Sisters of Charity object to plans for new ICE detention center in Kansas

News

Private prison company CoreCivic is planning to reopen a vacant 1,000-bed detention facility as an ICE detention center in Leavenworth, Kansas. The Sisters of Charity are leading community resistance against it.

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10 years ago, the world adopted the Paris Agreement on climate. NCR was there

Brian Roewe

Mexican devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe blends into national identity

María Teresa Hernández, Associated Press

In Mexico, faith to Our Lady of Guadalupe finds expression in 'ex-votos'

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Most Read Stories

Pope Leo XIV waves from a Turkish government helicopter when he lands in Iznik, site of the ancient city of Nicaea, Nov. 28, for an ecumenical prayer service commemorating the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. (CNS/Vatican Media)

#1
Maybe the pope doesn't need to be charismatic

"Where global leaders measure their strength in the power of their personalities, Leo's restraint leaves room to heed his rhetoric," writes NCR's Vatican correspondent Justin McLellan.

ByJustin McLellan
Deacons lie prostrate during ordination Mass in St. Peter's Basilica during the Jubilee of Deacons at the Vatican Feb. 23.

#2
Vatican commission votes against ordaining female deacons

The group was split 5-5 on a statement that held Jesus' masculinity and that of all who receive holy orders "is not accidental" but rather an "integral part of the sacramental identity."

ByJustin McLellan
Pope Leo XIV speaks to Turkey's Catholic bishops, priests, religious, deacons and pastoral workers at the Latin-rite Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul Nov 29, 2025. (CNS/Vatican Media)
NCR Voices

#3
Pope Leo XIV's distinctiveness begins to show

Pope Leo XIV's first foreign trip evidenced profound echoes of his predecessor, Pope Francis. Still, we are also starting to see points of difference emerge as well. Leo is not Francis 2.0. Leo is Leo.

ByMichael Sean Winters

#4
Pope Leo sings. So should we. Science says it's good for us.

#5
Boston Archdiocese wants ICE message gone from parish's outdoor Nativity scene

#6
Women's role in the church remains a hot potato the Vatican can't seem to handle

Opinion

Your letters: Boston ICE Nativity scene

Letters to the Editor

Celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe in the time of ICE

A sign reading "ICE Was Here" stands in the outdoor Nativity at St. Susanna Catholic Church in Dedham, Massachusetts, Dec. 8, 2025. (OSV News/Reuters/Brian Snyder)

Archdiocese of Boston mishandles the Nativity scene controversy

Recent controversy highlights sectarian sensibilities of many lay faithful in the U.S. church, the lack of imagination among some hierarchs and the perennial difficulty in drawing lines between the sacred and the profane.

Archdiocese of Boston mishandles the Nativity scene controversy

Christianity compels us to provide health care for the poor. Politicians must do their part.

Made for more: Catholic young adults find answers, and a home, at church

Guest Voices

When I started college, I found that many of my new peers had a similar post-pandemic experience: This year of isolation made us desire something greater. When we found that something, we dived all in.

Vatican

Pope Leo XIV visits the Sultanahmet Mosque, known as the Blue Mosque, during his first apostolic journey, in Istanbul, Turkey, Nov. 29. (OSV News/Reuters/Umit Bektas)
Vatican News

Pope Leo on not praying in Istanbul mosque: 'I prefer to pray in a Catholic church'

The pope also said that Europe should be involved in security guarantees for Ukraine after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
 

Dialogue, diplomacy can lead to just, lasting peace in Ukraine, pope says

Meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Pope Leo XIV reiterated the importance of dialogue and his hopes for a just and lasting peace in the region. The two leaders held their closed-door meeting in the morning at the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo, southeast of Rome; the meeting lasted about 30 minutes.

ByCarol Glatz, Catholic News Service
The Leo Chronicles: Gabby and Brother Leo discuss why Pope Leo's trip to Turkey was so important.
The Leo Chronicles

The Leo Chronicles: The trip to Turkey

The Leo Chronicles: Gabby and Brother Leo discuss why Pope Leo's trip to Turkey was so important.

ByPat Marrin
Melvine Khoury, 36, who underwent eight surgeries following the 2020 Beirut blast that killed 220 and injured scores more, speaks to Pope Leo XIV Dec. 2 during his visit to the Lebanese port to pray for victims of the explosion and their families. (OSV News screenshot/Vatican Media)

The story behind the young woman who wept while hugging Pope Leo in Beirut

"I told the Holy Father of this terrible pain, and yet feeling a sense of peace and hope remembering how much God loves me," Melvine Khoury, a Maronite Catholic, said. "It cannot compare to Jesus' suffering on the cross."

ByDale Gavlak, OSV News

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Maybe the pope doesn't need to be charismatic

Pope Leo XIV's first full-length US book, 'Peace Be with You,' to be released in February

Pope cancels Holy See fundraising commission announced under questionable circumstances

EarthBeat

Thousands assembled along the Avenue de la Grande Armee in Paris Dec. 12 hours before 195 nations adopted the Paris Agreement, which provided a framework for global action on climate change. (NCR photos/Brian Roewe)

10 years ago, the world adopted the Paris Agreement on climate. NCR was there

Assessing where the world stands with climate change a decade after the Paris Agreement is difficult. But in attempting to do so, it's important to remember, as many observed at the time, what it was: not the end of something, but rather a start.

