Onlookers at the site of an image some believe to represent the Virgin Mary in April 2005, days after it was first spotted. (Chicago Sun-Times file photo)

Whatever happened to Chicago's 'Our Lady of the Underpass'?

News

The Northwest Side woman who first spotted the marking on the Fullerton Avenue underpass wall in 2005 says it helped change her life. It's still there but tough to make out these days.

The Latest

A little child shall lead them to build bridges of art and hope

Black prelate's essay on DEI deleted by U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Nate Tinner-Williams, Black Catholic Messenger

Pope tells new US ambassador he is praying for Charlie Kirk and his family

Associated Press

Editors' Choice

Auxiliary Bishop Bismarck Chau of Newark blesses the assembly at Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart after he was consecrated as bishop during a Mass Sept. 8. Chau came to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant from Nicaragua in 1984. (NCR photo/Camillo Barone)

In Focus

Once on brink of despair, first Nicaragua-born bishop in US 'full of joy' and hope

Pedro Bismarck Chau was 16 when he came to the United States as an undocumented immigrant in 1984. He was ordained as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J.,  on Sept. 8.

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Most Read Stories

Pope Leo XIV looks out to the crowd from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican as he leads the midday recitation of the “Regina Coeli” prayer for the first time May 11, 2025. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

#1
Pope Leo's official portrait breaks conventions in papal imagery

Pope Leo's official portrait is worth a second look, for it represents a radical departure in the way a pope presents himself. 

ByJim McDermott
Pope Leo XIV speaks with Elise Ann Allen of Crux on July 30, 2025. (Crux photo)

#2
Pope Leo's 1st formal interview: Wage inequality, Elon Musk, peace and polarization

Pope Leo XIV decried economic inequality between rank-and-file workers and corporate titans, according to transcripts from his first formal interview with a journalist since ascending to the papacy.

ByJustin McLellan
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk appears at a Utah Valley University speaking event in Orem, Utah, Sept. 10, 2025. Kirk was shot during the event, and President Donald Trump later said on social media that Kirk had been killed. (OSV News/Trent Nelson, The Salt Lake Tribune via Reuters)

#3
Shock and prayers after conservative activist Charlie Kirk shot and killed

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed after being shot Sept. 10 during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, the president announced on social media. 

ByKate Scanlon, OSV News, John Grosso

#4
Relic of the Catholic Church's first millennial saint stolen from Venezuelan parish

#5
The Council of Nicaea forbade kneeling during the Sunday Eucharist

#6
Charlie Kirk's murder is a wound inflicted on our shared humanity

Opinion

In the fray of brutal, gutting and unforgiving stories

NCR Voices

Bishop Barron praises late controversial activist Charlie Kirk after fatal shooting

Guest Voices
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers a speech during a ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., Sept. 11, 2025. (OSV News/Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)

Trump's angry blaming fits well into agenda of Catholic right commentators

Guest Voices

The Catholic right grants few, if any, nods to Catholic social teaching. Many righteous Catholics dismiss the preferential option for the poor (including immigrants) and the care of creation as "radical left politics."

Tortured in Egypt, jailed in Ohio: The broken asylum promise

Guest Voices

You don't have to be a superhero to honor the Season of Creation

“Charlie Kirk” by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0

Charlie Kirk's murder is a wound inflicted on our shared humanity

"Everything is connected," writes Mike Lewis. "When someone’s life — anyone’s life — is cut short by a deliberate act of violence, a wound is inflicted on our shared humanity."

Vatican

Pope tells new US ambassador he is praying for Charlie Kirk and his family

Pope Leo XIV told the new U.S. ambassador to the Holy See that he is praying for Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist assassinated in Utah last week, as well as his wife and children, the Vatican spokesman said Tuesday.

Relentless effort, quick action are not always the answer, pope says

In an overly frenetic world, the Gospel teaches the importance of stopping, resting and trusting in the Lord, Pope Leo XIV said.

ByCarol Glatz, Catholic News Service

Palestinians are living in 'unacceptable' conditions, pope says

As tens of thousands of Palestinians were fleeing their homes as Israel launched a major new ground offensive in Gaza City, Pope Leo XIV expressed his "profound closeness to the Palestinian people in Gaza."

ByCarol Glatz, Catholic News Service
Priest at blackboard

Pope phones Gaza parish as Israeli launches new offensive on city

ByCindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

Theology must address climate change, AI, other real concerns, pope says

Pope urges church to listen to sorrows of abuse victims, walk together

Pope praises forgiveness as mother of slain US journalist James Foley speaks of healing at Vatican

EarthBeat

Vatican News

Theology must address climate change, AI, other real concerns, pope says

Because "true knowledge of God is realized in a life transformed by love," the Catholic Church needs theologians whose pursuit of understanding is framed by care for the real concerns of modern men and women, Pope Leo XIV said.

