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)

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

News

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.

The Latest

Supreme Court stops execution of inmate who became a ministry leader on death row

Chloe Landon, Religion News Service

Church leaders to G7 leaders: Place the human person 'at the heart' of governance

OSV News

Sacred Heart Sisters in India counsel wounded hearts

Editors' Choice

A screen reads "AI" as attendees gather at Rivian's first Autonomy and AI Day in Palo Alto, California, Dec. 11 2025, showing developments in self-driving technology. (OSV News/Reuters/Carlos Barria)

In Focus

Editorial: Pope's AI encyclical is well received, but its work has just begun

"Magnifica Humanitas is ultimately asking for one very simple, yet very difficult result: conversion. And Leo is not directing his message only to tech giants, think tanks or legislatures. He wants conversion from us."

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Most Read Stories

#1
Relics of French nun who experienced visions of Jesus will come to the U.S. in June

The relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the French Visitation sister who experienced visions of Jesus revealing his Sacred Heart, will be present with the U.S. bishops in Orlando, Florida, when they consecrate the United States to Jesus' Sacred Heart June 11.

ByOSV News

#2
At largest event of pontificate, Pope Leo prods Catholics beyond a 'comfortable, private faith'

Pope Leo XIV brought bustling Madrid to a halt Sunday, drawing 1.2 million people — the largest crowd he has encountered yet in his 13-month pontificate — for his first public Mass in Spain and a Eucharistic procession through the Spanish capital.

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#3
Teilhard de Chardin points to what Pope Leo missed in 'Magnifica Humanitas'

What does it mean to be human in the age of artificial intelligence? The answer Magnifica Humanitas gives — remain — is too small for the tradition it invokes and for the moment it addresses, says Sr. Ilia Delio.

ByIlia Delio

#4
Pope's slavery apology draws praise as Jesuit slaveholding legacy turns to reconciliation

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

#6
Trap meets transcendence as Pope Leo, Bad Bunny meet in Madrid

Opinion

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

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Pope Leo reveals his political theology in Spain

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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'

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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. 

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Teilhard de Chardin points to what Pope Leo missed in 'Magnifica Humanitas'

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Silhouette of a person sitting on a hill looking at the Milky Way galaxy (Unsplash/Clement Duguerre)

Teilhard de Chardin points to what Pope Leo missed in 'Magnifica Humanitas'

Columns

What does it mean to be human in the age of artificial intelligence? The answer Magnifica Humanitas gives — remain — is too small for the tradition it invokes and for the moment it addresses, says Sr. Ilia Delio.

Vatican

Pope Leo XIV approves new statutes for child protection commission

Pope Leo XIV approved new statutes for the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors that seek to balance its integration with the Roman Curia while preserving its independence.

The plane provided by King Felipe VI of Spain departs Tenerife Norte-Los Rodeos Airport June 12, 2026, carrying Pope Leo XIV to Rome at the conclusion of his apostolic journey in Spain. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

Pope Leo hitches ride to Rome on Spanish king's plane

Pope Leo XIV finished his seven-day trip to Spain in extremely atypical fashion: riding to Rome in the Spanish king's jet. 

ByJustin McLellan
Pope Leo XIV receives a photo collage from Senegalese migrant Theodor Faye at the "Las Raices" migrant center in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, June 12, 2026. (OSV News/Borja Suarez)
Vatican News

Pope Leo directs message to migrant traffickers: 'Stop, repent'

"Every life lost on these routes is a failure for the human family," the pontiff said.

ByJustin McLellan
Pope Leo XIV makes a floral offering to migrants lost at sea at the dock of the Port of Arguineguin in Gran Canaria, Spain, June 11, 2026. (OSV News/Reuters/Yara Nardi)
Vatican News

Pope Leo prays at deadly migration hotspot in Spain: 'Human dignity has no passport'

Before a blue cross made from the wood of a shipwrecked boat, Pope Leo XIV stood at the port of one of Europe's deadliest migrant destinations and condemned widespread indifference toward the plight of migrants.

ByJustin McLellan

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Pope Leo at Sagrada Família: 'We cannot believe in Jesus and promote war'

Don't let painful past overshadow hopeful future, pope tells Barcelona inmates

EarthBeat

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.

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
People transport containers of water in Havana June 3, 2026. (AP/Ramon Espinosa)

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

"For a religious sister, living in Cuba today means navigating and taking on a series of structural and economic challenges that require an enormous capacity for adaptation and resilience," Sr. Noemy Ayala said.

ByRhina Guidos
Earth movers prepare a site for a 2.5 million square foot AI data center March 24, 2026, in Independence, Mo. Globally, data centers rank behind all but 10 countries in electricity use, according to a new U.N. report. (AP/Charlie Riedel, file)

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

A typical AI data center uses the same amount of power as 100,000 houses, according to the International Energy Agency.

ByBrian Roewe

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New arrests made in murder of Catholic activist in Honduras

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Facing soaring fuel and fertilizer prices, Catholic farmers lean on faith

Culture

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?

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
Black Sacred Heart art by And Her Saints

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

Tulio Huggins responds to a podcast episode from Catholic priests on Pride Month, writing that a myopic view of LGBTQ+ people has no place in the church.

ByTulio Huggins, Black Catholic Messenger
Argentina soccer fans watch a match

Why soccer fandom in Latin America feels sacred

In Latin America, the passion of soccer fans is nurtured through a sense of community. The singing of anthems, tears shed after victories or defeats and the embrace of strangers inside a stadium are experiences that can mirror forms of collective devotion.
 


 

ByMaría Teresa Hernández, ElEonore Hughes, Nayara Batschke, Religion News Service

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PBS documentary centers undocumented women and probes meaning of sanctuary

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The Milwaukee Brewers play the St. Louis Cardinals at American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sept. 27, 2023. (Wikimedia Commons/Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0)

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

Plus, tensions in northeast India force nuns and clerics to flee homes; Sr. Nathalie Becquart gets honorary degree, and sisters mark Day Against Child Labor.

A fishing net in Sokcho, Gangwon-do, South Korea (Unsplash/Eric Barbeau)
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Language and life with migrant workers in a South Korean fishing village

On walks toward the water, passing through the marketplace, I began to notice the growing presence of migrant workers. In this shrinking fishing village, foreign faces have become part of the landscape.

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Sacred Heart Sr. Treesa Palackal, founder of Hrudayaram, a counseling center managed by the Sacred Heart Sisters at Kannur, conducts an empowerment camp on Aug. 8, 2019, for children of Puthumala, a village devastated by a landslide earlier that year. (Courtesy of Rincy Augustine)

Sacred Heart Sisters in India counsel wounded hearts

 "We combine scientific counseling with a deeply human approach. We walk with them, step by step, toward healing," said Sr. Rincy Augustine, Hrudayaram's director.

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They come to us with empty hands, but they offer us the kingdom they possess

Lucy, who struggles every day to meet her most basic needs, who is full of problems and worries, who lives surrounded by poverty and illness — she had made room in her heart to remember me and pray for me.

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