Members of the military carry a transfer case during the dignified transfer of the remains of U.S. Army Sgt. Benjamin Pennington at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware March 9. Pennington died on March 8 from injuries sustained during a March 1 attack at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. The U.S. military says 13 U.S. service members have died in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. (OSV News/Kylie Cooper)
Vatican News

Pope Leo wants Christians to examine their consciences this Lent — especially if they're waging war

Vatican

 Leo's rhetorical question is another example of his reserved, if pointed, approach to weighing in on global issues — particularly those concerning the United States.

The Latest

Catholic moral theologians, ethicists back Anthropic in government AI showdown

OSV News

Pope Leo XIV names Benedictine monk as bishop of Belleville, Illinois

Courtney Mares, OSV News

Fourth Sunday of Lent: Use more than your eyes to see

Editors' Choice

This undated photograph shows the execution chamber where lethal injections were carried out at San Quentin State Prison in California. In 2019, California Gov. Gavin Newsom suspended the state's death penalty. (CNS /Courtesy of California Department of Corrections) (Nov. 16, 2007)

In Focus

A lenten plea to Newsom: Commute California's death sentences

Catholic Mobilizing Network Executive Director Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy calls on him to protect inmates from future policy that could reverse his moratorium on capital punishment.

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Most Read Stories

Bishop Emanuel Shaleta of the Chaldean Catholic Diocese of St. Peter the Apostle in San Diego was "contacted and detained" March 5 at that city's international airport while "attempting to leave the country," according to a statement issued that same day by the San Diego County Sheriff's Office. He is pictured in an undated photo. (OSV News/Chaldean Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle of San Diego)

#1
Chaldean Catholic bishop in California jailed for alleged financial crimes

A Chaldean Catholic bishop in California has been arrested and jailed on several financial crimes charges.

ByGina Christian, OSV News
In a file photo, Ayatollah Seyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad Ahmadabadi answers reporters' questions in Rome Oct. 14, 2010, before giving a presentation at the Vatican. Amid war in the Middle East, Damada, a prominent figure within Iran's Shia clerical establishment, wrote a public letter to Leo calling for peace and respect for international law. (CNS/Paul Haring)

#2
An Iranian ayatollah appeals to the pope as war spreads across Middle East

As war spreads across the Middle East following the conflict that erupted Feb. 28 between the United States, Israel and Iran, a senior Iranian cleric has turned to Pope Leo XIV.

ByCamillo Barone

#3
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."

ByCourtney Mares, OSV News

#4
Vietnamese sisters grow organic mushrooms to serve community and fund scholarships

#5
In wartime, Catholics must stand at the foot of the cross

#6
Amid escalating attacks, Catholic groups visiting Holy Land are stranded

Opinion

A lenten plea to Newsom: Commute California's death sentences

Guest Voices

We need the break that March Madness provides

NCR Voices
crucifix

In wartime, Catholics must stand at the foot of the cross

Guest Voices

As we journey through Lent, the cross invites us to sit with both anguish and surrender, to encounter grief in its fullness and depth.

The extraordinary legacy left by Cardinal Christophe Pierre

NCR Voices

Your letters: St. John's faculty union, the bishops and Trump

Letters to the Editor
Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer from the window of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican, March 1, 2026. (OSV News/Reuters/Guglielmo Mangiapane)

Did the pope call out Trump on Iran?

NCR Voices

Amid escalating U.S. military action in Iran, Pope Leo XIV issued a forceful call for peace in the Middle East. The internet made it about Trump.

Vatican

Members of the military carry a transfer case during the dignified transfer of the remains of U.S. Army Sgt. Benjamin Pennington at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware March 9. Pennington died on March 8 from injuries sustained during a March 1 attack at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. The U.S. military says 13 U.S. service members have died in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. (OSV News/Kylie Cooper)
Vatican News

Pope Leo wants Christians to examine their consciences this Lent — especially if they're waging war

 Leo's rhetorical question is another example of his reserved, if pointed, approach to weighing in on global issues — particularly those concerning the United States.

Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, speaks at a Vatican news conference Oct. 9, 2025. (CNS/Pablo Esparza)

Pope's Robin Hood wraps almoner's mission and returns to Polish hometown as archbishop

After 13 years of daring acts of charity that made him break the law in the name of the Gospel and elevate Rome's homeless to the heart of the church, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the pope's "Robin Hood" leaves Rome after nearly three decades to become archbishop of Lódz, Poland.

ByPaulina Guzik, OSV News
Pope Leo XVI listens to participants in the "Cattedra dell'Accoglienza," a cultural and educational event, in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican March 12, 2026. Addressing the group one week before the March 19 feast of St. Joseph, Leo reflected on Jesus' foster father's exemplary role as a responsible guardian for the Holy Family. (OSV News/Vatican Media/Matteo Pernaselci)

Pope Leo XIV points to St. Joseph as an example of the importance of 'being present'

Pope Leo XIV has highlighted how St. Joseph, who is never directly quoted in the Bible, is an example for Christians of the importance of "being present."

ByCourtney Mares, OSV News
A woman sits amid rubble outside her destroyed apartment in Tehran, Iran, March 12, following an airstrike amid the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. (OSV News/Reuters/Alaa Al Marjani)

Pope Leo leans on proxies to condemn Iran war

The pontiff's public restraint in denouncing the conflict has opened space for other church leaders to lead that moral charge. So far, several cardinals have moved quickly to fill it. 

ByJustin McLellan

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Pope Leo XIV names Augustinian prelate as new prefect of charity dicastery

Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV meets with evacuated Tehran cardinal as U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran continue

Vatican News

Pope remembers priest killed in Lebanon, prays his blood may 'be a seed of peace'

EarthBeat

Chad Eachern, president and CEO of Edmundite Missions, far left, poses after presenting checks Feb. 27, 2026, to people participating in the Selma, Ala.-based Catholic social services agency's farming initiative that helps support small farmers in the South's impoverished Black Belt region. (OSV News photo/courtesy Edmundite Missions)

Black farmers in Deep South see hope in Edmundites' farming aid, grant program

The fledgling Catholic farming program of the Edmundite Misisons has distributed $78,000 to 19 farmers in central Alabama to assist with farming supplies including seeds, piping for irrigation and cold storage.

A team of parishioners cook fish at the annual Lenten fish fry at St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church, in St. Louis, March 21, 2023. This year, with the help of a grant from the St. Louis Archdiocese's Laudato Si' Commission, the parish for the first time will compost leftover food and compostable materials in an effort to reduce waste. (St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church)

Pass the cod, hold the plastic: St. Louis parishes cut waste at Lenten fish fries

With the help of grants from the St. Louis Archdiocese, Catholics have taken steps to lessen the waste associated with serving hundreds, and in some cases, 1,000 meals in a single night during Lenten fish fries.

ByBrian Roewe
Debris surrounds a damaged home in Three Rivers, Mich., March 7, 2026, following storms and tornado warnings. Powerful storms tore through parts of Michigan and Oklahoma, leaving a trail of destruction that included flattened homes and scattered debris. Volunteers helped residents sift through rubble and begin cleanup as the threat of severe weather lingered across the nation's midsection. (OSV News photo/Rebecca Cook, Reuters)

Chapel left undamaged amid deadly Midwest storms while faith remains strong

Catholic parish and school communities in the Midwest are among those working to clean up after deadly storms and tornadoes tore through a number of states in early March.

ByGina Christian, OSV News
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."

