Tom Burnett Jr.'s name is inscribed on the 9/11 memorial at the World Trade Center complex in New York. (NCR photo/Camillo Barone)

9/11 and the Annunciation shooting tested her, but she refuses to be afraid

News

Martha Burnett Pettee's brother died in the Flight 93 attack, and her son survived the Minneapolis shooting. "What's in my prayers every single day is, 'your will be done,' " she said. "I can't predict a single thing."

The Latest

What can Abraham teach us about discerning God's will?

Sr. Maura Aranguren

Catholic Church provides needed moral compass in AI discussions, panelists say

Brian Fraga

In direct appeal to Trump, Catholic bishops' president urges end of mass deportations of Haitians

Aleja Hertzler-McCain, Religion News Service

Editors' Choice

Flags and flowers are placed in the inscribed names at the National September 11 Memorial in New York on Sept. 10, 2025. (AP/Donald King)

In Focus

Editorial: It's not enough to remember 9/11. We need to recommit to peace.

Some quiet contemplation in our ever-noisy world seems essential to continue processing the attacks and their aftermath, but also as a starting point to consider how we can advocate for peace.

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Most Read Stories

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass for the Care of Creation on the grounds of the Borgo Laudato Si’ ecology center in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Sept. 1, 2026. (CNS/Vatican Media)

#1
Pope asks Catholics to acknowledge 'unfaithful' attitudes for care of creation

Celebrating a new form of the Catholic Mass "for the care of creation," Pope Leo XIV urged Catholics to contemplate nature as well as the ways they have shirked their responsibility to care for it.

ByJustin McLellan
Pope Leo XIV smiles as he leads the Angelus prayer in Piazza della Liberta in Castel Gandolfo near Rome Aug. 30, 2026. (OSV News/Vatican Media)

#2
Pope Leo connects the dots that can unite the church

"Our wonderful pope seems to me to bring the best of our tradition, and the insights of his immediate predecessors, to the Catholics of today, and to make that tradition fresh again," writes NCR's Michael Sean Winters.

ByMichael Sean Winters
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates arrives for a closed-door gathering of leading tech CEOs to discuss artificial intelligence and how it should be regulated, at Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 13, 2023. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)
Vatican News

#3
Bill Gates and Silicon Valley congressman latest to endorse pope's AI encyclical

Three months after the release of Pope Leo XIV's encyclical on artificial intelligence, Magnifica Humanitas continues to gain traction among tech leaders and policymakers alike.

ByJustin McLellan

#4
Sociologist Ryan Burge isn't buying media reports that Christianity is flourishing

#5
Popular interest in nuns reveals something deeper about religious life

#6
Stop moving the tabernacle!

Opinion

25 years after 9/11, I still grieve for my cousin Leah

NCR Voices

To protect elections and migrants, Catholics must pray, recall history

Columns
Gavel, law book and a rosary (Dreamstime/Denys Kovtun)

Fighting (in the courts) over religious liberty is a good thing

NCR Voices

Catholics need to place our constitutional rights within the context of church teachings on life, marriage, family, healthcare, the environment and, most importantly, conscience, writes Michael Sean Winters.

The Catholic Church and press in Germany will resist far-right populism

Guest Voices

Editorial: It's not enough to remember 9/11. We need to recommit to peace.

Editorial
A photo illustration shows a circular red light with a drawing of a sad face on it, against a dark black background. (Unsplash/Filipe Nobre)

The global rise of unhappiness and how religion can reverse the trend

Guest Voices

Young people are facing an epidemic of despair, but data shows religious community is an antidote, according to co-authors of The Death of Religion? Nones, Others, and the Flourishing of Faith.

Vatican

The mosaics on the doors of the facade of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in southwestern France are being covered in an undated photograph provided by the sanctuary. (OSV News/Courtesy Lourdes Sanctuary)

As Lourdes covers Rupnik mosaics for papal visit, Brazil shrine unveils more

The two cases highlight the contrast in how local churches are dealing with the artist's legacy following revelations of his abuse, particularly after Pope Leo's own position on the case has begun to emerge.

Vatican News

Pope's visit to France likely to attract 1M people, with Mass and vigil in Paris and Lourdes trip

Pope Leo XIV's forthcoming trip to France, which marks the first official papal state visit to the country in 18 years, is expected to attract more than 1 million people, according to the Bishops' Conference of France (CEF).

BySylvie Corbet, Associated Press

Peruvian city to unveil world's tallest statue of Pope Leo for trip to South America

The 45.9-foot-tall statue of Leo will grace a seafront park overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Callao, located in the northern suburbs of Lima, the national capital.

ByDavid Agren, OSV News
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates arrives for a closed-door gathering of leading tech CEOs to discuss artificial intelligence and how it should be regulated, at Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 13, 2023. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)
Vatican News

Bill Gates and Silicon Valley congressman latest to endorse pope's AI encyclical

Three months after the release of Pope Leo XIV's encyclical on artificial intelligence, Magnifica Humanitas continues to gain traction among tech leaders and policymakers alike.

