An initially scheduled audience with Pope Francis turned into a dialogue between him and congregational leaders at the closing session of the International Union of Superiors General triennial assembly May 10 — and the hundreds attending couldn't have been more delighted.

A partnership of resources enabled photographer Lisa Kristine to photograph sisters who work against against sexual and labor exploitation, and who do prevention work with vulnerable migrants in countries around the world. Talitha Kum and the Galileo Foundation aim to raise awareness about trafficking and boost Talitha Kum's worldwide anti-trafficking network.

Vatican City: "In the case of the diaconate, we have to see what was there at the beginning of revelation," Pope Francis said. "If there was something, let it grow, let it live. If there was not something … it doesn't work."

From A Nun's Life podcasts - In this Random Nun Clip with the Benedictine Sisters of Cullman, Alabama, a listener asks if denying himself of things he wants will help him grow closer to God.  

Horizons: Every winter yields to spring. It happens in due time, slower in some places than in others, but always and everywhere eventually. This is the promise of the spring; this is the promise of the empty tomb. This is the puzzlement, but this is also the joy.

Rome - At day four of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) assembly, Donna Orsuto offered five steps to foster relationships and better understandings among religious groups. "Religious have a particular responsibility to foster a love that casts out fear," she said.

Women religious like Sr. Constance Veit of the Little Sisters of the Poor embrace the call to be a spiritual mother. "Our motherhood is exercised by loving those whom God puts in our path, those to whom he confides to us to care for."

Rome - "Living interculturally is a vocation" that means moving beyond a multicultural approach, Milmanda, provincial superior for the Missionary Congregation of the Servants of the Holy Spirit of South Argentina, told the International Union of Superiors General plenary assembly.

From Where I Stand: The tradition moves on from generation to generation, flowing here, being pruned there, always adapting to the soil in which it's planted. And so do we as people.

Just when I thought I was getting the hang of the essence of Good Shepherd spirituality, I am reminded that people around the world devote their entire lives to understanding the complexity of the Earth and our place within it. I forward the question: "How can we replicate this sort of deep belonging and acceptance for each other?"