Pedestrians walk past street signage on the first day of early voting in New York, on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP/Heather Khalifa)

In lead-up to midterms, Catholic prayer vigils and novenas spread across US

News

As the November midterm elections approach, Catholics across the United States are preparing to pray and keep vigil, asking for peaceful polling places, honest vote-counting, and protection for voters.

The Latest

Voting is a sacred right and duty, no matter where you live

Thomas Reese, Religion News Service

Amid mixed Pew findings, youngest adults outpace parents' generation in worship attendance

Kathryn Post, Religion News Service

Election cycle will influence when pope heads to US, top Vatican diplomat says

Carol Glatz, OSV News

Editors' Choice

A child weeps as her father is detained by federal immigration officers at U.S. immigration court in the Manhattan borough of New York City July 25, 2025. (OSV News/Reuters/David 'Dee' Delgado)

In Focus

Catholics must remember our immigrant neighbors at the ballot box

"Will our leaders rebuild our credibility as a nation focused on human flourishing, or continue on the path of cruelty for cruelty's sake? It is our decision to make," Jean Welch Hill writes.

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#1
Priest in Ecuador, 53, struck and killed by falling crucifix during Mass

A priest in Ecuador was struck and killed by a falling crucifix while celebrating Mass, a tragedy captured during a livestream of the service on Oct. 17.

ByDavid Agren, OSV News
Marine One, carrying President Donald Trump, lifts off from the South Lawn at the White House Oct. 22, 2026, in Washington. (AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

#2
White House names 12 bishops who prayed with Trump, defends president's record

The White House identified the 12 Catholic bishops who met and prayed with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office less than two weeks before the midterm elections, while defending his record with Catholic Americans.

ByCamillo Barone
Archbishop Jeffrey Grob concelebrates Mass with the presbyterate during his installation as the 12th archbishop of the Milwaukee Archdiocese Jan. 14, 2025. (OSV News/Catholic Herald/Andy Gilicinski)

#3
Milwaukee archbishop who prayed with Trump apologizes, says bishops were 'manipulated'

Milwaukee Archbishop Jeffrey Grob expressed "sincere regret" for participating in what he said was "a political photo opportunity" orchestrated by the White House.

ByJeromiah Taylor

#4
Ahead of elections, White House shares video of Catholic bishops praying over Trump

#5
Editorial: Bishops' prayer for Trump may have been sincere. For Trump, it was pure politics.

#6
Catholic groups raise alarm about DOJ guidance on institutionalizing persons with disabilities

Opinion

My encounter with JD Vance: Can being attentive to a graced moment create change?

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US bishops are at a crossroads as they head into their fall assembly

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Members of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons participate in a procession during a vigil in New York City Aug. 9, 2025, marking the 80th anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. (OSV News/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Podcast: 'Action is the antidote to a sense of helplessness,' says anti-nuclear leader

Guest Voices

On this week's episode of "The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast," John Dear hosts Melissa Parke, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Bishop John Dolan: What it means to be human in the age of AI

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Your letters: Synodality in the seminary, Sheen relics, abortion and empathy

Letters to the Editor
SpaceX's Starship lifts off for its fifth integrated flight test Oct. 13, 2024. (Wikimedia Commons/Steve Jurvetson)

Leo's encyclical is a north star for new space race — and alien encounters, too

Guest Voices

Many today are looking to Pope Leo's Magnifica Humanitas for ethical guidance and hope in a world increasingly saturated with AI. That same document can offer guidance and hope for humanity's new ventures into space. 

Vatican

Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Vatican foreign minister, speaks during a news conference at the Vatican, on Jan. 18, 2024. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

Election cycle will influence when pope heads to US, top Vatican diplomat says

The first U.S.-born pope is very much looking forward to eventually visiting his native country even as he prepares to head to Latin America — his seventh papal trip abroad after his election a year and a half ago, the Vatican foreign minister said.

Pope Leo to offer 12 public Masses in November, including in a Rome cemetery

Pope Leo XIV will celebrate 12 public Masses during the month of November, starting with an All Souls' Day Mass at Rome's largest cemetery. The Vatican released the pope's liturgical calendar Oct. 27, one day after doctors confirmed he is fit to undertake his Nov. 6-17 journey to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.

ByCourtney Mares, OSV News

Ahead of Rome tipoff, basketball powerhouse Villanova embraces 'Pope Leo effect'

At Villanova University, all roads — or at least many of them — seem to lead to Rome, thanks to famed alumnus Pope Leo XIV and the school's growing ties to the Vatican. Even its vaunted basketball program is getting in on the act.

ByTiffany Stanley, Associated Press
Vatican News

Pope Leo's doctors confirm his visit to Latin America two weeks after lung surgery

Two weeks after Pope Leo XIV's surgery for lung cancer, his doctor confirmed he can fly to South America according to the previously released schedule, with Uruguay, Argentina and Peru planned as stops for his Nov. 6-17 trip, the longest trip of the pontificate so far.

