A Jesuit commitment to atone for the sin of slavery in the United States comes with a $100-million commitment and a connection to Jesuit participation in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada.

Everybody agrees modern slavery must end, but Canadian Catholics can’t quite agree on how best to accomplish that objective.

OTTAWA -- An organization associated with the Catholic Church in Canada is happy to see the issue of slave labour being addressed within the Canadian government, but says that a proposed bill introduced in the Canadian Senate falls short of taking meaningful steps to actually have a real impact.

WASHINGTON – Nationwide efforts to confront human trafficking received a boost in the new year as President Donald Trump signed a bill reauthorizing federal expenditures for prevention and assistance programs across the federal government.

VATICAN – No one can remain indifferent to the way minority groups are increasingly the object of so much fear, scorn and hatred, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN – Christian freedom is being free from worldly ambition, fashion and passion and being open to God's will, Pope Francis said.

CARTAGENA, Colombia - At the Church of St. Peter Claver, a saint venerated throughout the Americas as a champion of human rights, Pope Francis offered special prayers for Venezuela and its people suffering in the midst of a huge political and economic crisis.

VATICAN CITY – Human trafficking is "brutal, savage and criminal," Pope Francis said, but often it seems like people see it as a sad, but normal fact of life.

BATON ROUGE, La. – The numbers are staggering. Each year in the U.S. alone, some 300,000 minors are victims of sex trafficking.

VATICAN CITY – Drug addiction is a contemporary form of slavery, Pope Francis lamented Thursday, emphasizing that a rehabilitation which restores victims' joy and dignity is much needed.

WASHINGTON– Georgetown University last year stripped from a building the name of one of its past presidents, a priest who authorized the sale of 272 women, children and men – slaves sold to save the university from financial ruin in 1838.

VATICAN CITY – Catholic pastoral workers play a crucial role in coming to the aid of "sea slaves" — fishermen who are held in inhumane conditions on the high seas for what can be years, a U.S. Department of State official said.

VATICAN CITY – Human traffickers and unjust business owners who become wealthy by exploiting others for cheap labour commit a mortal sin, said Pope Francis. 

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - God will hold humanity responsible for enslaving the poor and treating people as less important than profits, Pope Francis told Mexican workers and business leaders.

TORONTO - Canada's largest homeless youth agency is calling on Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne to adopt a broader, more co-ordinated approach to combat the scourge of sex trafficking.