A Sister of Charity in northern Italy was placed under house arrest after a nearly four-month investigation by prosecutors revealed she allegedly used her prison ministry to connect local mafia bosses with inmates.

Three months after the murder of Juan López, a Honduran church worker and environmental activist whose death was publicly mourned by Pope Francis, the bishops of Latin America are raising awareness on attacks against those fighting for social justice in the continent.

A funeral Mass for Conventual Franciscan Brother Michael Thomas Duffy will be offered Dec. 11, at 2 p.m., at the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City. Brother Michael died Dec. 6. He was 65.

Pope Francis and the country’s bishops in exile prayed for Nicaragua as the Central American country observed the Immaculate Conception of Mary amid persecution.

The U.S. bishops’ conference was among the groups that urged President Joe Biden on Dec. 9 to commute existing federal death sentences before President-elect Donald Trump, who has sought to expand the use of capital punishment, returns to the White House.