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)

Editorial: War in Iran is a reckless venture

Opinion

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.

The Latest

Lebanese archbishop: Innocents are 'paying the price' of Middle East war

Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News

Grassroots Dorothea Project urges Catholic women to speak against immigration-related injustice

Kimberley Heatherington, OSV News

No matter who is president, our immigration system is unjust

Ben Anderson

Editors' Choice

An explosion in the sea, after missiles were launched towards Israel from Iran following strikes by Israel and the U.S. on Iran, is seen from Haifa, northern Israel, Feb. 28. U.S. President Donald Trump described the attacks as part of "major combat operations" to overthrow Iran's regime in order to "defend the American people." (OSV News/Reuters/Rami Shlush)

In Focus

Sorrow, shock, prayer for Catholics in Middle East as US and Israel strike Iran

Bishop Aldo Berardi, apostolic vicar of northern Arabia — who shepherds the estimated 2.2 million Catholics — urged the faithful "to remain calm, united in prayer, and attentive to the safety of everyone."

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The gate sign at the west end of the St. John's University campus in Queens, New York (Wikimedia Commons/Tdorante10)

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St. John's University says it no longer recognizes faculty unions after 56 years

St. John's University in Queens, New York, notified employees on Feb. 19 that it will no longer recognize the two unions that have represented faculty members at the Catholic university since 1970.

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

As illegal mining spreads through abandoned shafts in South Africa, Catholic religious women risk their lives to rescue girls coerced into sex and early marriages in communities the state struggles to protect.

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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)
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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.

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

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

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

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What led St. Pope John XXIII to call Vatican II?

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Catholic outrage at Ostermann Notre Dame appointment an intellectual and pastoral failure

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"If papal teaching is invoked to defend the sanctity of life, it should also be invoked to model the intellectual seriousness Catholic moral reasoning demands," writes Karen E. Park.

US Catholic newspapers began as immigrant outreach, and NCR continues that work

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Mocking Trump is easy, but it isn't a political strategy

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Podcast: The secret to a life of peace, according to John Dear

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On this week's episode of "The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast," John Dear reflects on the importance of daily meditation, letting go of control and living in intimate, trusting relationship with God.

Vatican

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.

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)

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."

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Pope Leo XIV arrives by plane from Rome in Ankara, Turkey, Nov. 27, 2025, at the beginning of his first international papal trip. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

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

Nearly a year into a pontificate largely anchored in Rome, Pope Leo XIV is preparing to launch a sweeping series of international trips that will carry him across Africa, to Spain and to the tiny principality of Monaco. 

ByJustin McLellan

At Curia retreat, Bishop Varden warns of Gospel's use 'as a weapon in culture wars'

The Lenten season is a reminder that Christians are called to bear witness to Christ through authentic witness, not self-righteous indignation, Norwegian Trappist Bishop Erik Varden told the pope and Vatican officials.

ByJunno Arocho Esteves, OSV News

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

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EarthBeat

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.

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.

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Caring for creation this Lent

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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)

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Several people sit on a couch with a Black little girl. A woman stands, holding a baby.

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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.

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

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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.

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Dora D'Rozario, coordinator of the Order of Consecrated Virgins in Bangladesh, shows her Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Award from Pope Leo XIV in January. (Stephan Uttom Rozario)

Bangladeshi consecrated virgin Dora D'Rozario receives papal award

On Jan. 24, the Catholic Church in Bangladesh celebrated a special Mass for Dora D'Rozario, coordinator of the Order of Consecrated Virgins in Bangladesh, after she received the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Award.

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