VIENNA – Many people become more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation when safe, legal and affordable opportunities for immigration or asylum are lacking, a Vatican official told global leaders.

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.

Human trafficking has become a billion-dollar industry that is projected to overtake arms sales as the most lucrative illegal business in the world, said international expert Sr. Imelda Poole.

UNITED NATIONS – It's not enough to rescue victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation – they must be given supportive care to address their trauma, and tools to live economically independent lives free from abuse.

MADRID, Spain – Father Alberto Gaton is the chaplain of a Spanish ship that combats human trafficking by rescuing people in the Mediterranean Sea. In the span of almost 5 months, his team has managed to rescue more than 3,000 people.

TORONTO – When Casandra Diamond left “the game” 11 years ago she cried every day for about three months.

ABUJA, Nigeria – A lack of reliable data on human trafficking in Africa hinders aid reaching people who desperately need it, said the continental coordinator for Caritas Internationalis.

OTTAWA – Founded in the United States more than a century ago to battle the “evils of alcohol,” the World Women’s Christian Temperance Union has grown into a world-wide organization confronting 21st-century social ills that include everything from drug addiction to Internet pornography and human trafficking.

TORONTO – It’s not the oldest profession. It’s age-old oppression.

DE PERE, Wis. - Lisa Kristine was 11 when her aunt and uncle gave her an Olympus 35 mm camera. From a converted darkroom in her home in California, she developed black-and-white film and printed images of family and friends.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis joined Austrian church leaders in praying for the 71 refugees found dead in an abandoned truck near Vienna and he condemned the smuggling of migrants as an offense "against the whole human family."

The Catholic Women’s League of Canada has called on the federal government to invoke the notwithstanding clause to block implementation of physician-assisted suicide.

WASHINGTON - Exploitation and discrimination abound among refugees from Myanmar's ethnic minority communities who have landed in Malaysia, a five-member contingent from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops learned.

TORONTO - Organizers of the Gift Box campaign set up during the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games in Toronto to raise awareness of human trafficking have exceeded their expectations, volunteers say.

MANILA, Philippines - Sr. Margaret Maung doesn't wear a nun's habit, but a traditional "longyi" and a simple blouse.

Experience has taught the provincial superior of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions in Myanmar to embrace the country's cultural dress even while representing her faith.