Mural of pope francis on building
Vatican News

Pope Francis faces new phase of papacy

Vatican

The pontiff's Jesuit roots are sure to guide his priorities in shaping the global church. 

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Focus

Pope Francis and his cousin Carla Rabezzana sit down for lunch in her home in Portacomaro, near Asti, Nov. 19, 2022. The pope traveled to the northern Italian town to help celebrate Rabezzana's 90th birthday, to visit other relatives and to celebrate Mass the next day in the Asti cathedral. (CNS/Vatican Media)

In Focus

We call him Pope Francis, but she calls him 'cousin Giorgio'

While the pope's health struggles have left Carla Rabezzana uneasy, the lack of direct contact has also heightened her anxiety for her beloved cousin, who can "cheer you up with just a few words."

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U.S. President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort is seen in Palm Beach, Fla., Feb. 8, 2021. (CNS/Reuters/Marco Bello)
NCR Voices

#1
Catholics for Catholics host schismatic gala at Mar-a-Lago

These alt-right folks may shout "Viva Christo Rey!" but they act like they have found their king and Mar-a-Lago is his kingdom. That is the problem, points out NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

ByMichael Sean Winters
Red lighted exit sign (Unsplash/Wes Branch)

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Pew study shows people not sticking with faith they were raised in

New research shows a worldwide trend of people either leaving the religion they were raised in or completely dropping religion, with Christianity taking a particularly big hit.

ByAllison Prang

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Crowds flock to newest Catholic saint in Assisi — a millennial teen whose ordinariness is the draw

Some clutched rosaries, others took selfies or touched the protective glass in front of the seemingly sleeping young man, who died of leukemia at 15 in 2006 and is generating a devotion that astonishes even Assisi's bishop.

ByGiovanna Dell'orto, Associated Press

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A weak Pope Francis is wielding power and rewriting narrative of how popes exercise authority

#5
As Trump silences Voice of America, an archbishop raises his voice and leads

#6
Editorial: Trump leads a deliberate and dangerous assault on the free press

Opinion

Pope Francis' plans to reform the church are alive and well

Guest Voices

America the secular? What a changing religious landscape means for US politics

Guest Voices
Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's choice for director of the Office of Management and Budget, appears before the Senate Budget Committee during a hearing examining his nomination, on Capitol Hill in Washington Jan. 22, 2025. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

Trump official's stingy worldview fits American Calvinist ethics without obligations

NCR Voices

Complex cultural shifts led to a more secular U.S. But Calvinism's acute irony is that once the essence of faith was worn down, the habits of faith lingered and Calvinism became reduced to hyperindividualistic ethics.

Sketching lessons in love from Catholic Relief Services

A one-size-fits-all Mass doesn't serve Black Catholics

Guest Voices

As we weep for Palestine and Israel, we must look to limit vengeance

Guest Voices

The war between Israel and Hamas is so devastating for both Palestinians and Israelis that the only human response is tears. But as Pope Paul VI said, "If you want peace, work for justice." Without justice for Palestinians and security for Israel, there will be no peace.

Vatican

Mural of pope francis on building
Vatican News

Pope Francis faces new phase of papacy

The pontiff's Jesuit roots are sure to guide his priorities in shaping the global church. 

Vatican News

Pope clears way for 3 new saints, including first woman from Venezuela

Pope Francis has cleared the way for the canonizations of three blesseds: an Armenian Catholic archbishop martyred during the Armenian genocide, a lay catechist from Papua New Guinea killed during World War II and a Venezuelan religious sister who dedicated her life to education and the poor.

ByJustin McLellan, Catholic News Service
Francis, the comic strip: After a stressful few weeks, the Francis cartoonist is taking some time off to visit Ireland. The cartoon will resume after April 9.
Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip: Cartoonist goes to Ireland

Francis, the comic strip: After a stressful few weeks, the Francis cartoonist is taking some time off to visit Ireland. The cartoon will resume after April 9.

ByPat Marrin
3 men at microphone
Vatican News

From John Paul II to Francis, Vatican treats papal health news with care

Journalists and Vatican officials who have covered multiple pontificates describe the challenges, secrecy and unprecedented moments that have shaped modern papal media relations.

ByCamillo Barone

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

Pope Francis' voice slowly recovering as Vatican convalescence continues

Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip: When the pope gets sick

Vatican News

Pope knew he 'might not make it,' physician says

Pope Francis prays for victims of deadly wildfires in South Korea

Pope Francis offered prayers and expressed deep concern over the deadly wildfires in South Korea, which have claimed at least 28 lives and caused widespread damage. The fire continues to spread uncontrollably across several regions.

Politics

A Jesuit priest prefers prison over a fine to draw attention to climate change

A Jesuit priest says he prefers going to prison than paying a 500-euro ($541) fine for participating in a climate activists' street blockade in the southern German city of Nuremberg.

