NCR Editorial Staff

Pope Francis' move to include nonbishop voting members of the synod has truly "enlarged the space of our tent," says this NCR editorial.

With last month's announcement of a slew of plans for faith organizations' divestment from fossil fuels, the contrast that zero U.S. dioceses have divested is stark. We say: All U.S. dioceses should divest.

We say: The United States needs to return to a politics of hope, rather than fear-mongering, so the country can enact humane and just policies for migrants and asylum-seekers.

Letters to the editor: NCR readers respond to a recent commentary calling for ordaining women to the priesthood as a start to answering some of Catholicism's issues. 

Letters to the editor: NCR readers respond to our report on a Milwaukee priest urging state legislators to repeal the clergy-penitent privilege in mandatory reporting laws.

Editorial: We are better than having to send our children — our children! — off to school each day, knowing that any person can walk in with an assault weapon and annihilate them.

Over the past 10 years, Pope Francis has changed the church in substantial ways. Jesus knocked. Francis opened the door. Now it's time to step through.

We're all for open discussion, even open debate. But churlish, childish name-calling reflects poorly on the U.S. church, the NCR editors say in this editorial.

The deportation of imprisoned critics of the Nicaraguan government and the unjust conviction and sentencing of Bishop Rolando Álvarez highlight the need for the U.S. government and church to speak out about religious freedom abuses in that country, says our editorial board.

We say: Dioceses need to apply the values of dialogue and transparency to the process of creating LGBTQ policies, and to discerning whether such policies are necessary. Instead, they are being born in secrecy.

We say: It's going to be a wild ride with the new Republican-controlled House. And any hints we have of the GOP agenda indicate that important tenets of Catholic social teaching will be missing from the chaotic mix.

We say: At the vanguard of the ideological shift in the judicial branch is Associate Justice Samuel Alito, author of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision. NCR editors have named Alito our Newsmaker of the Year for 2022.

We say: There is no denying it — fossil fuels lead to death. But the COP27 negotiators chose to remain attentive to the influence of the fossil fuel industry and to a political culture of instant gratification.

We say: For their conference president, U.S. bishops chose a culture warrior known for opposing the priorities of Pope Francis. Despite Francis' attempts to be a more welcoming church, the U.S. bishops seem out of step.

We say: An intruder broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home and assaulted her husband, Paul. But outrage over political violence is replaced with misinformation. Catholics must oppose both violence and lies. 

We say: Catholics must vote, and they must also examine their consciences about whom they vote for, prioritizing candidates who stand for the rule of law and for accepting election results. 

We say: More transparency from the Vatican is the only way to heal after decades of this scourge of sex abuse and cover-up. Recent cases prove that now is the time for greater transparency and less secrecy.

It's not hard to determine that using vulnerable people as objects to a political end is not consistent with Catholic teaching about humans' inherent dignity. We're talking to you, Govs. Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis.

We say: Twenty years after abuse cases in the Boston Archdiocese shined a harsh light on the church's disgusting propensity to doubt sexual abuse victims and protect their abusers, have church leaders learned nothing at all?

We say: It is clear through both words and actions that creation care is a priority of the Vatican and the leader of the Catholic Church. Yet, it continues to feel like the U.S. bishops have missed the memo.