Pope Leo XIV has named Sr. Alessandra Smerilli prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the Vatican announced June 30, making her the latest woman elevated to lead a major Vatican office under the new pontificate.
The Salesian-run Phuoc Loc Technology College has trained hundreds of disadvantaged women from across Vietnam in cooking, childcare, elder care, communication skills and personal formation.
Daughter of Divine Love Sr. Mary Brendan Ezigbo says catechesis to inmates is "a call I received from God to reach out to these poor souls. ... I am called to work among the least of Jesus' brothers."
"If they didn't have this event to go to, they would have nothing," St. Joseph of Carondelet Sr. Suzanne Jabro said of fathers in Mexicali separated from their children.
Sr. Idelle Badt noticed that when people who are homeless are discharged from hospitals, "they're going to end up right back in the hospital or sicker than they were because they're still too ill to recover on the street."
While reporting in Indonesia, GSR correspondent Chris Herlinger was struck by the strong partnership between sisters and priests working together to support women and children.
Photo essay - The Dhanjuri Leprosy Center has dedicated caregivers, including religious sisters and local medical professionals, providing comprehensive support since 1927.
Ten years after the environmental disaster that devastated Vietnam's central coast and affected thousands of fishing families, women religious focus on livelihoods, accompaniment and long-term healing.
