Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer from the window of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican, March 1, 2026. (OSV News/Guglielmo Mangiapane, Reuters)
Vatican News

Pope warns of 'tragedy of enormous proportions' after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran

Vatican

Pope Leo XIV issued a "forceful appeal" to end increasing violence in the Middle East as the United States, Israel and Iran continue to exchange missile strikes and threats of escalations, warning of the risk of a "tragedy of enormous proportions."

The Latest

Bishops, Christian leaders call for peace, urge diplomacy as Middle East conflict escalates

Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News

Bangladeshi consecrated virgin Dora D'Rozario receives papal award

Stephan Uttom Rozario

Vietnamese sisters grow organic mushrooms to serve community and fund scholarships

Joachim Pham

Editors' Choice

At left, White House border czar Tom Homan walks to do a television interview at the White House April 28, 2025, in Washington. At right, Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, offers a reflection on nuclear disarmament during a prayer service for U.N. diplomats at the Church of the Holy Family in New York City Sept. 12, 2022. (AP/Alex Brandon; OSV News/Gregory A. Shemitz)

In Focus

As 'border czar' challenges Pope Leo, Archbishop Wester warns of 'Bonhoeffer moment'

Two U.S. Catholics, 'border czar' Tom Homan and Archbishop John Wester, agree that immigration remains a challenge — but each has starkly different viewpoints about what their faith demands of them during this moment.

Support journalism that matters. 

Your donation to NCR keeps independent Vatican news accessible to all. 

Donate Now

Most Read Stories

The gate sign at the west end of the St. John's University campus in Queens, New York (Wikimedia Commons/Tdorante10)

#1
St. John's University says it no longer recognizes faculty unions after 56 years

St. John's University in Queens, New York, notified employees on Feb. 19 that it will no longer recognize the two unions that have represented faculty members at the Catholic university since 1970.

ByBrian Fraga
Steam comes from a coal-fired power station in Emalahleni, South Africa, Oct. 11, 2021. (AP/Themba Hadebe, file)

#2
In South Africa's coal belt, girls disappear — and Catholic sisters quietly pull them back

As illegal mining spreads through abandoned shafts in South Africa, Catholic religious women risk their lives to rescue girls coerced into sex and early marriages in communities the state struggles to protect.

ByDoreen Ajiambo
Pope Leo XIV waves to the crowd before leading his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Feb. 18, 2026. (CNS/Vatican Media)
NCR Voices

#3
Pope Leo speaks about Vatican II teachings, and all Catholics should listen

Michael Sean Winters hopes that all Catholics will take a moment and hear what Pope Leo is highlighting for us. These short catechetical reflections invite us to become a part of the renewal to which Vatican II pointed.

ByMichael Sean Winters

#4
Pope warns of 'tragedy of enormous proportions' after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran

#5
Palm Beach's new shepherd ordained, installed during emotional, spiritual, joyous Mass

#6
Pope Leo tells priests not to use AI to write homilies or seek likes on TikTok

Opinion

What led St. Pope John XXIII to call Vatican II?

NCR Voices

Editorial: At unique political moment, Catholic tradition provides prophetic way forward

Editorial
The sun sets over the main building and Basilica of the Sacred Heart steeple on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., Nov. 23, 2025. (OSV News/University of Notre Dame/Matt Cashore)

Catholic outrage at Ostermann Notre Dame appointment an intellectual and pastoral failure

Guest Voices

"If papal teaching is invoked to defend the sanctity of life, it should also be invoked to model the intellectual seriousness Catholic moral reasoning demands," writes Karen E. Park.

US Catholic newspapers began as immigrant outreach, and NCR continues that work

NCR Voices

Mocking Trump is easy, but it isn't a political strategy

NCR Voices
A person walks a labyrinth created by rocks near water's edge.

Podcast: The secret to a life of peace, according to John Dear

Guest Voices

On this week's episode of "The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast," John Dear reflects on the importance of daily meditation, letting go of control and living in intimate, trusting relationship with God.

