OSV News

Soviet political prisoners from various backgrounds begged St. John Paul II’s help in secret messages after his 1978 election, according to a former inmate in recollections published for the late pope’s hundredth birthday.

Advocates fighting human traffickers are alerting children, parents and vulnerable adults that the coronavirus pandemic has pushed traffickers into new venues, potentially endangering more people to being exploited.

The Catholic Church’s acceptance of a ban on gathering for public worship and following other painful COVID-19 restrictions reflects its long-held understanding that faith, service and science are not at war with one another.

In an effort to curb the exploitation of migrant laborers and boost its crippling agriculture industry, the Italian government has granted temporary residency to agricultural workers without proper immigration documents.

As four priests of the Archdiocese of Washington started out on a three-day, 54-mile “Walk for the Poor,” they wanted those suffering from the impact of the coronavirus to know they are not alone, that Jesus is with them.

Cardinal Mario Zenari, the nuncio to Syria, said he is raising special prayers these days to Sts. Cosmas and Damian, fourth-century physicians who offered free care for the sick in Syria.

In a nation where the faithful are not allowed to assemble for Mass, one church in northern Italy is full. The Church of All Saints in Bergamo — located in a cemetery in Italy’s hardest-hit Lombardy region — has had to open its doors to dozens of coffins containing the remains of people who died of COVID-19.