Heart to Heart

“Tanga” which means “sail” in Swahili, is the name of the house run by Polish missionaries to provide a safe home for Albino children in Tanzania, offering them love and a place where they can 'sail' across the difficulties of life.

Lyodra Ginting, an Indonesian singer, actress, and influencer, describes her experience of meeting Pope Francis at the papal Mass in Jakarta, saying she was “struck by his spirit of service” and message for young people.

The sisters of the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus are dedicated to educating children, and they live this charism by running several schools in Africa and expressing the Church’s solidarity in the towns and villages they serve.

Children with disabilities possess a universe of untapped potential and extraordinary courage. Sr. Beatrice Jane Agutu's experience at a school in Kenya confirms that disability is not inability and that every child deserves a chance to shine.

The Sisters Hospitallers arrived in Timor-Leste in 2019 and opened a Centre for mental health, four years later, offering closeness to the people, their culture, and their needs.

Ahead of Pope Francis' visit St Theresa’s Home, Victor Seng, director of the Catholic care home for the elderly in Singapore, says the residents are excited to see the Holy Father.

St. Theresa’s Home for the aged provides elderly people in Singapore the care they need. The Catholic nursing home is managed by Catholic Welfare Services (CWS), a non-profit, social service agency founded in 1959 with the aim of uplifting the lives of the less fortunate in the community. Pope Francis will visit residents and staff there on Friday, 13 September.

As the first migrant search-and-rescue mission jointly organized by the Italian Bishops’ Migrantes Foundation returns to port in Sicily, two representatives of the Foundation describe their experience assisting people risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean Sea.

Training teachers and teaching the young: Sr. Janet Wang explains the work of the Canossian Sisters in conflict-torn Myanmar.

On the occasion of the liturgical memorial of Blessed John Paul I - 26 August, the day he was elected Pope in 1978 - the postulator for his canonization cause shares a prayer for his canonization and for his intercession.

In an interview with Vatican News, 34-year-old Didier Grandjean recalls his journey from wearing the uniform of the Pontifical Swiss Guard to the Roman collar. His is a story of a man trained in combat who transitioned to serving the Pope and the Church in a more spiritual way.

The Sacramentine Sisters is a community of visually-impaired sisters. They lack sight, but all their other senses are actively engaged for the glory of God and the good of humanity. They teach catechism, visit and counsel people, farm, rear poultry, make rosaries, and knit. “I need opportunity, not sympathy,” according to Sr. Veronica.

Dentist, Social Media Producer and Religious Sister. All these titles could be included in the job description of Sr. M. Paula Blum, Schoenstatt Sister of Mary, ISSM, from Ecuador. The 34-year-old is in her final year of studies to become a dentist and has a passion for spreading the “Good News” via Instagram.

A conversation with Fr James Martin, SJ, author of “Come Forth: The Raising of Lazarus and the Promise of Jesus’s Greatest Miracle.”

'They've let comedians in, which is always a bad idea! Always!,' jokes Conan O'Brien to Vatican News and other reporters, on the sidelines of Pope Francis' unforgettable audience with comedians, as he expresses a collective sense of gratitude felt by him and the other famous US comedians present.

In an interview with Vatican News, death row prison chaplain and author, the Rev. Joseph B. Ingle, reflects on his pastoral work and advocacy and talks about the time he was part of an effort to gain pardon for Robert Sullivan, a death row inmate in the 1980s, that involved Pope John Paul II who personally pleaded for clemency to save Sullivan's life.

For centuries, men have predominantly overseen the academic domain of theology and key committees in the Church, but women have an essential role to play. Sr. M. Isabell Naumann, a Schoenstatt Sister of Mary, shares insights on her journey as a woman in various leadership roles within the Church.

In an interview with Vatican News, the Head of NASA, Administrator Bill Nelson, reveals Holy See-US Space collaboration, commends the Vatican's Observatory for shedding light on the heavens, and shares how space travel teaches valuable lessons about human fraternity.

Trafficking in persons has been a cruel reality in Nigeria since the 1980s, one that is unfortunately still present. In response to an appeal made by the Bishops of Nigeria and Major Superiors to join in the fight against human trafficking, Sister Anthonia M. Essien, HHCJ, and her team have launched awareness raising programs in rural villages in Akwa Ibom State.

Catholic-inspired organizations are implementing a series of social programs in Ceuta and Algeciras, assisting those arriving from Africa to enter Europe. One of the greatest challenges is the fight against human trafficking which exposes women to forced prostitution.

Fr Filippo Perin, 52, is a missionary in Ethiopia’s Gambella region on the border with South Sudan. A beautiful land where, however, there is no water; the people are starving and the climate is unbearable. His project, supported by the Salesians and the non-profit organization Cuore Amico, opens as many wells as possible to ensure the population’s survival in a country where the average life expectancy is below 50 years of age.

Ahead of International Marconi Day and 150 years since his birth, we recall the rich legacy of Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor-entrepreneur who set up Vatican Radio in 1931 and installed a ‘big cell phone’ in Pope Pius XI’s car that connected to the Vatican.

“In some ethnic groups of Sub-Saharan Africa, people with intellectual disabilities are often marginalized,” says Sr. Claudia Samba, FCSM who has worked with children with intellectual disabilities in both Senegal and Mauritania for eight years, at the “Sr Claire” Center in Rosso.

February 2025 will mark 30 years since the Institute of the Ursuline Sisters of the Immaculate Virgin Mary of Gandino arrived in Poland.

The exponential increase of foreign women arriving in Brazil poses a challenge for the state and civil society. Various ecclesiastical organizations offer multiple opportunities through training, employment, and support for entrepreneurship.

Daniel Bourha, a young Cameroonian Catholic, speaks to Vatican News about his perilous two-year journey to reach Europe. He was participating in MED24, a conference on migration organised by the French Archdiocese of Marseilles.

Mrs Pontsho Florina Tumisi, a widow and mother of two children is a member of the Saint Anne’s Catholic sodality in Lesotho. When she found herself dealing with her daughters’ drug addiction, she reached out to other mothers facing trials.

Two bereaved fathers, one an Israeli Jew and one a Palestinian Muslim, speak to Vatican News about their meeting with Pope Francis, who thanked them for their witness of fraternity.

How an experience inside an overstretched emergency ward in Rome’s “San Camillo” Hospital gave new meaning to the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and to Pope Francis’ call to be the same.

For all women religious, responding to a call from God to devote their lives to Him and His work is the beginning of a new life. Sister Elaine Sanchez began her new life caring for children of working-class families at Sisters of the Holy Family Day Homes in California and Nevada.