Ilan Goldfajn, the president of the Inter-American Development Bank, speaks to the Associated Press during an interview in Rome June 18, 2026. A day later Goldfajn met privately with Pope Leo, asserting the potential of rare earth mining. (AP/Domenico Stinellis)

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

Vatican

The Vatican has long opposed multinational mining corporations, especially in Latin America and in favor of the Indigenous peoples, whose lands and livelihoods are often ravaged by mining projects.

The Latest

Pope Leo, USCCB hope end to Iran war is near after Trump, Iran reach agreement

Kate Scanlon, OSV News

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Yolanda Chávez

Editors' Choice

An internally displaced Somali family prepares breakfast outside their makeshift shelter in Mogadishu May 7, 2026. Experts say nearly 6.5 million people in Somalia are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity and more than 1.8 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition because of recurrent drought, displacement, prolonged instability and insufficient resources. (OSV News/Reuters/Feisal Omar)

In Focus

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

Researchers say climate change is a "threat multiplier" on social inequalities facing vulnerable communities and poor households unable to buy food elsewhere after a bad harvest, losing sources of nutrition and income.

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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
Author, composer and professor Fr. Michael Joncas holding a June 2024 letter from former U.S. president Joe Biden by the bookcase where he framed and displayed the original 1976 score of "On Eagle's Wings," in his apartment in St. Paul, Minnesota, May 2026. (NCR photo/Camillo Barone)

#2
'On Eagle's Wings' turns 50: The journey behind the song that has consoled the world

Michael Joncas wrote "On Eagle's Wings" during a moment of private grief. Five decades later, the hymn has become one of the most recognizable religious songs in the English-speaking world.

ByCamillo Barone
Camille Colonna, archaeologist in charge of operations, wearing a safety helmet, poses in front of Notre Dame Cathedral during excavations in Paris June 1, 2026. (AP/Nicolas Garriga)

#3
Under Notre Dame cathedral, a 'dig of the century' unearths 1,700 years of history

At the cathedral's birth in 1163, the entire square was packed with medieval houses, split by a single street. The archaeological team has reached their cellars — and therefore also the time in history they represent.

ByThomas Adamson, Associated Press

#4
A viral photo of Pope Leo XIV and a Barcelona boy sparked an emotional search for his family

#5
Pope Leo plays tennis religiously as part of Augustinian devotion to sports and spirituality

#6
What we learned about Pope Leo during his Spain trip

Opinion

At a Catholic Freedom 250 rally in Wisconsin, national pride overshadowed repentance

Guest Voices

Renewing America for another 250 years will take a Christian heart, not a Christian nation

Guest Voices
Federal agents stand by a damaged civilian's car hit by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis Jan.12, 2026. (OSV News/Reuters/Tim Evans)

Podcast: 'Even when it's hopeless, we can continue on,' says Mel Duncan of Nonviolent Peaceforce

Guest Voices

 On this week's episode of "The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast," John Dear speaks with Mel Duncan, a leader in developing the practice of unarmed civilian protection. 

Pope Leo reveals his political theology in Spain

Guest Voices

Your letters: Pride Month, LGBTQ inclusion and a Jesuit art show

Letters to the Editor
Groups of tourists walk around the Basilica of the Holy Family, known in Spanish as Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona, Spain, June 30, 2025. (OSV News/Reuters/Albert Gea)

How pope's visit to Sagrada Família resonates in the wake of 'Magnifica Humanitas'

Guest Voices

Visiting Sagrada Familia provides Leo with the perfect opportunity to expand on his first major teaching document. In fact, the basilica is a physical demonstration of Leo's essential message," Vanessa R. Corcoran writes. 

Vatican

Ilan Goldfajn, the president of the Inter-American Development Bank, speaks to the Associated Press during an interview in Rome June 18, 2026. A day later Goldfajn met privately with Pope Leo, asserting the potential of rare earth mining. (AP/Domenico Stinellis)

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

The Vatican has long opposed multinational mining corporations, especially in Latin America and in favor of the Indigenous peoples, whose lands and livelihoods are often ravaged by mining projects.

Pope Leo XIV incenses the relics of St. Augustine as he visits the San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro Basilica in Pavia, northern Italy, June 20, 2026. (AP/Luca Bruno)
Vatican News

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

The pontiff's day trip marked the midway point of his summer 2026 grand tour of Italy. 

ByNicole Winfield, Brian Hendrie, Associated Press
Pope Leo XIV greets people gathered for the “Building Networks with the World of Culture, Art, Economy and Sport” meeting at the Movistar Arena in Madrid June 7, 2026. (CNS/Lola Gomez)
Vatican News

Spain showed a Leo more at ease with papal office

Whether due to settling into a papacy after some 13 months, or a missionary pope on familiar turf outside of Rome, Pope Leo appeared more at ease during his trip to Spain than at any other point in his pontificate.

