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President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Washington. (AP/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Ahead of elections, White House shares video of Catholic bishops praying over Trump

Less than two weeks ahead of midterm elections, a group of Catholic bishops joined President Donald Trump at the White House for a prayer meeting in the Oval Office, seen in a video shared on social media.

Camillo Barone

Prices are displayed at a gas station Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in Miami. (AP/Marta Lavandier)

News

US Catholic voters see economy as major issue in upcoming election

Brian Fraga

People walk in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building on the first day of the court's new term in Washington Oct. 5, 2026. (OSV News/Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

Opinion

Editorial: Whatever high court decides, Catholic schools must choose inclusion

NCR Editorial Staff

The Latest

October 22, 2026

Nov. 8, 2026: Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sr. Mary M. McGlone

Vatican News

October 22, 2026

Pope Leo's hospitalization creates wave of fake AI pope images

Abby Strelow

October 22, 2026

At Cadillac Mountain, a missing Wabanaki marker and the fight over what national parks should tell

Jessie Wardarski, Associated Press

Pope Leo XIV smiles as a person takes a cellphone photo as the pontiff arrives at Rome's Gemelli Hospital Oct. 13, 2026, ahead of his surgery that afternoon. (OSV News/Reuters/Ciro De Luca)

In Focus

Leo's calm amid cancer diagnosis spotlights another side of his pontificate

Pope Leo XIV's calm "has been his style for many, many years," says one archbishop. "I don't think he is going to change overnight."

Justin McLellan

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Most Read Stories

#1
Priest in Ecuador, 53, struck and killed by falling crucifix during Mass

A priest in Ecuador was struck and killed by a falling crucifix while celebrating Mass, a tragedy captured during a livestream of the service on Oct. 17.

ByDavid Agren, OSV News

Vatican News

#2
Pope Leo tells faithful in St. Peter's Square he will gradually resume duties after cancer surgery

Pope Leo XIV thanked thousands of faithful in St. Peter's Square on Sunday for their prayers while he was hospitalized for an operation to remove a malignant tumor, and said he plans to gradually return to his usual duties. The crowd erupted in cheers when the pontiff showed himself in the window overlooking the square, where a week ago on the same occasion of the traditional Angelus blessing he revealed that a nodule had been located on his lung, and that it would be surgically removed.

ByColleen Barry, Trisha Thompson, Associated Press

#3
Leo's calm amid cancer diagnosis spotlights another side of his pontificate

Pope Leo XIV's calm "has been his style for many, many years," says one archbishop. "I don't think he is going to change overnight."

ByJustin McLellan

#4
Catholic higher education has an indispensable moment

#5
Pope Leo's brother shares his own cancer battle, the role of faith and his 1 request

#6
Pope Leo diagnosed with lung cancer

Opinion

Scott Hurd

Papal messages have stressed the message of Vatican II's Ad Gentes: "The pilgrim Church is missionary by her very nature," writes Maryknoll Fr. James H. Kroeger.

Daniel P. Horan

When it comes to creation, we need to be more pious

NCR Voices

Enzo Del Brocco

In age of AI, theological education more important than ever

Guest Voices

Gas prices are displayed at an Exxon station ahead of the Memorial Day weekend in Great Neck, N.Y., May 22, 2026. (OSV News/Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)

Thomas Reese

President Trump is both attacking green energy and helping it

Guest Voices

Before the war with Iran, the world was moving to green energy because it was cheaper. Now it is a stampede, impelled by both economics and national security.

Vatican

Pope Leo XIV leaves Rome's Gemelli Hospital Oct. 17, 2026, following his lung surgery and cancer diagnosis. (OSV News/Reuters/Vincenzo Livieri)

Vatican News

Pope Leo's hospitalization creates wave of fake AI pope images

Since Pope Leo's hospitalization on Oct. 13 for the removal of a cancerous lung nodule, the internet has exploded with AI-generated pictures of the pontiff in the hospital.

Abby Strelow

Pope Leo XIV gives the thumbs up as he arrives in his popemobile in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Oct. 21, 2026, to hold his first weekly general audience since cancer surgery on Oct. 13. (OSV News/Vatican Media/Simone Risoluti)

Vatican News

Pope's doctors say his cancer did not spread, 'no further treatment is necessary'

Pope Leo XIV's doctors said on Wednesday that his lung cancer did not spread beyond a malignant tumor that was removed during his Oct. 13 operation. They stated, "No further treatment is necessary."

ByJustin McLellan

Brother Leo finds himself in Mogadishu, Somalia.

The Leo Chronicles

The Leo Chronicles: Brother Leo in Somalia

The Leo Chronicles: Brother Leo finds himself in Mogadishu, Somalia, looking for a friend.

ByPat Marrin

Pope Leo XIV urges humanitarian cooperation between Ukraine and Russia during call with Zelenskyy

Pope Leo XIV spoke by phone Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, urging cooperation with Russia to allow humanitarian aid into the embattled city of Oleshky and the safe evacuation of civilians, the Vatican said.

ByAssociated Press

Pope Leo relieves and surprises Rome pilgrims at first public event after surgery

Vatican News

Cancer may change 'how' but not 'what' of Leo's papacy, pope's friend says

Vatican News

Pope Leo tells faithful in St. Peter's Square he will gradually resume duties after cancer surgery

EarthBeat

At Cadillac Mountain, a missing Wabanaki marker and the fight over what national parks should tell

Some of the signs removed from Acadia were developed over years of partnerships with organizations including Friends of Acadia, the Schoodic Institute and the Native Plant Trust — with consultation from citizens of the Wabanaki Nations.

Carolina wren (Wikimedia Commons/Melissa McMasters)

Soul Seeing

In praise of a wild, unfettered God

There is beauty in the fact that we do not serve a God who grants us wishes like a genie, writes Alli Bobzien. Our God is wild and free.

ByAlli Bobzien

The Teton mountains reflect on Oxbow Bend in Grand Teton National Park in Moran, Wyoming, Aug. 22, 2025. (AP photo/Amber Baesler, File)

In midterms, Catholic voters must keep national parks in mind

Attacks on the National Park Service are just tip of the iceberg of ecological sins, and a specifically Catholic issue.

ByStephanie J. Peddicord

A desert bighorn sheep stands at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona Oct. 2, 2026. (OSV News/Gregory A. Shemitz)

NCR Voices

When it comes to creation, we need to be more pious

St. Bonaventure's characterization of St. Francis' ecological piety highlights virtue of kinship.

ByDaniel P. Horan

Sustainability award bearing Pope Leo's name spotlights his own environmental record

Guest Voices

President Trump is both attacking green energy and helping it

A spotted sandpiper dances as I birdwatch with Kierkegaard

Culture

Small green wooden fairy door set in a tree trunk (Dreamstime/Amani A)

Book Reviews

New book carries Ignatian prayer into myths and fairy tales

NCR Book Club: In Where Wonder Leads, author Eric Clayton does for the reader what Gandalf does for a hobbit and Dumbledore does for an orphan: He points the way, names the dangers and steps aside.