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."
At Paramprasad Ashram, most of the women are elderly. Some were abandoned at hospitals, and some were rescued from abusers and traffickers. "We are here to give them dignity," says Sister Jonamma, who serves at the home.
Catholic sisters in South Africa are protecting girls, accompanying survivors and challenging the culture of violence that turns homes into danger zones.
In Vietnam, where religious life is highly respected and often tied to family honor, women who leave convents can face emotional pain, social stigma and economic uncertainty.
Thousands of pilgrims are expected to gather in June in the Lithuanian capital for the sixth World Apostolic Congress on Mercy, or WACOM, a five-day event that has previously been held in cities such as Rome, Kraków, Bogota and Manila.
After nearly a decade of violence in the Anglophone region of Cameroon, women religious and residents say Pope Leo XIV's visit could help extend a temporary truce and revive hopes for reconciliation.
Nuns from five congregations serve a 16th-century Marian shrine amid Hindu and Muslim villages in eastern India. The shrine's rector said that pilgrims come from all over India, and the nuns help cater to their needs.
Sr. Helen Mary Anthony, a gynecologist and Sister of St. Anne Bangalore, will take over May 1 as the first woman director of the Catholic Health Association of India.
