A man holds a U.S. flag as he attends a pro-immigrant march and rally following a Spanish-language Mass at St. John the Evangelist Church in Riverhead, N.Y., June 22, 2025, the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. St. John's parish social ministry organized the event, which drew about 300 participants. (OSV News/Gregory A. Shemitz)

As Trump blasts Leo, Catholic leaders call to new vision of faith in the public square

News

Pope Leo XIV does not want church leaders and Catholics to be partisans; rather, he is inviting Catholics to apply teachings about peace and human dignity in novel and meaningful ways.

The Latest

Trump attacks Pope Leo for preaching peace

Thomas Reese, Religion News Service

New Chaldean patriarch elected for Iraq amid pope's calls he 'should be' a 'father in faith'

Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News

US bishops express 'grave concern' over ICE treatment of pregnant women

Gina Christian, OSV News

Editors' Choice

A Catholic worshipper kneels before a crucifix on Easter April 5, 2026, outside the Cathedral of St. Anne in Yagoua, Cameroon. (OSV News/Reuters/Desire Danga)

In Focus

Among Pope Leo's Africa destinations are targets of USAID cuts

Of the four nations Pope Leo XIV will visit during his trip to Africa, Cameroon and Angola have been particularly impacted by the cuts to USAID operations which began at the start of President Trump's second term.

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Most Read Stories

Detail of an icon of St. Augustine at Christ the King Cathedral in Superior Wis. (OSV News/The Crosiers/Gene Plaisted)

#1
St. Augustine is key to the difference between Pete Hegseth and Pope Leo

In the Christian tradition, the violent language found in the imprecatory psalms can never be separated from Jesus' command to love one's enemies. Scripture can never, as Peter Hegseth does, be marshaled to sanctify hatred.

ByKaren E. Park
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House April 6 in Washington, as President Donald Trump looks on. (RNS/AP/Alex Brandon)

#2
Pentagon-Vatican meeting latest flash point in Trump's clash with religious leaders

The increase in faith-fueled militaristic rhetoric is pitting the president against a growing list of faith leaders, ranging from local clergy to the pope.

ByJack Jenkins, Religion News Service
President Trump speaks to reporters April 12.

#3
Trump attacks Pope Leo in incendiary social media post

President Donald J. Trump published a lengthy attack on Pope Leo XIV on Sunday night, calling the first U.S.-born pope "terrible on Foreign Policy," among other accusations.

ByMichael J. O'Loughlin, Brian Fraga

#4
Pope Leo is not traveling to bring hope to Africa, but to find hope

#5
Three cardinals stand with Pope Leo XIV in unprecedented interview

#6
Finding God in the Big Apple: Catholic missionaries reach out to young adults

Opinion

In reversal of nation's anti-Catholic past, Pope Leo defends US ideals against Trump

Guest Voices

US bishops can't be judged by political timing

Guest Voices
illustration of man's face

Amid alienation and looksmaxxing, Vatican document offers young men purpose

NCR Voices

"A generation of young men who struggle to emulate aspirational standards of appearance are in dire need of the church's affirmation that they are just fine the way they are," writes Jeromiah Taylor. 

Podcast: 'We were put on this planet to serve God,' says David Cortright

Guest Voices

Editorial: Trump's threats force Catholics to decide if they will be complicit

Editorial
A file photo shows a catechumen being baptized during the Easter Vigil. (OSV News/Texas Catholic Herald/James Ramos)

Why we are not in a Catholic revival, despite increase in adult baptisms

Guest Voices

Young people today say they are interested in spirituality and long for community. The Catholic Church has a rich tradition of spirituality, but it needs to do more than repackage old products, says Fr. Tom Reese.

Vatican

Pope Leo XIV prays during a visit to the archaeological site of Hippo in Annaba, Algeria, April 14, 2026. The site represents the ancient city where St. Augustine, the founder of the pope's religious order, served as bishop in the 4th century. (CNS/Lola Gomez)
Vatican News

In ancient Hippo, Pope Leo launches a vision for the church rooted in St. Augustine

In his homily in Annaba, Algeria, Leo held out the saint as a model for renewal in the church and the world and said the doctor of the church is revered "for his conversion even more than for his wisdom."

The Leo Chronicles: Gabby helps Pope Leo prepare for his trip to Africa.
The Leo Chronicles

The Leo Chronicles: Watch out for snakes

The Leo Chronicles: Gabby helps Pope Leo prepare for his trip to Africa. 

ByPat Marrin
Pope Leo XIV and Rector of the Great Mosque of Algiers Mohamed Mamoun Al Qasimi during a visit to the Great Mosque of Algiers (Djamaa El Djazair), in Mohamadia, Algiers, Algeria, April 13, 2026. (OSV News/Reuters/Guglielmo Mangiapane)
Vatican News

Pope Leo arrives in Algeria preaching harmony, visits mosque

Arriving in Algeria, Pope Leo XIV stepped into uncharted territory for a pope, becoming the first leader of the Catholic Church to visit Algeria and bringing with him a message of reconciliation, justice and unity.

ByJustin McLellan
Pope Leo XIV addresses journalists during the flight heading to Algiers on April 13, 2026. Pope Leo XIV embarks on April 13 on an 11-day visit to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea for his first major international trip since becoming pontiff in May 2025. (OSV News/Alberto Pizzoli, Reuters)
Vatican News

Pope Leo says he has 'no fear' of Trump administration after attack from president

Pope Leo XIV told reporters en route to Algeria that he has "no fear of the Trump administration," hours after President Donald Trump lodged a vicious attack on the pontiff via social media.