ByJustin McLellan
Pope Leo XIV greets Peruvian President José María Balcázar June 18, 2026, at the Vatican. (OSV News/Vatican Media/Simone Risoluti)

Pope Leo XIV meets Peru's president, discusses possible November visit

Pope Leo XIV met with Peruvian President José María Balcázar at the Vatican June 18 for a nearly two-hour discussion, after which the president revealed details of a possible papal trip to Peru in November.

ByCourtney Mares, OSV News

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

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

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

Pope Leo XIV approves new statutes for child protection commission

EarthBeat

Ilan Goldfajn, the president of the Inter-American Development Bank, speaks to the Associated Press during an interview in Rome June 18, 2026. A day later Goldfajn met privately with Pope Leo, asserting the potential of rare earth mining. (AP/Domenico Stinellis)

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

The Vatican has long opposed multinational mining corporations, especially in Latin America and in favor of the Indigenous peoples, whose lands and livelihoods are often ravaged by mining projects.

An internally displaced Somali family prepares breakfast outside their makeshift shelter in Mogadishu May 7, 2026. Experts say nearly 6.5 million people in Somalia are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity and more than 1.8 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition because of recurrent drought, displacement, prolonged instability and insufficient resources. (OSV News/Reuters/Feisal Omar)

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

Researchers say climate change is a "threat multiplier" on social inequalities facing vulnerable communities and poor households unable to buy food elsewhere after a bad harvest, losing sources of nutrition and income.

ByBrian Roewe
Demonstrators protest outside the Argentine National Congress building in Buenos Aires as lawmakers debate the Javier Milei government's proposal to reform Argentina's glacier protection law April 8, 2026. (AP/Rodrigo Abd)

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

A reform to Argentina's 2010 glacier protection law has been met with popular opposition, with opponents arguing that the changes loosen government oversight of mining and oil projects, and put water sources at risk.

ByEduardo Campos Lima
Mary Magdalene Vu Thi Tue (center, in denim jacket) sells fish to customers in Quang Tri, Vietnam, on April 22, 2026. At left is the fishing boat her family recently repaired after years of abandonment following the Formosa disaster. (Reporter in Vietnam)

Vietnamese sisters help survivors of Formosa environmental disaster rebuild lives

Ten years after the environmental disaster that devastated Vietnam's central coast and affected thousands of fishing families, women religious focus on livelihoods, accompaniment and long-term healing.

ByReporter in Vietnam

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Nuns in Cuba struggle to sustain ministries as fuel shortages deepen humanitarian crisis

Pope's AI encyclical lends church support to calls to slow rapid expansion of data centers

New arrests made in murder of Catholic activist in Honduras

Culture

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."

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
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
Created by animator Vivienne Medrano, Amazon Prime's "Hazbin Hotel" follows the gay daughter of Lucifer as she sets out to save the denizens of hell. (Prime Video)

'Hazbin Hotel,' the best Catholic show on TV, is queer as hell

Amazon Prime's animated series asks perhaps the most challenging question of the Christian faith: Do we really believe in the possibility of redemption for everyone?

ByJim McDermott

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

This Pride Month, the Sacred Heart of Jesus bleeds for the queer

Why soccer fandom in Latin America feels sacred

PBS documentary centers undocumented women and probes meaning of sanctuary

Child Rights Watch Club members and community participants join a campaign march Oct. 29, 2025, in Grafton Community, Freetown, Sierra Leone, to raise awareness on teenage pregnancy, early marriage, gender-based violence and drug abuse. (Courtesy of Misean Cara Ireland/NLW Germany)
Columns

Children are learning to protect their rights and each other in Sierra Leone

In 2012, Sierra Leone was slowly emerging from conflict, but for children, the war never truly ended. A program of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary works to restore dignity and hope for kids.

As Venezuela remains divided, nuns urge dialogue, justice for national healing

Catholic sisters in Venezuela propose concrete solutions — listening, mediation, and networking — as the foundation for national reconciliation.

By
Rochester Franciscan Sr. Phyllis Sellner, of Palm Desert, California, hands goody bags to men at the Cobina Posada del Migrante shelter where sisters and their friends celebrated Father’s Day June 6, 2026, in Mexicali, Mexico. (GSR photo/Rhina Guidos)

Nuns take Father's Day to the border, visiting dads separated from their children

"If they didn't have this event to go to, they would have nothing," St. Joseph of Carondelet Sr. Suzanne Jabro said of fathers in Mexicali separated from their children.

ByRhina Guidos
Physical therapy student Major Kelley, left, and physical therapy instructor Michelle Keller assist Stepping Stone resident Marlin Chase. (Courtesy of Sr. Idelle Badt)

Benedictine sisters' respite center helps heal people who are homeless

Sr. Idelle Badt noticed that when people who are homeless are discharged from hospitals, "they're going to end up right back in the hospital or sicker than they were because they're still too ill to recover on the street."

ByJennifer Szweda Jordan

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Technology and social media companies must keep children safe

Q&A with Bangladeshi Sr. Shuly Rozario on missionary life in Brazil

Monday Starter: President of US nuns to throw first pitch for Brewers