Vatican

Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer from the window of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican, March 1, 2026. (OSV News/Guglielmo Mangiapane, Reuters)
Vatican News

Pope warns of 'tragedy of enormous proportions' after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran

Pope Leo XIV issued a "forceful appeal" to end increasing violence in the Middle East as the United States, Israel and Iran continue to exchange missile strikes and threats of escalations, warning of the risk of a "tragedy of enormous proportions."

Pope Leo XIV arrives by plane from Rome in Ankara, Turkey, Nov. 27, 2025, at the beginning of his first international papal trip. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Pope charts 2026 travel with sweeping Africa tour, visits to Spain, Monaco

Nearly a year into a pontificate largely anchored in Rome, Pope Leo XIV is preparing to launch a sweeping series of international trips that will carry him across Africa, to Spain and to the tiny principality of Monaco. 

ByJustin McLellan

At Curia retreat, Bishop Varden warns of Gospel's use 'as a weapon in culture wars'

The Lenten season is a reminder that Christians are called to bear witness to Christ through authentic witness, not self-righteous indignation, Norwegian Trappist Bishop Erik Varden told the pope and Vatican officials.

ByJunno Arocho Esteves, OSV News
Cardinal Fabio Baggio of Bassano del Grappa, Italy, the undersecretary of the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, speaks during a prayer vigil at Sacred Heart Church in El Paso March 24, 2025, following a rally and march against mass deportations by the U.S. government. (OSV News/Bob Roller)
Vatican News

Vatican migration chief: Expand legal pathways to combat illegal immigration

NCR Vatican correspondent Justin McLellan sat down with Cardinal Fabio Baggio to discuss global migration trends and the continuity between Pope Leo XIV and Pope Francis on their advocacy for migrants.

ByJustin McLellan

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Pope renews 'heartfelt appeal' for 'immediate ceasefire' in Russia-Ukraine war

Pope Leo tells priests not to use AI to write homilies or seek likes on TikTok

Vatican expands visitor experience at St. Peter's Basilica to mark 400th anniversary

EarthBeat

Sr. Marie Nguyen Thi Minh Hoa checks the reishi mushrooms in the growing house she and Sr. Agathe Tran Thi Mong Huyen operate at their St. Paul de Chartres convent in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This mushroom variety needs six months to grow before harvest. (Courtesy of Marie Nguyen Thi Minh Hoa)

Vietnamese sisters grow organic mushrooms to serve community and fund scholarships

They use no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Waste is reused. Damaged mushrooms are dried and ground into seasoning powder.

A community activist holds a sign referencing Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si' during a rally Oct. 4, 2017 outside the chancery of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Residents and allies of the University Park neighborhood were urging the archdiocese to end its lease with AllenCo Energy at the oil drilling site linked to health issues in their community. (Courtesy of STAND-LA)

Oil wells on LA Archdiocese land permanently sealed after years of community pressure

After more than a decade of community activism, a notorious oil drilling facility operating on land leased from the Los Angeles Archdiocese has been shuttered for good.

ByBrian Roewe

Caring for creation this Lent

"Like the popes and bishops speaking up to protect God's creation, our Catholic faith calls all of us to bring our values to public life, too," Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski of St. Louis writes.

ByMitchell T. Rozanski, OSV News
A red salmonberry on the vine on Baranof Island near Sitka, Alaska (Wikimedia Commons/Arthur T. LaBar)

Delight in the simple, abundant gifts all around you

Could it be that this was what God was asking of me: to take stock in the simple, abundant gifts all around me, delight in them like a child and find myself delighting in the Holy One right in front of me?

