Pope Leo XIV addresses cardinals gathered for the opening working session of his second consistory in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican June 26, 2026. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Pope Leo urges outward-looking church at meeting of world's cardinals

Pope Leo said the cardinals' two days of reflection would revolve around one central question: "How can we help our churches today to proclaim the Gospel with greater faithfulness, freedom and credibility?"

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UK bishops 'distressed' after Northampton prelate charged with rape

Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News

Bishops plan Mass on pilgrimage mountain Trump administration seeks to seize

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Jubilarians are living witnesses of religious life and its Spirit-led changes

Editors' Choice

An engraving titled, "Barbarity committed on a free African, who was found on the ensuing morning, by the side of the road, dead!" published in 1822 (Library of Congress/Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.)

In Focus

Pope Leo has initiated the conversation Black Catholics have been waiting for

Magnifica Humanitas is the most significant map for healing that the papacy has ever placed in the hands of the Black Catholic community, writes Jesuit Fr. Patrick Saint-Jean.

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Most Read Stories

Pope Leo XIV smiles as he greets visitors during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican June 17, 2026. A day earlier, Leo spoke with journalists about the Society of St. Pius X. (CNS/Vatican Media)

#1
Pope says church 'must move forward' if SSPX proceeds with illicit ordinations

Pope Leo XIV said that although he is considering a final appeal to the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, the choice to splinter from the Catholic Church falls on them.

ByJunno Arocho Esteves, OSV News
Close-up of a holy card’s depiction of Mary, the Immaculate Conception, which draws on symbolism from the Book of Revelation. (Courtesy of The Marian Library/University of Dayton)

#2
Why Mary, as the Immaculate Conception, became patron saint of the US in the 1840s

Librarians at the University of Dayton created a digital exhibit with objects pointing to the history of devotion to Mary as the Immaculate Conception in the United States.

ByStephanie Shreffler, Bridget Retzloff, The Conversation

#3
A viral photo of Pope Leo XIV and a Barcelona boy sparked an emotional search for his family

Pope Leo XIV locked eyes with the 7-year-old boy, holding both his hands as the two smiled at one another. Captured by Associated Press chief photographer Emilio Morenatti, the moment resonated first with onlookers and then with many others around the world.

ByEmilio Morenatti, Giovanna Dell'orto, Associated Press

#4
'On Eagle's Wings' turns 50: The journey behind the song that has consoled the world

#5
Pope Leo prays at relics of St. Augustine, then visits Mother Cabrini's birthplace

#6
Sitting by Dorothy Day's grave, her granddaughter reflects on faith, family and war

Opinion

An African theologian considers what Africa can contribute to pope's consistory

Guest Voices

We need to get offline and get in person this summer

Guest Voices
A seagull flies past as Pope Leo XIV recites the Regina Coeli noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican May 10, 2026. (AP/Andrew Medichini)

A deeper look at Pope Leo's encyclical: Catholic social teaching's purpose in AI age

Guest Voices

"Catholic social teaching is not a collection of eternal principles that can be applied in every historical context," writes Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese. "It evolves in dialogue with the times."

Podcast: For Palestinian Zoughbi Zougbhi, hope 'is a form of nonviolent struggle'

Guest Voices

Why we can't toss aside just war theory

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Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. bishops' conference, concelebrates Mass as the bishops consecrate the U.S. to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Orlando, Florida, June 11, 2026, during their spring plenary assembly. (OSV News/Bob Roller)

Dear bishops: Devotion to Sacred Heart requires solidarity with LGBTQ community

Guest Voices

"The Sacred Heart of Jesus is not detached from human suffering, but beats within the living body of Christ," a body made up of the poor, the oppressed and the rejected, writes Maxwell Kuzma.

Vatican

Pope Leo XIV gives a blessing after meeting with writers from around the world at the Capitolare Hall of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican June 24, 2026, to mark the 100th anniversary of the Holy See's publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. (OSV News/Vatican News/Simone Risoluti)

Pope Leo hosts Pulitzer Prize-winning authors at Vatican for discussion on power of written word

Pulitzer Prize winners, a Nobel laureate, celebrated novelists and authors from nearly a dozen countries met at the Vatican for an audience with Pope Leo XIV, who reflected on the importance of books to reveal who we are and "our inner dialogue with God."

Pope Leo XIV greets a child from the popemobile while riding around St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican before his weekly general audience June 24, 2026. (CNS/Vatican Media)

Eucharist transforms believers into Christ's body and counters division, pope says

Participation in the Eucharist transforms believers into the body of Christ and offers a remedy to the divisions affecting families and communities, Pope Leo XIV said.

ByJosephine Peterson, Catholic News Service
Pope Leo XIV talks to journalists as he leaves his residence in Castel Gandolfo, on the outskirts of Rome, to return to the Vatican June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

These traditionalist Catholics are defying Pope Leo XIV, and embracing their outsider status

The Society of St. Pius X, which celebrates the traditional Latin Mass and rejects the modernizing reforms of the Catholic Church, is planning a highly organized, four-day, livestreamed extravaganza for the consecrations at its Swiss seminary.

ByNicole Winfield, Associated Press
Bishops gather at the opening of the spring plenary assembly of the German Bishops' Conference in Würzburg, Germany, Feb. 23, 2026. (OSV News/Courtesy German bishops' conference)
Vatican News

Vatican rejects request for laity, women to preach homily during Mass

The German bishops' conference had requested "in exceptional circumstances, a duly commissioned lay member of the faithful to preach in place of the homily during the celebration of the Eucharist."