ByBrian Roewe

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

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

Vietnamese sisters grow organic mushrooms to serve community and fund scholarships

Oil wells on LA Archdiocese land permanently sealed after years of community pressure

Culture

Contestant Dani Evans was pressured by "America's Next Top Model" judges into having a medical procedure to close the gap between her front teeth despite her own desire to leave her smile natural. On "Reality Check," Tyra Banks said she had already "actually apologized" to Evans. (Netflix)

The unrepentant disappointment of 'Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model'

We can't change the mistakes of our past — not even if we're Tyra Banks — but we can and should reflect seriously on them, listen to the concerns of others and work to do better in the future, writes Rose Brennan.

Kristin Grady Gilger did not understand the calling that led her son, Patrick Gilger, to become a Jesuit priest. She saw only "a lifetime of poverty, chastity, and obedience," prompting her to wonder "what college kid in his right mind would sign up for that?" (Courtesy of Gilger family)

A feminist mom, a Jesuit son and the story of a rekindled Catholic

In "My Son, the Priest," author Kristin Grady Gilger recounts the long and winding road of accepting her son's Jesuit vocation — and what that meant for her own faith.

ByBill Mitchell
Mosaic artist Sister Samuelle in her workshop in France. Samuelle, who accused disgraced priest artist Marko Rupnik of abuse, is now a hermit and the creative lead on "Rebirth," a monumental mosaic dedicated to the victims of spiritual and sexual abuse in the church. (Courtesy of "Rebirth: The Tesserae Symphony")

'Rebirth' art project offers counternarrative for Rupnik accusers, abuse survivors

A monumental mosaic designed by French artist Sister Samuelle aims to help survivors "piece the fragments back together and give them a new face: the face of a new life, or at least a life that can still be lived."

BySarah Mac Donald
Timothée Chalamet stars in a scene from the movie "Marty Supreme." The movie has been nominated for nine Oscars, including three for Chalamet. (OSV News/A24)

Ambition and redemption star in 'Marty Supreme'

Amid Timothée Chalamet's character Marty's lies, hustles, infidelities and callow performativity is the core of Catholic teaching: Redemption is not reserved for the pious nor perfect.

ByJean P. Kelly

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

In Oscar-nominated 'Sirāt,' the journey is literal, spiritual and existential

Book Reviews

NCR Members read: Nonfiction

Comedian channels Mary: 'What if it's breech? What if it's sick? What if it's God?'

Jesus heals a blind man, depicted in 18th-century azulejos at the National Museum of the Azulejo in Lisbon, Portugal. (Wikimedia Commons/Yair Haklai)
Columns

Fourth Sunday of Lent: Use more than your eyes to see

Theologians' Corner - Despite not knowing what Jesus looked like, the "blind man" was able to give witness to his healing presence. What did the blind man have that the others did not? A keen sense of attentiveness.

Sr. Josephine Adhiambo (back row in habit), a member of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Anne, participates in a sign language class in Nakuru, Kenya. (Shadrack Omuka)

Breaking communication barriers, Kenyan nun offers support to the deaf community

Sr. Josephine Adhiambo, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Anne, is a sign language interpreter and tutor who bridges the communication gap between the hearing and the silent community in Kenya.

ByShadrack Omuka
Columns

With the Divine Pastora, Venezuela seeks strength in the face of crisis and injustice

Sr. Maura Aranguren describes the devotion as a source of support for a people facing poverty, political prisoners and broken families. "The procession has become a symbol of unity and hope in times of political, social and economic crisis," she writes. 

By
The PeaceRoom platform, run by Sisters Rising Worldwide, features a world map; each country that has sister projects has a tag to click on, which then shows all the work sisters are doing, including photos. (GSR screenshot)

Catholic sisters open PeaceRoom platform for global donors to fund missions

Sisters Rising Worldwide has opened its PeaceRoom platform to the public, allowing donors to connect directly with sister-led missions around the world.

ByDan Stockman

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Not as tourists, but as pilgrims, we followed Thea Bowman through Mississippi

Sisters make a stand against rampant abuse of women in Malawi

Q&A with Sr. Lucky Gomes, promoting healthy motherhood in rural Bangladesh