Late evening sun illuminates rock formations at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colo., July 23, 2020. (OSV News/Bob Roller)

You don't have to be a superhero to honor the Season of Creation

None of us individually is going to save the world. But each of us can do something. And here's something that's one of the world's largest sources of microplastic pollution and energy waste. I'm talking about clothes.

ByEffie Caldarola, OSV News
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, speaks at an event in Athens, Greece on May 8, 2025. (AP photo/Petros Giannakouris, File)

Orthodox patriarch visits US to meet with Trump, receive award for environmental work

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is making his first visit in four years to the United States, where he was scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump and receive honors for his environmental advocacy.

ByPeter Smith, The Associated Press

As Africa prepares for COP30, its Catholic bishops urge African solutions on climate

Joined by interfaith leaders, the bishops said Africa cannot be subject to foreign interests but must be the architect of its own future.

ByFrederick Nzwili, Religion News Service

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Messages that mobilize: How to convince church leadership to take climate action

Catholic networks: Push for profits, power threaten peace, climate justice

Legacy of 'green' papal teaching takes root at Vatican ecology center

Culture

Each episode of "The Pitt" follows one single hour of the same day, as the staff at the emergency room of Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center deal with bureaucratic, medical and personal issues. (Warrick Page/HBO Max)

Binge-watching 'The Pitt' with COVID was a deeply consoling experience

Jose Solís wasn't a big fan of medical dramas when he turned on HBO Max's 'The Pitt.' But not only did it hold his attention through 104° fever and extreme fatigue, he found himself deeply consoled by it as well.

For some Dobson kids, focusing on the family led to estrangement

These days, Focus on the Family is offering a new kind of parenting advice, this time tailored for parents whose adult kids have gone 'no contact.'

ByKathryn Post, Religion News Service
Morgan Spector plays George Russell, an amalgam of Cornelius Vanderbilt and his grandson William in HBO's "The Gilded Age." (HBO/Karolina Wojtasik)

'The Gilded Age' asks us to sympathize with the class that's destroying us

HBO's popular costume drama series "The Gilded Age" asks us to sympathize with people much like those currently running our country into the ground, writes Jim McDermott.

ByJim McDermott
In her new book, Struck Down, Not Destroyed: Keeping the Faith as a Vatican Reporter, America magazine's Colleen Dulle opens up about her own disillusionment with the institutional church throughout her tenure as a reporter – and why and how she's stayed Catholic despite the often devastating disappointments. (Chris Geerdes)
Book Reviews

Q&A with Colleen Dulle on keeping the faith when the church disappoints

In her new book, Colleen Dulle opens up about her disillusionment with the institutional church throughout her tenure as a Vatican reporter — and why and how she has stayed Catholic despite devastating disappointments.

ByOlivia Bardo

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

In 2025, the 'immortal' Henrietta Lacks is still receiving her due

The many faces of the movie nun

Seth Worley on directing 'Sketch' and empowering kids to make art out of pain

Child's drawing shows cat and the word love.
Columns

A little child shall lead them to build bridges of art and hope

We are inviting young people everywhere to create: to express, to heal, to unite, to hope and to grow together. 

Sr. Ruth Kuyumba, right, engages Memory Musonda and her son Joshua in a conversation during a home visit. Sr. Agnes Kateule, left, uses sign language to communicate with Joshua. Memory and Joshua were beneficiaries of the recently defunded Inclusive Family Strengthening project, formerly managed by the Sisters of Mercy with support from Catholic Relief Services. (Derrick Silimina)

Inclusive Family Strengthening project, now defunded, bolstered women in Zambia

"We recorded over 200 success stories," says Mercy Sr. Ruth Kuyumba, former coordinator of the project, which "also promoted fathers' participation in parenting and ensured every child has a home to grow up in."

By
Musical notes (Unsplash/tengyart)
Columns

Benedictine monasteries take me on a deep dive into the Psalms

One marvelous aspect of visiting Benedictine monasteries is seeing how each crafts its own unique version of the Liturgy of the Hours. An added adventure for Sr. Julie Ferraro has been helping update those books.

ByJulie A. Ferraro
Psychologist Crystal Taylor-Dietz leads the workshop "Candidate Assessment Through the Lens of Inculturality" at St. Mary's University in San Antonio Sept. 6, 2025. (GSR photo/Helga Leija)

Cultural awareness matters in assessing candidates for religious life

GSR Today - A workshop in San Antonio, hosted by the National Religious Vocation Conference, challenged members of religious life on how they assess candidates for their communities.

By

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

When memories disappear, friendships remain

Kenya nuns condemn assault by sister captured on viral video

In this Irish diocese, I see religious life alive and flourishing