Imelda Maynard, director of legal services of Estrella del Paso, formerly Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services, and Melissa López, executive director, provide legal information to migrants in a migrant shelter in El Paso, Texas. (OSV News/Courtesy of Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services, Inc. of El Paso)

'You need to care about what's happening to other people,' says Texas immigration lawyer

News

"If you don't think it's going to affect you because it hasn't affected you right now, well, it's only a matter of time before it hits close to home," attorney Imelda Maynard said in a recent interview with NCR.

The Latest

Chaldean Catholic bishop in California jailed for alleged financial crimes

Gina Christian, OSV News

Survey: Americans alone in finding fellow citizens 'morally bad'

Fiona André, Religion News Service

Beloved Notre Dame coaching legend Lou Holtz remembered for 'building men, not just players'

Eric Peat, Today's Catholic, OSV News

Editors' Choice

An Iranian flag is placed among the ruins of a police station struck March 2 during the U.S.-Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, March 3. (AP/Vahid Salemi)

In Focus

Editorial: War in Iran is a reckless venture

We have gone to war on the bluster and wish of a president for whom reality and facts are transactions amenable to his needs of a given moment.

Support journalism that matters. 

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

Donate Now

Most Read Stories

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

#1
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
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)

#2
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."

ByJustin McLellan

#3
Palm Beach's new shepherd ordained, installed during emotional, spiritual, joyous Mass

"We are a church that is truly catholic. We have no boundaries. In this church, the true flag is the love of Jesus Christ" Palm Beach Bishop-designate Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez said at his Feb. 24 installation Mass. 

ByOSV News

#4
In South Africa's coal belt, girls disappear — and Catholic sisters quietly pull them back

#5
As 'border czar' challenges Pope Leo, Archbishop Wester warns of 'Bonhoeffer moment'

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

Opinion

Vatican

Vatican theological commission warns of replacing God with 'a world governed by machines'

The Vatican's International Theological Commission has warned that if humanity places total trust in technology in a "world ruled by machines," it risks replacing the "living God" with a counterfeit "virtual God."

2 Elisabetta Piqué and Gerard O'Connell give a Spanish-language edition of their book, The Election of Pope Leo XIV: The Last Surprise of Pope Francis, to Leo during a flight from Rome to Ankara Nov. 27, 2025. (Courtesy of Gerard O'Connell and Elisabetta Piqué)
Vatican News

What a new book tells us about the conclave that elected Pope Leo

A new book suggests that Cardinal Robert Prevost's path to the papacy was shaped by fragile alliances and small human moments that influenced perceptions inside the Sistine Chapel and produced the first U.S.-born pope.

ByJustin McLellan
Smoke billows March 3 after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran. (OSV News/Reuters//Mohamed Azakir)
Vatican News

Vatican's top diplomat says preventive wars risk setting world 'ablaze'

 "The force of law has been replaced by the law of force, with the conviction that peace can arise only after the enemy has been annihilated," said Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

ByJustin McLellan

Vatican synod study group proposes creation of pontifical commission for new technologies

A Synod on Synodality study group has recommended the creation of a new "Pontifical Commission for Digital Culture and New Technologies" in the first of 15 synod study group reports expected in the coming weeks. The Vatican published the first two final reports from its Synod on Synodality study groups on March 3.

ByCourtney Mares, OSV News

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

Climate change, crowds prompt maintenance on Michelangelo's 'Last Judgment'

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

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

EarthBeat

The ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, May 15, 2021 (OSV News/Reuters/Kathleen Flynn)

Young Catholic is lead plaintiff in suit challenging EPA's endangerment finding reversal

"It would be nice, I think," Elena Venner said, "for our government to at least acknowledge that we are in this climate crisis and to start by not repealing what we already have."

Scaffolding covers Michelangelo's "The Last Judgment" during extraordinary maintenance work undertaken by the Vatican Museums. (Courtesy of the Governorate of Vatican City State)
Vatican News

Climate change, crowds prompt maintenance on Michelangelo's 'Last Judgment'

Visitors often reach the Sistine Chapel overheated after walking through non-air-conditioned galleries. Combined with rising temperatures those conditions have led to more sweat in the sacred space.

ByJustin McLellan
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
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

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Caring for creation this Lent

Delight in the simple, abundant gifts all around you

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

Culture

A pile of books, an open book, a cup of coffee or tea, and a plant sit on a table near a window.
Book Reviews

NCR Members read: Nonfiction

NCR Forward members share their best book recommendations.

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.

ByEmma Cieslik
A row of books on a shelf
Book Reviews

NCR members read: Fiction and memoir

NCR Forward members share their best book recommendations.

ByShannon Evans
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

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

Book Reviews

New book on trans athletes emphasizes human dignity

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

Sr. An Lucie Kim Nga poses for a photo in Child Jesus Catholic Church in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The Vietnamese-born superior of the Sisters of Providence in Cambodia said she is driven by serving God and reconciliation between Cambodia and Vietnam. "If you have confidence in God, he will show you the way," she said.

In Cambodia, ethnic Vietnamese nun serves God, the poor and a call to reconciliation

Providence Sr. An Lucie Kim Nga's own journey mirrors Cambodia's turbulent modern history. "I want to offer my life for reconciliation — for all people," says Sister Lucie.

A “point of invincibility” in the basement of St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church in Kyiv, Ukraine (Courtesy of Olga Shapoval)
Columns

We keep the light alive in Ukraine's long and difficult winter

Living in a war reality that shatters the illusion of comfort and safety, we still see much goodness: People share what little they have — blankets, candles, warm clothing, words of support.

By
A person uses a phone as smoke rises following an explosion in Tehran, Iran, March 3. Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran Feb. 28. (OSV News/West Asia News Agency via Reuters/Majid Asgaripour)

Catholic sisters call US-Israeli strikes on Iran illegal, immoral

"This is not going to bring security to the region and it's not going to bring peace," St. Joseph Sr. Barbara Bozak said of the strike on Iran. "We had no right to do it."

ByChris Herlinger, Dan Stockman
Women meet at the Tabana Bedouin camp near Al-Azariyeh, in the West Bank, for a "Threads of Peace" embroidery workshop on Feb. 28, 2026, as part of the Comboni sisters' accompaniment of Bedouin communities living with daily uncertainty. Sr. Cecilia Sierra is pictured, white veil, center. The image is obscured to protect identity. (Courtesy of Sr. Cecilia Sierra)
Columns

In West Bank, families we accompany teach us to stay present, even amid sirens

"Through this daily life, we learn resilience, hospitality, and faith persevering in the face of the uncertain. The families we accompany teach us to remain present, even when the future is unclear."

By

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Q&A with Sr. Immaculate Muthoni, practicing law in Kenya

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

Vietnamese sisters grow organic mushrooms to serve community and fund scholarships