ByKirsten Grieshaber , Associated Press
Residents look out at the Madeira River, a tributary of the Amazon River amid a drought in Humaita, Amazonas state, Brazil, Sept. 7, 2024. "Fraternity and Integral Ecology" is the theme of this year's Fraternity Campaign, a Lenten effort by the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil to collect funds for its social works and raise awareness of a pressing issue. (AP photo/Edmar Barros, File)
Faith

Lenten campaign calls for ecological conversion in Brazil

While Brazil's bishops work to spread the message of ecological conversion, traditionalist Catholic groups have called for a boycott of their campaign, saying the bishops want to "substitute the spirit of Lent" with a focus on integral ecology.

ByEduardo Campos Lima
Viewpoints

NCR recipes for Lent: Kale with cannellini beans

NCR copy chief Teresa Malcolm shares a favorite meatless meal she said works as a main or side dish. 

ByTeresa Malcolm

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Viewpoints

The challenge of stuff: How 'spring cleaning' here creates environmental harm there

Viewpoints

What St. Francis and Brother Wolf teach us about cooperating with creation

Justice

SEC clears investor nuns to file Indigenous rights resolution against Citigroup

Culture

courtyard of house
Book Reviews

'Not Heaven but Paradise' offers Catholic take on our geopolitical era

Michael Mewshaw's new novel, set in an artists' residency in Granada, is a comic take-down of American policy and its role in Europe's refugee crisis. 

People view artwork on walls.

In NYC, an artist collective brings together spiritual creatives

Mass for Artists began in August 2020. Since then, over a dozen have been celebrated in various churches across New York City, occurring two to four times a year. A multidisciplinary exhibit typically follows the liturgy. 

ByKevin Christopher Robles
"Snow White," Disney's new live-action remake of the 1937 animated classic, is less concerned with the titular character’s marital prospects than it is with painting a vision of abundance. (Disney)

'Snow White' paints a vision of abundance over scarcity

Disney's new live-action remake of the 1937 animated classic is less concerned with the titular character's marital prospects than it is with painting a vision of abundance.

ByEric Clayton
Marquette University basketball chaplain John Laurance cuts the net in Madison Square Garden after the Golden Eagles men’s basketball team won the Big East Tournament in 2023. (Courtesy of Marquette Athletics)

2 Catholic basketball chaplains reflect on their role in March Madness

The chaplains for Marquette and St. John's were seated courtside when the men's NCAA Tournament got underway last week. For the players, basketball is about winning. But the chaplains are there when things don't turn out as hoped.

ByRandy Maniloff

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

This spring, ask questions about exclusion and solidarity in youth sports

Book Reviews

How do you know when you are 'Reading Culture Through Catholic Eyes'?

Flannery O'Connor's 100th birthday parties celebrate author's quirks, talents — and love of birds

Pope Francis waves to a crowd of well-wishers at Rome's Gemelli hospital before returning to the Vatican March 23, 2025, after 38 days of treatment at the hospital. (CNS/Pablo Esparza)
Columns

The power that manifests itself in weakness

It is impossible to plan for illness or prepare for suffering. But what seems like the end becomes a beginning for many — a new outlook on life, relationships and the meaning of everyday things.

Rescuers work at the site of a damaged building in Mandalay, Myanmar, March 30, in the aftermath of a strong earthquake that struck two days earlier. People in Myanmar are in desperate need of humanitarian supplies and medical support as the death toll from the devastating earthquake that rocked central Myanmar continues to rise. (OSV News/Reuters)

Indian church expresses sorrow, support for earthquake-hit Myanmar and Thailand

Women religious leaders and Catholic bishops in India have expressed solidarity with the people of earthquake-hit Myanmar and Thailand.

ByThomas Scaria
Sr. Pepa Torres, a member of the Apostolic Sisters of the Heart of Jesus, walks around the Lavapiés neighborhood of Madrid. "This neighborhood is a world where many different worlds fit," Pepa said. (Luis Donaldo González)

Q&A with Sr. Pepa Torres, serving in Lavapiés barrio, Madrid's migrant heart

"I truly believe in the power of community initiatives to drive social change," says Sr. María Torres Pérez, or Pepa Torres as people know her. "We have to raise our voices and gritar to denounce injustices."

ByLuis Donaldo González
Benedictine Sr. Mary Elizabeth Schweiger holds a petition against mining in El Salvador March 24 signed by women religious at Mount St. Scholastica monastery in Atchison, Kansas. The Benedictines joined the Sisters of Charity in nearby Leavenworth as well as other Catholics from Kansas showing solidarity with the Catholic Church in El Salvador fighting a new law that allows metal mining. (GSR photo/Rhina Guidos)

Kansas Catholics, sisters join anti-mining fight in El Salvador

"It's to show solidarity that we're very much their partners. We just feel like they've gone through so much," said Benedictine Sr. Mary Elizabeth Schweiger. 

ByRhina Guidos

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Empty nets: We need a new spirituality of failure

Nigerian sisters help young women overcome homelessness in the heart of Lagos

What Catholic sisters wish they had learned sooner

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