Catholic News Service

Women religious working "on the front lines," exposed to the coronavirus yet continuing to care for abandoned children, working to alleviate poverty, providing health care and helping victims of human trafficking are not "super women," said Comboni Sister Alicia Vacas.

Pope Francis advanced the sainthood causes of three men and two women, including an Italian nun who was brutally murdered by three teenage girls who claimed it had been a satanic sacrifice.

Across the country, women religious have joined in peaceful protests against racial inequality, while others, home for health reasons amid the pandemic, are very much in spirit with the marchers.

When Polish rap artists launched "Hot16Challenge" in late April to raise funds for medical staff tackling the coronavirus, they did not expect their country's religious sisters would get in on the act.

While many safeguarding advocates are concerned the COVID-19 pandemic has diverted attention away from the church abuse scandal, Sister of Charity Nuala Kenny said she believed the health crisis has increased the possibility of people finally understanding "the nature of vulnerability" so they "can commit anew to this task of safeguarding."

The government of Quebec announced it will pay close to CA$5.2 million ($3.9 million) to religious communities in the province so that they can offer bonuses to members of their staff who work in their infirmaries.

Sister Gail Trippett sees a ray of hope amid all the darkness that once again descended upon Indianapolis and other cities across the country following the death of George Floyd.

As the coronavirus digs deeper into Navajo Nation, infecting Native Americans at a higher rate than anywhere in the country, 1,500 miles away a nonprofit in the Archdiocese of Louisville is working to ease the suffering.

As tens of millions more people are at risk of acute hunger because of the global coronavirus pandemic, Catholic Relief Services is embarking on a campaign to raise awareness, advocate and raise funds to head off the brewing crisis.

After three years of visiting clinics and traditional healers across Nonwa Tai, in the southern corner of Nigeria, 55-year-old Benedict Ngbaji was shocked to discover the sores and lesions under his foot and ankle were symptoms of Hansen's disease, or leprosy.

The needs of poor and minority communities that face greater health risks from pollution and economic disparities deserve to be addressed in any future federal pandemic relief package, dozens of religious communities and Catholic advocates said in a letter to members of Congress.

The way ethnic communities have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus is a common topic during New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's daily news conferences on how the state he runs is handling the pandemic.

The Maryknoll religious community in Ossining, New York, has been hit hard by COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.

Two Antonian nuns from Chicoutimi, a borough of Saguenay, have died of COVID-19.

The five Poor Clare Sisters who reside at the contemplative religious community's monastery in New Orleans report that their days, while certainly impacted by the coronavirus, have been fundamentally unchanged since the sheltering-in-place order. 

As the nation and much of the world wait for a drop in the harm and disruption caused by the novel coronavirus, the sisters, staff and residents of Jeanne Jugan Residence in Newark, Delaware, are dealing with the devastating impact of the disease while also helping some residents recover.

For the first time in its history, the Supreme Court announced April 13 it will conduct 10 oral arguments by teleconference in May. Among the arguments it will hear are cases involving the Little Sisters of the Poor and California Catholic schools.

The Dominican Sisters of Peace in Oxford, Michigan, donated 60 beds, bed linens and desks from the retreat center to be used in St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ypsilanti for overflow COVID-19 patients.

Mary Garcia, supervisor for environmental services at Maryville, a Beaverton care facility began experimenting with making cloth face masks. She tried different patterns, purchased four bolts of material and then began handing it out to cutters and seamstresses, first of all the sisters.

The Supreme Court, much like the rest of the country, is putting some of its work on hold amid the restrictions of the COVID-19 health crisis.