ByJustin McLellan

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

'Cease fire,' Pope Leo asks world leaders as he expresses closeness to Lebanon, Sudan and Ukraine

Pope Leo issues fiery plea for peace at prayer vigil: 'Enough of war!'

Vatican News

A country-by-country glance at Pope Leo's trip to Africa

EarthBeat

Indiana bishops put Eucharist at center of call to 'integral ecology' in new pastoral

The letter was commended by Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, who extended Pope Leo XIV's blessing to the bishops.

Sr. Rose Nyondo, the program director for the Community Transformation Programme, and project coordinator Sr. Matilda Mubanga. The program, run by the Daughters of the Redeemer, promotes agricultural productivity in Chibombo and other areas in Zambia. (Derrick Silimina)

Daughters of the Redeemer pilot 'climate-smart' agricultural program in Zambia

In 2022, the Daughters of the Redeemer launched the Community Transformation Programme, which supports five Zambian villages with agricultural mentorship, nutrition programs, and water, sanitation and hygiene activities.

By
Desiderio Vasquez, a local farmer, shows off a colorful cornucopia of the bounty cultivated and grown partly through a series of irrigation systems the community of Los Hornos, Honduras, built with the help of Catholic Relief Services and local partners. (NCR photo/Brian Roewe)

Green Climate Fund partnership opens access to millions for Catholic Relief Services

CRS announced its accreditation to the Green Climate Fund, which provides developing countries financing for projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to the impacts of a heating world.

ByBrian Roewe
When improving access to water, local leadership is essential. Communities in Walungu Territory in South Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo, form water committees to manage and maintain sources. Women play central roles — because they understand water needs best. (Courtesy of Namulisa Balaluka Rose)
Columns

When water is far away, hope must walk with it

The day we inaugurated a protected water source in a village in Congo, women sang. Children danced. One elder said, "Today, our daughters get their future back." Moments like this remind me why this work is sacred.

By

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican, Notre Dame launch academic alliance to find solutions to ecological crises

St. Francis Institute for Animals sets out to limit suffering for all God's creatures

Trump should have listened to the pope about clean energy. The Iran war shows why.

Culture

Natacha Karam and Minnie Driver as Hagar and Sarah in "The Faithful: Women of the Bible" (Fox)

Just how faithful is Fox's 'The Faithful: Women of the Bible'?

"The Faithful: Women of the Bible," a multi-episode biblical drama from Fox, spends a good deal of its run time on Sarah and Hagar. But important details stray from Scripture — and it matters.

Right: Private First Class Sarah Keys in uniform in the 1950s (Wikimedia Commons/U.S. Army). Left: A postcard of the bus terminal in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., where Keys refused to give up her seat to a white Marine on an interstate bus. (Wikimedia Commons/State Archives of North Carolina).

The Black Catholic woman whose defiance on a bus predated Rosa Parks' action

NCR Book Club: Riding Into History details Sarah Keys Evans' fateful bus ride from New Jersey to North Carolina in 1952 that led to the Interstate Commerce Commission's rejection of segregation on interstate bus travel.

ByAlessandra Harris
Rob Gardner conducts a past performance of "Lamb of God," his concert work about Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. (Courtesy of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

In New York City, the Passion comes to the Metropolitan Opera

The Passion has inspired endless adaptations, from symphonies to motion pictures to musicals. This Holy Week, New York's Met Opera hosted a Passion oratorio by composer Rob Gardner, with famed Broadway performers.

ByJim McDermott
Recent social media posts by Clavicular. (RNS screen grab)

Looksmaxxing, Catholicism and the new discipline of the body

In the looksmaxxing community, physical transformation is treated as a moral imperative, one obtainable by persistent self-denial and the pursuit of an ideal form. To some, the ethos resembles a kind of inverted asceticism: a life structured around sacrifice and perfection, not to a higher power, but to the self.

ByFiona Murphy, Religion News Service

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Are you there God? It's Judy Blume

Book Reviews

New book 'Jesus and Justice' urges believers to join the divine project of human liberation

Why Michelangelo's 'Last Judgment' endures

Passengers stranded by the closure of Dubai International Airport await assistance in the airport parking lot in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, March 1, 2026. (AP/Altaf Qadri)

Q&A with Sr. Edith Olaguer on living through six days of war in Dubai

Her flight disrupted by Iran's bombing of Dubai, Sr. Edith Olaguer spent six days not knowing if she might be killed from the missiles that kept falling throughout the city or get home safely.

Chapel exterior, St. Mary's Abbey in Glencairn, County Waterford, Ireland (Julie A. Ferraro)
Columns

Diverse practices flourish in English-speaking church

For a child of the '70s, praying in Latin in some Irish communities caused culture shock.

ByJulie A. Ferraro
Sr. Rose Nyondo, the program director for the Community Transformation Programme, and project coordinator Sr. Matilda Mubanga. The program, run by the Daughters of the Redeemer, promotes agricultural productivity in Chibombo and other areas in Zambia. (Derrick Silimina)

Daughters of the Redeemer pilot 'climate-smart' agricultural program in Zambia

In 2022, the Daughters of the Redeemer launched the Community Transformation Programme, which supports five Zambian villages with agricultural mentorship, nutrition programs, and water, sanitation and hygiene activities.

By
Columns

Second Sunday of Easter: From doubt to faith

Theologians' Corner - Believing is not naively accepting a doctrine, but opening ourselves to the radical change that the presence of Jesus brings about in those who believe.

By

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

From Ukraine to New York, a Catholic nun carries war into moments of peace

As Congo conflict reshapes daily life, Catholic nuns remain with the displaced

When water is far away, hope must walk with it