COP30 drew record Indigenous participation — but were their voices heard?

Over 5,000 indigenous people attended the UN's climate summit in the Amazon to call for land rights over their ancestral territories, but it's unclear to what degree negotiations took them into account.

ByEduardo Campos Lima
Animals graze Loldaiga Hills in Nanyuki, Kenya (Unsplash/Tourite Safaris)
Columns

In Kenya, a fence builds hope and supports grassroots change

"We have learned that impact not only happens through resources but through relationships, solidarity, trust and partnerships that do not dictate but empower," writes Sr. Josephine Kwenga.

By
The COP30 United Nations climate change conference ended Nov. 22, a day late as nations debated a possible roadmap to phase out the use of fossil fuels. (COP30/Ueslei Marcelino)

UN climate summit in the Amazon falls short on fossil fuel phaseout plan

Nearly 200 countries at the U.N. climate talks did little to counteract papal criticism that "failing" political will is undermining global efforts against global warming, say Catholic officials who attended the COP30 summit.

ByEduardo Campos Lima, Brian Roewe

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

COP30's global ethics initiative aims to break chronic malaise on climate action

After hurricane, mosquito-transmitted diseases pile on top of Cuba's troubles

At UN climate talks at gateway to Amazon, Catholics stress forest protections

Culture

The women of 'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' pose together in Los Angeles in May.

'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' offers repackaged oppression

The women in this Hulu reality show might have become wealthy and famous, but they succeeded by playing the rules of the game.

Books by Catholic writer G.K. Chesterton are seen in the Chesterton Archive housed at the University of Notre Dame's London Global Gateway in England Oct. 26, 2022. (CNS/University of Notre Dame/Matt Cashore)

Rebecca Bratten Weiss deconstructs the 'Catholic literary imagination'

In The Books That Made Us, Rebecca Bratten Weiss argues that the texts we regard as Christian classics should be studied with a watchful, critical eye. 

ByJeannine M. Pitas
Rosalía attends the Christian Dior Spring/Summer 2025 collection presented Sept. 24, 2024 in Paris. (AP photo/Invision/Vianney Le Caer)

Rosalía's 'Lux': A pop album as mystical prayer

Six and a half centuries after Julian of Norwich translated her lived spiritual wisdom into the vernacular, Rosalía has done the same with her new album.

ByJean P. Kelly
Noah Jupe as the Boy in "The Carpenter's Son" (OSV News/Magnolia Pictures)

In 'The Carpenter's Son,' a teenage Jesus wrestles with power and compassion

Lotfy Nathan's "The Carpenter's Son," which is being touted as a psychological horror film, is actually about a different kind of horror: the moment a child becomes aware of their capacity to love and to destroy.

ByJose Solís

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

The challenging moral landscape of author Gregory Maguire's 'Wicked'

UK Anglican school calls 'KPop Demon Hunters' songs 'uncomfortable.' I beg to differ.

Book Reviews

Author interrogates government role in assassinations of JFK, Malcolm X, King, RFK

Sisters and affiliates of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary in the Lesotho Province gather for a penance and reconciliation service on April 14, 2025, at St. Rose in Peka, Leribe, in preparation for upcoming changes. (Sr. Eugenia Thauru)
Columns

We continue our transformation and renewal as a congregation

Horizons - Our congregation is undergoing its own deep transformation through a progressive change model of governance, guided by the coordinating committee. This transition offers promise but also brings some anxieties.

This ex-voto says: "Thank you, Blessed Mother, for allowing us to visit you, to dance for you, and to ask you to bless our family and to give us something more to eat than just beans. Mesa de Dolores, Mexico, May 28, 1951." (GSR photo/Helga Leija)

In Mexico, faith to Our Lady of Guadalupe finds expression in 'ex-votos'

Mexican spirituality, especially devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, is profoundly incarnational. This is a faith that does not shy away from suffering, pain or the messy realities of life. 

By
Sr. María Celina Mota Campos moves toward a sculpture for the blind at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City Nov. 6.

For sister who can't see, sculpture in Mexico allows her to venerate Our Lady of Guadalupe via touch

"The Lord gives those of us who can't see with our eyes, the ability to see in other ways," says Sr. María Celina Mota Campos.

ByRhina Guidos
A woman holds a rosary as members of a Catholic group take part in a eucharistic procession near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Broadview facility in Chicago Oct. 11, 2025. (OSV News/Reuters/Jeenah Moon)
Columns

This Advent, pray the migration mysteries of the rosary

As U.S. agencies send clear messages about who is welcomed and who is not, St. Joseph Sr. Kari Pohl has created the migration mysteries: a rosary rooted in Jesus' own story of migration.

ByKari Pohl

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Assumption Sisters' farm battles food insecurity, land degradation in Kenya

In Kenya, a fence builds hope and supports grassroots change

Changing spaces: Sisters convert convents into senior housing