ByJustin McLellan

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

'Magnifica Humanitas' discussions prominent in schedule for upcoming consistory

The Leo Chronicles

The Leo Chronicles: Forever friends

Pope Leo XIV warns wars are 'fed' faster than people as aid money dries up

EarthBeat

Mount Cristo Rey protest

Bishops plan Mass on pilgrimage mountain Trump administration seeks to seize

As the Trump administration moves to seize a diocesan pilgrimage site for the border wall, bishops from New Mexico and Texas are calling on the faithful to join them for Mass on the mountain.

A worker carries a solar panel atop the roof of Mother of Good Counsel Catholic Church, in Hazard, Kentucky. The mission parish completed the solar installation in May. (Lexington Diocese/Joshua Van Cleef)

Catholic dioceses race for solar credits ahead of GOP tax law's early phaseout

Dozens of Catholic institutions across the U.S. are sprinting to develop solar projects to the point that they meet federal tax credit requirements before they go away under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

ByBrian Roewe

Archbishop calls for prayer, solidarity after twin earthquakes devastate Venezuela

The archbishop of Caracas called for prayers and solidarity after back-to-back earthquakes struck Venezuela, killing over 150 people and injuring hundreds more.

ByJunno Arocho Esteves
Youths carry freshly caught fish from the sea in Havana, Cuba, Monday, June 1, 2026. (RNS/AP/Ramon Espinosa)

With Cuba in crisis, faith groups work to influence policy, deliver aid

U.S. Republican administrations have long seen faith groups as a cornerstone for humanitarian aid and community trust as they push for regime change in Cuba.

ByAleja Hertzler-McCain, Religion News Service

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

A top banker tried to sway Pope Leo XIV on rare earth mining

Notre Dame study links climate change to stunted child growth in Africa

Argentine Catholics join push to reverse Milei's changes to glacier protection law

Culture

Iran's Alireza Jahanbakhsh (7) participates in a training session ahead of his team's World Cup Group G soccer match against Belgium Tuesday, June 16, 2026, in Tijuana, Mexico. (AP photo/Gregory Bull)

World Cup: Superstars are fun to watch, but underdogs make the sport great

The world's most-watched sporting event is famous for athletes like Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal, but the grit of lesser-known players representing small but scrappy countries is where the real inspiration lies.

From left: Sr. Helen Prejean, Dead Man Walking author; Catherine Anyango Grünewald, illustrator for the new graphic edition; actress Susan Sarandon, who portrayed Prejean in the 1996 film; and Rose Vines, who adapted the text for the graphic novel, pose Nov. 6, 2025, at the book launch in Manhattan. (Fordham University/Leo Sorel)
Book Reviews

Graphic novel of 'Dead Man Walking' retains memoir's moral core

The new graphic novel based on Sr. Helen Prejean's bestselling memoir about ministering on Louisiana's death row will attract new readers and satisfy longtime fans of the original book.

ByChris Herlinger
People at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit hold candles April 16, 2022, during the start of the Easter Vigil with then Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron as presider. (CNS/Detroit Catholic/Rosa Maria Zamarron)

New podcast explores Black Catholic resistance to Detroit's parish closures

In researching and creating "The City and the Cross," writer/narrator Aaron Robertson "was wondering, frankly, why Black Americans would even be Catholic."

ByTom Deignan
Emily Blunt portrays Margaret Fairchild, a TV meteorologist, in Steven Spielberg's science fiction thriller "Disclosure Day." (Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment )

Faith, fear and the wisdom of nuns in Spielberg's 'Disclosure Day'

Steven Spielberg anchors his new sci-fi thriller in a moving portrait of faith.

ByZachary Lee

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At the motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of Peace in Columbus, Ohio, jubilarians renew their vows on June 7, 2026, at a gathering to celebrate their milestone anniversaries of religious life, ranging from 50 to 80 years. (Courtesy of Ana Gonzalez)
Columns

Jubilarians are living witnesses of religious life and its Spirit-led changes

As I looked at the jubilarians, I reflected on their decades of prayer, ministry, service and fidelity lived one day at a time. Each of these women had once said yes to a call whose future she could not fully imagine.

Sr. Mary Brendan Ezigbo works at the Enugu Custodial Center in southeastern Nigeria, where she attends to the spiritual needs of inmates. (Ekpali Saint)

How one Catholic nun is helping Nigerian inmates find faith and a second chance

Daughter of Divine Love Sr. Mary Brendan Ezigbo says catechesis to inmates is "a call I received from God to reach out to these poor souls. ... I am called to work among the least of Jesus' brothers."

ByEkpali Saint
Housemaids prepare food during the 20th anniversary celebration of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul sisters' housemaid training program on May 10, 2026, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. (Joachim Pham)

Vietnamese nuns defend dignity over quick money in housemaid training

The Salesian-run Phuoc Loc Technology College has trained hundreds of disadvantaged women from across Vietnam in cooking, childcare, elder care, communication skills and personal formation.

ByJoachim Pham
Indian police stand outside the premises of the Missionaries of Charity home in Ranchi, where Sr. Concelia Baxla, 62, was arrested July 5, 2018, on suspicion of child trafficking. (CNS/Reuters)

Church leaders welcome acquittal of Indian nun, laywoman in child trafficking case

The Conference of Women Religious of India welcomed the "landmark judgement" which cleared misconceptions spread by "some vested interests" about Christian missionaries' service in India.

ByThomas Scaria

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Sainthood cause advances for Mother Mary Teresa Tallon, foundress of Parish Visitors in NYC