The Sisters of Charity of Cardinal Sancha occupy a special place in the hearts of many Cubans, who know they can count on the “Sanchinas” when they need help. The congregation was founded on the island in 1869 to help the disabled and poor children. Over time, they extended their reach to cover education, support for families and the elderly, vocational schools, and pastoral work in parishes. Sanchina Sisters Isabel and Leonida carry out this work in Camagüey, the third-largest ...

The close collaboration between Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) and now-Pope Leo XIV blazed a trail of service and evangelization in Peru. From the Andes to the Amazon, ACN’s projects carry hope and a pastoral presence to where it is most needed.   In this interview, Peruvian Luis Vildoso, who is responsible for ACN’s projects in Latin America, speaks about the fruits of this work and the current challenges that the Church in Peru faces.   ACN worked closely ...

A community of Christians in northern Iraq might be forgiven if they feel forgotten by the world. Their numbers, already small, are dwindling. Their religious rituals might feel foreign to most Catholics in the West.   “Sometimes we think that we have nothing to offer, that we are few in numbers, and dwindling,” said Syriac Catholic Archbishop Nathanael Nizar Wadih Semaan of Adiabene, northern Iraq.   But Archbishop Nizar, as he is known, was in Rome this week for a pilgrimage during ...

It was a scene that could have taken place in any Catholic sacristy these days. An altar boy shows up to serve Mass, and the priest notices that the shirt he’s wearing displays his loyalty to a particular sports team. The priest kiddingly tells the boy he should be supporting a rival team, the one that he supports.  But in this case, it happened in Peru, and the priest was the bishop of the diocese – and the man who ...

Less than a week after the beginning of his papal ministry, Pope Leo XIV met with representatives of Eastern Catholic Churches and expressed gratitude for Christians who, in the face of war and disastrous conditions, persevere in the lands of their birth. “I thank God for those Christians – Eastern and Latin alike – who, above all in the Middle East, persevere and remain in their homelands, resisting the temptation to abandon them,” Pope Leo said during the papal audience ...

Pope Leo XIV is a bishop who is “going to hear the cry of the suffering Church,” predicts a fellow Augustinian missionary who lived and worked with the future pontiff in Peru for 10 years. As a missionary in Peru, facing threats in a difficult time in the country, the future pope stood by and spoke up for Christians whose freedom and basic rights were violated, said the priest. Father John J. Lydon, OSA, has known Robert F. Prevost since ...