Jonathan Luxmoore

Jonathan Luxmoore is a freelance writer covering church news from Oxford, England, and Warsaw, Poland, and serving as a staff commentator for Polish Radio. He studied modern history at the University of Oxford and international relations at the London School of Economics and was a co-founder of the Polish chapter of Transparency International, the world's largest anti-corruption nongovernmental organization. His coverage of religious affairs during the transition to democracy in Eastern Europe won five Catholic Press Association awards, and his books include The Vatican and the Red Flag (London/New York, 1999), Rethinking Christendom: Europe's Struggle for Christianity (Leominster, 2005) and a two-volume study of communist-era martyrdom, The God of the Gulag (Gracewing, 2016).

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Mother Jolanta Olech, seen in Rome while attending a Vatican meeting

Q & A with Mother Jolanta Olech, Poland's veteran 'principal nun'

"God's plans aren't known to us, but I can't imagine the church surviving without religious sisters, communities of women completely devoted to prayer and contemplation, work and service," said Mother Jolanta Olech. 

The 10 Polish nuns murdered by Russian soldiers at the end of World War II are, pictured clockwise: Srs. Maria Paschalis Jahn, Melusja, Edelburgis Kubitzki, Adel Schramm, Adelheidis Töpfer, Acutina Goldberg, Felicitas Ellmerer, Rosaria Schilling, Sabina T

Beatification of wartime Polish nuns highlights radical Christian witness

Senior Catholics see the beatification of 10 Polish nuns murdered by Russian soldiers at the end of World War II as highlighting the need for radical Christian witness while offering a prophetic reminder of current sufferings in Ukraine.

Pope Francis has approved the beatification of 10 Polish nuns, all members of the Congregation of Sisters of St. Elizabeth, who were killed by Soviet troops in the waning days of World War II. Pictured clockwise are Sisters Maria Paschalis Jahn, Melusja,

Polish nuns killed by Soviet army as World War II ended showed courage

Ten Polish nuns have been approved for beatification as martyrs 76 years after they were killed while resisting rape and facing other atrocities by Soviet soldiers in the final months of World War II.

The altar in the Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy basilica in Lagiewniki, a suburb of Krakow, Poland (Wikimedia Commons/Albertus Teolog)

For Poland's nuns, lockdown leaves space to reflect on mission

The Catholic response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland has prompted some soul-searching — not least on how the Polish church might make fuller use of the huge asset provided by Catholic women religious.

Poland's nuns join rap video challenge to help health care workers

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.

30 years after Berlin Wall fell, Catholics seek to recognize heroic Eastern European sisters

Three decades after the felling of the Berlin Wall, many now hope that women religious earn proper recognition for their bravery amid the brutality they endured under communist rule in Eastern Europe.

Scottish inquiry: Children endured abuse at sister-run orphanages

Sisters turn to boxing in video to raise funds for orphanage

After a year, Mali church leaders still hope for release of abducted nun

Europe's women religious answer the call to help the growing refugee crisis