every day from the U.S. and once or twice a week from Mexico, they receive food, a quick medical check and the equivalent of $100.

Missionary Sisters of Santo Domingo in the municipality of Kimbanseke in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, fell victim to the attack on March 18. The attackers smashed the wall of the congregation's residence to gain entry.

The communities at Assumption Abbey, the Monastery of St. Joseph, home to the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, and Nazareth Hermitage all left their properties in the early afternoon of March 19 as wildfires inched dangerously close.

Thousands of migrants are heading back to South America after new U.S. immigration policies, including the cancellation of the CBP One program, have made it harder for them to seek asylum in the U.S.

As the full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine reached a tragic threshold of three years Feb. 24, religious sisters are bringing rays of sunshine to those who don't know how to smile anymore, including children whose carefree childhood disappeared, and farmers, whose fields are mined and useless.

In the lead up to the 20th anniversary of the death of Sister Stang, who is considered by many as a "Martyr of the Amazon," a relic containing blood-soaked soil from the site of her murder was enshrined at the Basilica of St. Bartholomew on Tiber Island in Rome on Jan. 10.

The migrant ministry of Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister Rose Patrice Kuhn can be excruciating. But the anguish was especially acute the day after President Donald Trump was sworn into office for a second term as U.S. president, said Sister Rose.

Two Nigerian women religious who were kidnapped Jan. 7 as they returned home from a meeting in Ogboji, a town in Anambra state in Nigeria, were freed Jan. 13 with no conditions, their congregation said.

Servant of God Sr. Blandina Segale — an Italian immigrant who ministered during the days of the Wild West — is close to being named "Venerable," said Allen Sánchez, the petitioner of her cause, at a Jan. 3 press conference.

Basilan Sisters and some 80 children in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia narrowly avoided being killed in a deadly Dec. 6 strike by Russia, as they celebrated a liturgy marking the feast of St. Nicholas.