MANCHESTER, England - Bishops across the European Union are calling on member states to be generous toward tens of thousands of migrants flooding across the Mediterranean.

The truth has been well and tragically documented. Now comes the real work — reconciliation.

TORONTO - Former senator Hugh Segal is encouraging faith groups to use their collective voice to help put an end to child poverty in Canada.

OTTAWA - Social justice think tank Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ) has issued a report that puts a positive spin on taxes as a way to reduce poverty and clean up the environment.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis urged Franciscan friars to hold true to their charism of fraternity, humility and poverty and not lose the respect they have earned over the centuries for living up to those ideals.

TORONTO - More than 12,000 times, people in Toronto slept on a vinyl-covered foam mattress on the floor of a church, synagogue or mosque this past winter.

VATICAN CITY - Europe's Christians must speak with one voice to defend religious liberty and to ensure desperate migrants are treated fairly, Pope Francis said.

OTTAWA - As Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) Canada marks its 10th anniversary this year, it is making an urgent appeal for continued help for imperilled families under Islamic State siege in Iraq and Syria.

WASHINGTON - With extreme poverty having been cut in half over the last generation — and the Millennium Development Goals target of poverty halving having been achieved five years ahead of the 2015 deadline — veterans of the global war on poverty believe it is possible that extreme poverty can be wiped out in the next 15 years.

RIMOUSKI, QUE. - A  teacher from Quebec's Lower St. Lawrence region who believed that "schools were the vestibules to the Church" was beatified April 26 by Cardinal Angelo Amato, the papal legate who came from Rome to Rimouski to proclaim her Blessed.

Archbishop Raymond Roussin’s life of dedication, faith, struggle and hope is over. The retired archbishop of Vancouver died in Winnipeg April 24. He was 75.

Vowed life is a mystery, but only in the Catholic sense. There’s no mystery in the vows themselves. Poverty, chastity and obedience are pretty straightforward — no money, no sex, no turning your back on the demands of the community.

As part of the Year of Consecrated Life, The Catholic Register is proud to present its Call to Service special feature highlighting the stories of religious nuns and priests across Canada and internationally.

You can browse the articles below and see all the advertisements on the Digital Edition. The original pull-out section appeared in the April 26, 2015 issue.

VATICAN CITY - With an obligation to lead and protect everyone in their nations, government officials cannot be content "to hope that the poor collect the crumbs that fall from the table of the rich," Pope Francis said in a message to the Summit of the Americas.

What makes it possible is doing it together. Since Ash Wednesday, a colleague and I have been fasting — taking only one meal of soup and bread a day.