Signs Of the Times

UNICEF reported on June 17 that 92 percent of some 7,600 children who made the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea from Libya so far this year have been unaccompanied by adults, up from 68 percent last year. • The Rev. Hermann Scheipers, the last surviving priest to have been imprisoned

Maria de Lourdes Ruiz Scaperlanda, a writer and author in the Catholic press since 1982, received the 2016 St. Francis de Sales Award from the Catholic Press Association during its annual conference in St. Louis, Mo., on June 3. • The treacherous Mediterranean Sea crossing from Libya to Italy c

Pope Francis issued a decree on June 4 that makes it possible now to remove diocesan bishops for neglecting their duties, in particular in regard to protecting minors and vulnerable adults from sexual abuse. The decree comes in the form of an apostolic letter issued motu proprio, responding to many

Speaking to judges and prosecutors at a Vatican summit on human trafficking and modern slavery on June 3, Pope Francis said, “You are responsible for executing justice,” the ones “called to give hope.” The pope had been given a warm welcome by some 100 judges and prosecutors

Egyptian authorities on May 19 arrested Mina Thabet, a well-known advocate for the rights of Egypt’s Coptic Christians, the latest move in the government’s crackdown on rights activists and dissidents. • Francesco Patton, an Italian Franciscan priest named on May 20 Custos of the Ho

Under other circumstances, Jonny Lopez might have been happy that he was losing weight. “I’ve been running around the city so much, looking for food, that I’ve lost 20 pounds,” said the father of two.Standing in line has become a routine as he tries to buy food for his family