Junno Arocho Esteves

Junno Arocho Esteves is a freelance journalist based in Malmö, Sweden. Born and raised in the United States, he covered the Vatican as a correspondent for 12 years for several news outlets, including ZENIT, Vatican News, and Catholic News Service. He has also served as a communications officer for the Institute of Anthropology at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University and communications consultant for the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Articles by Junno Arocho Esteves

A member of the Tunisia’s national guard stops a fishing boat in the sea bordering Tunisia and Libya as they check vessels for illegal migrants trying to reach Europe, Tuesday, May 5, 2015. Credit: FETHI BELAID/AFP/Getty Images

After Tunisian shipwreck kills 40, archbishop urges world to tackle migration crisis

Oct 24, 2025 / 10:14 am

Archbishop Lhernould said the Oct. 22 sinking of a migrant boat off the coast of Tunisia that killed 40 people cannot be viewed as just “one more shipwreck.”

Capella di Santa Rosa, St. Rosalia’s Chapel inside of the Palermo Cathedral, Basilica Cattedrale Metropolitana Primaziale della Santa Vergine Maria Assunta in Sicily, Itay, on May 5, 2022. Credit: Frank Bienewald/LightRocket via Getty Images

Bishops denounce rising Mafia-style violence in Sicily following murder of 21-year-old

Oct 21, 2025 / 08:00 am

Two southern Italian archbishops have sounded the alarm against the rise of Mafia-style killings among young people in Sicily.

People gather at the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Family on Palm Sunday in al-Zaitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on March 24, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. Credit: AFP via Getty Images

UN delegation makes surprise visit to Catholic parish in Gaza

Jul 2, 2025 / 18:17 pm

A United Nations delegation made a surprise visit on Tuesday to Holy Family Parish, the only Latin-rite Catholic Church in Gaza.

Scene of the walled city of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. The oldest governor’s mansion under the American flag, La Fortaleza, is top right. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Bishops in Puerto Rico push back against ICE raids, deportations

Jun 12, 2025 / 15:17 pm

As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement increases its raids and deportations in Puerto Rico, several of the island’s bishops have expressed alarm.

null Credit: Korawat photo shoot/Shutterstock

Italian abuse survivor: Bishops’ report doesn’t show full scale of crisis

Jun 11, 2025 / 10:46 am

Chiara Griffini, president of the Italian bishops’ conference’s Office for the Protection of Minors, said the increase in cases was concerning.

Cardinal Anders Arborelius of Stockholm at the consistory in St. Peter’s Basilica on June 28, 2017. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Swedish cardinal reflects on conclave, says he’s ‘grateful’ for Pope Leo XIV

Jun 9, 2025 / 14:30 pm

Swedish Cardinal Anders Arborelius said the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV “was first and foremost a unifying experience.”