Cindy Wooden

The two major events taking place in Rome for the March 8, 2024, celebration of International Women's Day were a daylong conference on "women leaders" sponsored by the British and Australian embassies to the Holy See and Caritas Internationalis and a two-day conference on women as "builders of humanity" hosted by the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross and co-sponsored by several pontifical universities.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux, long one of Pope Francis' favorite saints, teaches Christians "the little way" of love, self-giving, concern for others and complete trust in the mercy of God, the pope said in a new document.

Finding better ways to live "like Jesus did" — reaching out, welcoming, healing and including others — was the focus of Sr. Liliana Franco Echeverri's small group discussions Oct. 9-10 at the assembly of the Synod of Bishops, she said.

Pope Francis has appointed a woman for the first time to be the No. 2 official of the Roman Curia office that works with religious orders and their members.

Dominican Sr. Helen Alford has been a member of the academy since 2020 and will be the third woman to lead the group of scholars.

With a degree of credibility that "seems to be very high," another 14 women and one man have reported to the Jesuits that they were spiritually, psychologically or sexually abused by Jesuit Fr. Marko Rupnik, a well-known mosaic artist and spiritual director.

The leaders of religious orders around the world are taking very seriously not only preparations for the Synod of Bishops assembly in 2023, but the whole idea of making the Catholic Church more "synodal" -- a place where everyone is called to prayer, discernment and responsibility for the church and its mission.

Brazilian Cardinal João Braz de Aviz told the superiors May 3 that their organization has been operating in a synodal manner since its founding more than 50 years ago, recognizing each other as sisters and accepting differences among them as something that enriches them all.

Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the volunteers who help them head to the Przemysl train station each night and invite war-weary travelers to their house to rest.

Two days after Russia invaded Ukraine, two sisters of the Congregation of Sisters of the Angels who staff a Zhytomyr home for orphans, decided it was time to take the kids and leave.

One of the Orthodox scholars who signed a statement condemning as "heresy" the political vision of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow is a U.S.-born Russian Orthodox nun and scholar of Byzantine liturgy.

Progress in inviting women into ministry, recognizing their talents and calling them to leadership is "uneven," but "we are not talking about evenness, we are talking about progress, about rising. They have not risen totally, but they are rising."

"To ensure that the synodal church is not a mirage, but rather a dream to be realized, it is necessary to dream together, to pray together and to work together," Cardinal João Braz de Aviz said.

Less than a month after he recognized the "heroic virtues" of three Italian women religious who died caring for Ebola patients in Congo, Pope Francis did the same for three others who also contracted the disease and died in 1995.

Repeatedly referring to the four U.S. churchwomen murdered in El Salvador in 1980 as "martyrs," Cardinal Michael Czerny insisted that in the end they triumphed because "brutal crimes failed and fail to stop the evangelizing."

Individual rights and freedom obviously are essential for human flourishing, but human happiness depends a lot on relationships — kinship and friendship, but also the broader common good, said Dominican Sr. Helen Alford.

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.

Early in the morning, in the chapel of his residence, Pope Francis celebrated Mass for the feast of the Annunciation and paid tribute to women religious, especially those caring for the sick during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While most of the work at a religious order's general headquarters continues in lockdown, a group of Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit found an additional activity where they could use their hands, do something together and be useful.

When one is totally in love with the Lord, then poverty, chastity and obedience are not sacrifices, but vehicles of freedom, Pope Francis told consecrated men and women.