ByPaulina Guzik, OSV News

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

New Vatican document cautions against ‘triumphalism’ over rise in baptisms

Pope Leo XIV cancels Assisi trip on doctors' advice as he recovers from surgery

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Meeting US Jewish leaders, pope warns differences must not fuel prejudice

EarthBeat

At Cadillac Mountain, a missing Wabanaki marker and the fight over what national parks should tell

Some of the signs removed from Acadia were developed over years of partnerships with organizations including Friends of Acadia, the Schoodic Institute and the Native Plant Trust — with consultation from citizens of the Wabanaki Nations.

Carolina wren (Wikimedia Commons/Melissa McMasters)
Soul Seeing

In praise of a wild, unfettered God

There is beauty in the fact that we do not serve a God who grants us wishes like a genie, writes Alli Bobzien. Our God is wild and free.

ByAlli Bobzien
The Teton mountains reflect on Oxbow Bend in Grand Teton National Park in Moran, Wyoming, Aug. 22, 2025. (AP photo/Amber Baesler, File)

In midterms, Catholic voters must keep national parks in mind

Attacks on the National Park Service are just tip of the iceberg of ecological sins, and a specifically Catholic issue.

ByStephanie J. Peddicord
A desert bighorn sheep stands at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona Oct. 2, 2026. (OSV News/Gregory A. Shemitz)
NCR Voices

When it comes to creation, we need to be more pious

St. Bonaventure's characterization of St. Francis' ecological piety highlights virtue of kinship.

ByDaniel P. Horan

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Sustainability award bearing Pope Leo's name spotlights his own environmental record

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President Trump is both attacking green energy and helping it

A spotted sandpiper dances as I birdwatch with Kierkegaard

Culture

Descendants and Jesuits find a path toward healing through 'What We Inherit'

Bringing long-overlooked stories of enslavement to light, the traveling exhibit "What We Inherit: Truth, Repair, and a Promise to the Future" challenges visitors to reckon with history while embracing the possibility of healing, accountability, and a more hopeful future.

Franciscan friar Sidival Fila’s "Senza Titolo 14 serie SINDONI" summons the spirit of his order with its subtle ecological message. The artwork is featured in the "ART CUT: Exercises in Empathy: Accompaniment" exhibition on display at the Burns Library at Boston College through November 15. (Michael Centore)

Catholic Universities Art Triennial exhibit brings imaginative empathy to Boston

The exhibition "ART CUT: Exercises in Empathy: Accompaniment" on display at Boston College through Nov. 15 is part of the international Catholic Universities Art Triennial.

ByMichael Centore
A panel on "Emergency" by Rebecca Solnit hangs on the book shelves of the English and American literature Shakespeare and Co. bookstore, in Paris, France, Nov. 05, 2020. (AP photo/Francois Mori)
Book Reviews

Rebecca Solnit says an old world is dying

Sonit's latest book, The Beginning Comes After the End, probes the scale of change through a trek into moral darkness that ends in a song of hope. 

ByJason Berry
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Actor Chris Pratt joins Pope Leo in new documentary about St. Peter's long-lost remains

In a new documentary produced in collaboration with the Vatican, actor Chris Pratt and Pope Leo XIV venture into the secret catacombs under St. Peter’s Basilica, exploring how the long-lost remains of the first apostle were found.

ByClaire Giangravé, Religion News Service

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'The Shack' author Paul Young returns with a sequel set on Death Row

Sr. Teresa Barongo, a member of the Assumption Sisters of Eldoret and a nurse at the Dorothea Health Centre, greets a patient in Nairobi, Kenya. (Shadrack Omuka)

Kenyan sister gives street children chance for dignified lives

For years, Sr. Caroline Ngatia, a member of Assumption Sisters of Eldoret, has been transforming the lives of street children as the director of Dorothea Rescue Centre.

Sr. Nancy Sylvester, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, asks U.S. Vice President JD Vance a question about immigration during an Oct. 15, 2026, town hall event n Flat Rock, Michigan that aired on CBS Oct. 17. (OSV News screenshot/CBS News YouTube)
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My encounter with JD Vance: Can being attentive to a graced moment create change?

Sometimes you find yourself in a situation that turns into a more significant moment than you ever expected. Sr. Nancy Sylvester recalls her exchange with the vice president at a town hall, and what happened next.

BySr. Nancy Sylvester
Sr. Dr. Margaret Ogunkuade, a Sister of St. Michael the Archangel, distributes nutrients and medications during a community health outreach in Ketu, Nigeria. (Courtesy of Margaret Ogunkuade)

Q&A with Sr. Dr. Margaret Ogunkuade on bringing healthcare to Nigeria's rural communities

Ogunkuade sees both medicine and religious life as parts of a single calling. "Physical healing can become a doorway to spiritual transformation," she said.

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Activists pose for a photo after a prayer vigil outside an ICE detention center Oct. 7 in Adelanto, California. The vigil was held to pray for immigrants detained there and to draw attention to alleged inhumane conditions inside the facility. (Courtesy of Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange)

Monday Starter: Nuns protest conditions at California ICE detention center

Plus, sister organizations host virtual election novenas ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, and anti-death penalty group honors advocates with awards.

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