Mali's Catholic Church said it hopes to obtain the release of a kidnapped Franciscan nun after her Islamist captors released a video showing her pleading with the pope to help save her life.

Starting in 1945, Albania was ruled by the harsh and repressive communist regime led by Enver Hoxha. The government persecuted and killed hundreds of clerics and laypeople.

Sr. Madonna Buder, an 87-year-old nicknamed "The Iron Nun," began completing Ironman triathlons — swimming 2.4 miles, cycling 112 miles, and running a marathon (26.2 miles) — when she was 47. Since then, she's completed at least 45.written a book, was featured in a 2016 Nike commercial, and traveled the world for speaking engagements. She is a member of the Sisters for Christian Community who lives in Spokane, Washington, and talked to Global Sisters Report about running as an opportunity for mindfulness and prayer.

Our consecration is within and around us. We do not have to search for the consecrated life as something "up there," but rather the "beyond" that lies within.

As a young woman professing first vows in 1983, Sr. Elaine Baete swallowed a fleeting thought about the future of her new congregation, the Sisters of Charity of Montreal, also known as the Grey Nuns. Instead, she focused on her new vocation and the impact she hoped to make. Now, Baete takes the helm of the transition as the congregational assistant on the Grey Nuns' leadership team. She and four others make decisions about how her congregation will pare down assets and ready itself for completion.

"We help those who are in the farthest places, at the margins where no one dares."

The power of music to evoke deep courage is a human experience. Perhaps our ancestors learned this from the cry of wolves or coyotes and soon echoed their response. We know that music can bring us to be our best selves, providing a basis for active citizenship.

"Graced illumination is more than physical seeing. God's vision reveals the depth and breadth of our identity in relationship to others, including the most vulnerable creatures among us and the stars beyond our sight."

As two major shareholders of Apple Inc. urge the company to take steps to help parents control and limit smartphone use by their children, a sister who is a veteran of the corporate social responsibility movement is at their side.

Sr. Agnes Nguyen Thi Tam and Sr. Anna Dau Thi Nhung served successively as superiors general of the Lovers of the Holy Cross of Vinh. They spoke with GSR and shared highlights of the congregation's history, which includes surviving a U.S. air attack and developing farming techniques to overcome extreme poverty.