ByPauline Hovey

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

In Lenten reflection, US bishops call Catholics to ecological conversion and action

Guest Voices

As Abrahamic faiths fast, let us consider food ethics

In South Africa's coal belt, girls disappear — and Catholic sisters quietly pull them back

Culture

In her new Netflix special "Prodigal Daughter," Taylor Tomlinson's explores the comedian's religious anxieties, queerness and roots in church comedy. (NCR screen grab/Netflix/YouTube)

Comedian channels Mary: 'What if it's breech? What if it's sick? What if it's God?'

In new Netflix special "Prodigal Daughter," Taylor Tomlinson tackles the lack of agency many Christian girls and women experience.

AB Hernandez, a transgender student at Jurupa Valley High School, competes in the high jump at the California high school track-and-field championships in Clovis, Calif., May 31, 2025. (AP/Jae C. Hong, file)
Book Reviews

New book on trans athletes emphasizes human dignity

Fair Game offers a striking account of the hostile political climate fueled by scapegoating and misinformation, and counters it with the substantial body of evidence showing that transgender inclusion strengthens athletic communities for everyone who participates. 

ByMaxwell Kuzma
In a scene from the movie "Midwinter Break," Stella (Lesley Manville) and Gerry (Ciarán Hinds) survey "The Jewish Bride," a Rembrandt painting of Isaac and Rebecca that hangs in the Rijksmuseum, and see two separate but equally plausible meanings based on the circumstances of their own lives. (Focus Features/Mark de Blok)

'Midwinter Break' portrays the complicated beauty in the sacrament of marriage

"Midwinter Break," based on the novel of the same title, is a quiet film about a long marriage between a Catholic woman and secular man, where love and tension both dwell.

ByElizabeth Hamilton
Several people sit on a couch with a Black little girl. A woman stands, holding a baby.

The enduring beauty and message of 'Champagne,' a short film that challenges the heart

Simoa Barros writes on a lesser-known animated flick from the late Michael Sporn that tells of a young Black girl who navigates her world in living color.

BySimoa Barros, Black Catholic Messenger

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

50 Cent's 'Moses the Black' brings 4th-century saint into mainstream culture

Diane Keaton's search for heaven

Catholic cross like no other is a beacon of unity in Olympic host city Milan

Observers blow their whistles while federal agents conduct immigration enforcement operations on Feb. 5, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP/Ryan Murphy)
Columns

We already have within us the hope that we need: Being a neighbor

We need to believe that together we are creating a collective transforming energy in our world. I find examples of this as people have responded to ICE raids. People have been acting as neighbors to one another.

Sr. Marie Nguyen Thi Minh Hoa checks the reishi mushrooms in the growing house she and Sr. Agathe Tran Thi Mong Huyen operate at their St. Paul de Chartres convent in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This mushroom variety needs six months to grow before harvest. (Courtesy of Marie Nguyen Thi Minh Hoa)

Vietnamese sisters grow organic mushrooms to serve community and fund scholarships

They use no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Waste is reused. Damaged mushrooms are dried and ground into seasoning powder.

ByJoachim Pham
Dora D'Rozario, coordinator of the Order of Consecrated Virgins in Bangladesh, shows her Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Award from Pope Leo XIV in January. (Stephan Uttom Rozario)

Bangladeshi consecrated virgin Dora D'Rozario receives papal award

On Jan. 24, the Catholic Church in Bangladesh celebrated a special Mass for Dora D'Rozario, coordinator of the Order of Consecrated Virgins in Bangladesh, after she received the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Award.

ByStephan Uttom Rozario
Clouds pass over Mount Tabor in the distance in Galilee, Israel. The mount is traditionally known as the site of Jesus' transfiguration. (Wikimedia Commons/Reutmaor)
Columns

Second Sunday of Lent: God's call and the promise of transformation

Theologians' Corner - Today, we are led up the mountain, where God reveals not a demand, but a promise that transformation is possible when we trust and listen.

By

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Catholics in Bangladesh urge new government to ensure women's safety, religious freedom

Chicago to replace Columbus statue with Mother Cabrini, patron saint of immigrants

As deportations rise, Catholic sisters shelter asylum-seeking families living in fear