North Korea – United Yam

International rosary in Rome held in advance of 100th World Mission Sunday #Catholic An international rosary in Rome united clergy, religious, and lay faithful to mark the 100th anniversary of World Mission Sunday.The rosary was held on the grounds of the Pontifical Urban University on Oct. 17, the eve of this year’s World Mission Sunday on Oct. 18. Led by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, dean of the College of Cardinals and Grand Chancellor of the university, the rosary was recited in 13 languages across five mysteries representing Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Oceania.The occasion also marked the 75th anniversary of the rosary’s establishment by Blessed Fulton J. Sheen, who was U.S. national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies from 1950 to 1966.Sister Mary Teresa Baron, recently appointed president of the Pontifical Mission Societies, was not present during the rosary.Several participants in the rosary explained how the faithful can support the Church’s missionaries beyond financial contributions.Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, who serves as a secretary at the Dicastery for Evangelization, urged a focus on the Word of God.“I am always a bit wary about monetizing mission,” Nwachukwu said to EWTN News. “So, I do not want to begin with money; I want to begin with the Word, because mission is all about bringing the Word of the Lord to the ends of the earth.” Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, secretary of the Section of First Evangelization at the Dicastery for Evangelization, participated in an international rosary at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome on Oct. 17, 2026, to mark the 100th anniversary of World Mission Sunday. | Credit: Ishmael Adibuah/EWTN News At the same time, Nwachukwu indicated that supporting missionaries also means providing “the means to bring the Gospel to various places.” That support, he said, involves money.“[Today] is also an occasion to tell people: please, be generous to missionaries,” Nwachukwu said.Msgr. Thomas George Schluep, who also serves at the Dicastery for Evangelization, cited Pope Leo XIV’s message for World Mission Sunday as a reminder that unity in Christ precedes material support“Pope Leo, in his message for this 100th Anniversary of World Mission Sunday, reminds us that we first must be one in Christ,” Schluep told EWTN News. “Our baptism calls us to be missionaries: to share that love with our families, our friends, our coworkers.”Memories of missionaries, Pope Leo’s return from the hospitalParticipants also shared personal anecdotes about missionaries and their impact on their faith journey.Schluep shared his memory of Father Gerard Hammond, an American Maryknoll missionary priest known for his decades of humanitarian work in North and South Korea.“I met him in Korea, where he had been serving since 1960 when he was ordained and sent on mission. He was celebrated by thousands of people in South Korea for bringing the faith to them over the course of 65 years,” Schluep said.“In North Korea he could not speak of Christ, but his “apostolate of presence” and love for those suffering from tuberculosis was itself evangelization. He taught me a lot about the importance of being present to people, exactly where they are at in their lives, no matter the personal cost.”Around the time the rosary was taking place, Pope Leo XIV returned to the Vatican after being hospitalized for surgery Oct. 13 at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital. Nwachukwu expressed happiness at his return and hoped that “the Lord will keep him quite long among us”.“We are all praying for him. We love the Pope, and we love what he is doing.”The contributions of AmericansSchluep, an American from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, also noted the significant contributions of Americans, such as Blessed Fulton Sheen, to missionary work through the Pontifical Mission Societies.“The American contribution to the missions historically has been enormous,” Schluep noted. “It was a great joy to see Fulton Sheen beatified, who did so much to evangelize the United States, but also who traveled personally to so many missions around the world and did so much to raise funds for those missions.” Cardinal Tagle stands before the image of Blessed Fulton Sheen during the beatification Mass in St. Louis on Sept. 24, 2026. | Credit: Jeffrey Bruno Schluep said he hoped the example of Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pope, would encourage renewed American support. “The fact that the Holy Father understands American culture and missionary life in Peru can help him in his particular guidance for us, but now he is the Pope of the entire world, and he calls us to think also of the entire world and not just our country, our families, and especially ourselves,” Schluep said.

Transnational online scam operations on the rise, U.S. State Department says #Catholic The State Department released its 2026 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report on Oct. 8, showing criminal organizations and repressive governments are using trafficking for profit in new ways.The report, released more than three months after the June 30 deadline, said the spread of industrial-scale online scam operations “pose a direct threat to US national security.”Transnational crime organizations, mostly run by Chinese nationals and long based in Southeast Asia, have moved into Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America, destabilizing local communities and cheating people out of billions of dollars each year, according to the report. Fraudulent online romance, gambling, and cryptocurrency schemes have defrauded people in more than 125 countries, with Americans, the primary targets, losing at least .2 billion in 2025 to compounds operating out of Southeast Asia, according to the report.The organizations recruited people from at least 80 countries over the past few years through fraudulent schemes, often pushing them into forced labor and holding them in guarded compounds and manipulating them through violence, sexual exploitation, intimidation, and other acts. They are often coerced into committing crimes, the report found.The report, an annual assessment required by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, covers April 1, 2025, through March 31.The State Department said it relied on information from embassy reporting, government officials, nongovernmental and international organizations, published reports, news articles, and other sources.The State Department said that governments that fail to punish traffickers and protect victims should be held accountable.12 governments citedTwelve governments are cited in the report for a “policy or pattern” of state-sponsored human trafficking: Afghanistan, Belarus, Burma, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Russia, South Sudan, and Sudan. This designation covers “trafficking in government-funded programs, forced labor in government-affiliated medical services or other sectors, sexual slavery in government camps, or the employment or recruitment of child soldiers.”Under the Child Soldiers Prevention Act, the department listed 14 countries whose forces or state-backed militias recruited or used children in any capacity during hostilities, including as sex slaves: Afghanistan, Burma, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Iran, Nigeria, Russia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Venezuela, and Yemen.Among country rankings reported so far, Israel returned to Tier 1, the highest category, for the first time since 2021, after five years on Tier 2. The Republic of Congo was downgraded to Tier 3, the lowest, for failing to meet minimum standards and not making significant efforts. A Tier 3 listing can restrict certain U.S. assistance, including security assistance, the report said.A Tier 1 ranking does not mean that a country has no human trafficking. Instead, according to the report, “a Tier 1 ranking indicates that a government has made efforts to address the problem … and met the TVPA’s minimum standards.”Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, author of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, said in a statement on Oct. 8 that the report’s findings are “a stark reminder that modern-day slavery remains a global scourge — and that governments must be held accountable when they fail to protect vulnerable people.”“Human trafficking is an assault on human dignity and freedom,” the congressman wrote. “The United States must continue to use every tool at its disposal — including the TIP Report — to expose human trafficking whenever it rears its ugly head, protect survivors, and press foreign governments to end this blight upon humanity.”“China remains on Tier 3 — the lowest ranking,” Smith continued, “reflecting its continued failure to meet the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) use and enabling of forced labor — including the systematic exploitation of Uyghurs and other persecuted minorities — is deeply troubling and deserves the greatest level of scrutiny.”“Moreover, the horrific, ongoing consequences of China’s one-child per couple policy can still be seen and felt today, as the Report notes that a gross disparity — tens of millions more boys than girls — has driven the demand for commercial sex trafficking and coercive marriages in the country,” Smith wrote.“Governments on Tier 3 — including China, North Korea, Iran, Russia, Burma, Belarus, Cambodia, Cuba, Laos, Nicaragua, Sudan, South Sudan, and Venezuela — can and must do more. Tier 3 must never become a permanent designation; it should serve as a dire warning and a call to action,” Smith wrote.

unitedyam October 9, 2026October 10, 2026

Fraudulent online romance, gambling, and cryptocurrency schemes have defrauded people in more than 125 countries, with Americans losing at least $18.2 billion in 2025, according to a new report.