ByJustin McLellan

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

The Leo Chronicles

The Leo Chronicles: A Blues Brother

Vatican News

Prayer, social justice are inseparable, Pope Leo tells Society of St. Vincent de Paul

'Let us be clear: This war must end,' Archbishop Gallagher tells Russian authorities in Moscow

EarthBeat

A rickshaw driver washes his face at a roadside water pipeline during a heat wave in Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 27, 2024. (Dreamstime/Mamunur Rashid)

Global warming set to surpass key 1.5 C climate limit by 2030, UN report finds

"Every fraction of a degree still matters": Catholic groups say the U.N. report must not become reason to give up, but instead compel a redoubling of moral pressure on world leaders to rapidly phase out fossil fuels.

Nazareth Sr. Jincemol Chacko, chief therapist of the Nazareth Nature Cure Centre, conducts a yoga session for the participants. (Thomas Scaria)

Nazareth sisters promote holistic healing with nature

More than 10,000 people have achieved holistic recovery at the Nazareth Nature Care Centre in Kunnoth, India, over the past nearly four decades. 

ByThomas Scaria
Members of an assessment team by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, Kathmandu, and the Nepal Jesuit Social Institute tour flood-affected areas in the Galchi rural municipality of Dhading, a largely agricultural area in northeast Nepal. (Courtesy of Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, Kathmandu)

Nepal floods leave 'nothing' behind as Catholic nuns mobilize aid

Following catastrophic flooding in Nepal and an earthquake in eastern Indonesia, Catholic sisters are providing aid while reeling from the damage the disasters left behind.

ByChris Herlinger
Bubbles underwater with sun shining through (Unsplash/Jong Marshes)
Guest Voices

During the Season of Creation, remember the living water that sustains all life

That water is a symbol of healing and renewal makes a lot of sense. Most of our human bodies are made up of water, and all other creatures also require water for survival. But we humans can take water for granted.

ByDaniel P. Horan

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican body develops concept of 'ecological sin' in spiritual salvo on the environment

Wendell Berry, writer and farmer, was extolled by many as a modern-day prophet

Devastating floods in Nepal pile on 'unusual' summer of environmental disasters

Culture

Tom Hollander as Treasurer Hales, Woody Norman as King Richard II and Katherine Waterston as The Countess interact in director Paul Greengrass' "The Uprising," which opens in theaters Sept. 11.(Focus Features/Betina La Plante)

Does 'The Uprising' really want us to rise up?

The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 can inspire us to confront the problem of wealth disparity today. So why does Paul Greengrass' new movie feel more like a warning?

Andrew Garfield, shown arriving at the premiere of "The Uprising" on Sept. 2, 2026, has described feeling a "spiritual urgency" when choosing roles and has a reputation for gravitating toward characters with deep religious conviction. (AP/Invision/Jordan Strauss)

The insatiable spirituality of Andrew Garfield, star of 'The Uprising'

The actor finds God in all things — and can't seem to turn down a project that lets him find more. Here he plays Ploughman, the nameless everyman who becomes an unlikely leader of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.

ByShannon Evans O'Brien
Pews with hymnals (Unsplash/Gianna B)

Why Black Catholic musicians should study Gregorian chant

Darrell St. Romain, a scholar and organist, reflects on studying Gregorian chant and its potential to enrich Black Catholic worship.

ByDarrell Anthony St. Romain, Black Catholic Messenger
(Unsplash/Olivia Snow) A woman sits with her hands folded on top of what looks to be a Bible on her lap in her outdoor setting. Her face is not visible. (Unsplash/Olivia Snow)

New book illuminates true barrier to women's diaconate

In The Vatican and Women Deacons, Phyllis Zagano makes the case that the primary barrier to ordaining women deacons today is not theological, but cultural.

ByAnnie McAuliffe

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

In the land of the lost, get directions from Catholics who are 'Flipping the Tables'

Dolly Parton's talents were singing and acting, but her legacy will be hope

Review: "American Martyr: The Stanley Rother Story"

"Abraham Contemplates the Stars," detail of a 1908 illustration by Ephraim Moses Lilien (Wikimedia Commons)
Columns

What can Abraham teach us about discerning God's will?

Horizons - For those of us who have consecrated our lives to the Lord, discernment is a mystical exercise where human freedom meets the divine will. Abraham's experience gives us insight into learning to obey with love.

Veronica Boniface (left) says she wants to be a lawyer to help victims of child labor. (Patrick Egwu)

Sisters support Nigerian girls escaping domestic servitude and child labor

The Africa Faith and Justice Network is tackling child labor and domestic servitude in Nigeria with advocacy, awareness campaigns, economic empowerment, and partnership with government and traditional institutions.

ByPatrick Egwu
Tom Hollander as Treasurer Hales, Woody Norman as King Richard II and Katherine Waterston as The Countess interact in director Paul Greengrass' "The Uprising," which opens in theaters Sept. 11.(Focus Features/Betina La Plante)

Does 'The Uprising' really want us to rise up?

The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 can inspire us to confront the problem of wealth disparity today. So why does Paul Greengrass' new movie feel more like a warning?

ByRobbie Wessel Kroeschell
Promotional movie poster

Film about Catholic nun wins prize at Pakistan Minority Week competition

The documentary highlights Sr. Dr. Ruth Pfau's decades-long work treating people with leprosy.

By

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Baptistine Sisters rewrite the future for deaf youth in Zambia

In remembrance of 9/11 and its echoes today

Q&A with Sr. Ingkie Veloz Taboclaon on mission in religious life and with Caritas