“We have to admit that things move very slowly in the church,” Sharon Holland, I.H.M., told America, “But this is a piece of really good news.”

I have learned that belief is not unique to those who consider themselves religious.

Pope Francis named six superiors of women's religious orders, a consecrated laywoman and the superior of the De La Salle Christian Brothers to be full members of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Sister Munoz said she does her best to inform migrants of the risks and realities on the road. She also tries to disabuse shelter dwellers of any erroneous ideas—such as the existence of immigration documents for them—and does not sugarcoat her answers.

Nuns and Nones, an organization that brings these two groups—both spiritually seeking, both distinctly committed to justice—together for conversation, relationship and even shared housing.

Honored as one of the U.S. State Department's "heroes" in combatting human trafficking, Comboni Sister Gabriella Bottani urged action to fight the situations that make people, especially women and children, vulnerable to trafficking.