Lise Alves

Lise Alves is a freelance journalist based in São Paulo, Brazil. She has contributed to English-language news outlets across the world, including The Rio Times, Catholic News Service, The Lancet, The Guardian and National Catholic Reporter. She has also worked as a radio journalist for Monitor Radio, Deutsche Welle and Vatican Radio. 

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Scalabrinian Sr. Rosita Milesi, recipient of the 2024 Nansen Refugee Award from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, holds baby Daniel Jose Milaro, who has just arrived from Venezuela with his mother Jenifer Milaro and siblings, at the Casa de Acolhida Sao Jose, a temporary shelter for refugees and migrants in Pacaraima, Brazil, Aug. 24, 2024. (UNHCR/Marina Calderon/Handout via Reuters)

Brazilian Scalabrini sister receives UNHCR prize for her work with refugees

"It is not a celebration of my career [but] a tribute to each person, institution or public body that has walked this path with me, to each migrant, to each refugee, to each child in whose innocent smile I found the energy to continue fighting," Sr. Rosita Milesi said.

Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Aparecida Sr. Joana Ortiz protests the temporal framework with Indigenous people in Brasilia, Brazil.

Sisters in Brazil commit to supporting Indigenous peoples and their land

Amid rising violence in some Indigenous communities over land rights in Brazil, sisters there say that, if necessary, they'll fight alongside the original inhabitants to protect their land.

Vista aérea, en medio de la selva, de las viviendas de un grupo indígena aislado.

Sisters help Brazil's Indigenous with land rights, identity and survival

Catholic sisters — with a 50-year history of advocating for Brazilian Indigenous populations — continue to show up in solidarity, as tribes such as the Karipuna and Yanomami struggle to maintain their land and culture.

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva celebrates with his wife Rosangela Silva, left, and running mate Geraldo Alckmin, right, after defeating incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in a presidential run-off to become the country's next president, Oct. 30 in São Paulo, Brazil. (AP photo/Andre Penner)

Sisters in Brazil celebrate election of new president, end of Bolsonaro 'nightmare'

In Brazil, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva beat incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro Oct. 30 by less than 1%. Catholic sisters expressed hope for da Silva and celebrated the end of Bolsonaro's presidency.

Members of the Landless Movement carry the coffin of U.S. Sr. Dorothy Stang during her funeral services Feb. 15, 2005, in Anapu, Brazil. (CNS/Agencia O Globo/Ailton de Freitas)

The screech owl named for Sr. Dorothy Stang is a tribute 'symbolic of her life'

A new species of screech owl discovered in the Amazon was named Megascops stangiae, to honor the martyred Sr. Dorothy Stang. Her congregation, and the researchers who discovered the new species, say the name fits.

Sr. Maria Odete Pereira, center, of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary gives thanks before the distribution of food baskets to residents of the Our Lady of Fatima community just outside of Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil. (Courtesy of Sr. Ros

As COVID-19 rages in Brazil, sisters in the Amazon fight hunger and isolation

Religious women working in Brazil's Amazonas state have been a driving force of support, helping the population cope with the devastation of COVID-19 in the region. Yet they have faced their own anguishes.

Nun, who claims 'divine help,' advances to final of MasterChef Brasil

A Brazilian nun who has moved into the finals of a TV cooking show said she received "divine help" and prayed the entire time she was cooking.

Brazil remembers Sr. Dorothy Stang; landless defenders still threatened

Feb. 12 was the 15th anniversary of Sr. Dorothy Stang's assassination in the Amazon region of Brazil. The U.S.-born nun is remembered as a crusader for the poor and the landless and for her love of the land and the Amazon forest.

Nun's canonization delays vote on Brazil's social security reform bill

The canonization of the first Brazilian-born female saint is making headlines across the country, putting news coverage of the country's current political and economic difficulties on the backburner.

Brazilian court denies sentence reduction for Dorothy Stang assassin