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Pope Leo XIV tries on a traditional shawl as he greets participants in the Jubilee of the Eastern Churches in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican May 14, 2025.
Vatican News

Peacemaker pope? Leo XIV offers to mediate disputes in global wars

Vatican

The new pontiff makes offer to world leaders engaged in wars in audience with Eastern Catholics. 

The Latest

Christopher White's book to track rise of first US-born pope

Camillo Barone

GSR writers win Associated Church Press awards, including award of excellence

Dan Stockman

In Leo XIV, I see qualities of a holy/whole person, and potential for more

Nancy Sylvester

Editors' Choice

Focus

In Focus

The pope from Chicago backed Pope Francis' major church reforms

The challenges for the Catholic Church in Chicago, where Robert Prevost grew up, are a microcosm of the gargantuan problems facing the worldwide Catholic Church that the new Pope Leo XIV must address.

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Most Read Stories

Vice President JD Vance speaks before swearing in Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Vice Presidential Ceremonial Office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Guest Voices

#1
JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others

In a viral Fox News interview, the vice president suggested that it is more Christian to prioritize your family over a stranger, but Jesus wanted us to demolish the categories that keep us from seeing each other as worthy of love in the first place.

ByKat Armas
U.S.-born Cardinal Robert Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops under Pope Francis, leaves the Vatican Synod Hall April 22, 2025, after the first general congregation of the College of Cardinals. (CNS/Vatican Media)

#2
The first American pope? This cardinal has the best chance of making history in this conclave

It is typically absurd to think of an American as pope. But in this conclave, a Chicago-born Augustinian friar who has spent much of his life outside of the United States is worthy of serious consideration.

ByChristopher White
Newly elected Pope Leone XIV appears at the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

#3
Prevost is new pope, an American cardinal committed to the reforms Pope Francis began

Augustinian Cardinal Robert Prevost was the least American among the American cardinals, having spent most of his ministry in Peru and Rome. The cardinals clearly wanted someone committed to Pope Francis' reform agenda and someone with a demonstrated record for effective management.

ByMichael Sean Winters

#4
White smoke, Black pope? Genealogist says Leo XIV has Louisiana African roots

#5
Cardinals poised to pursue the more inclusive, open church championed by Pope Francis

#6
HABEMUS PAPAM: Leo XIV is 1st US pope chosen to lead Catholic Church

Opinion

Can Pope Leo XIV be a compassionate pastor and a hard-nosed administrator?

Guest Voices

Will Pope Leo XIV make the call on women deacons?

Guest Voices
Bill McKibben speaks at a "Stop the Keystone XL" pipeline rally, outside a State Department hearing at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington, on Oct. 7, 2011. (Wikimedia Commons/chesapeakeclimate, CC BY SA 2.0)

Grassroots nonviolence among 20th century's greatest inventions, says Bill McKibben

In this week's episode, environmental activist Bill McKibben speaks to John Dear about how to respond to catastrophic climate change with grassroots movements.

Lessons for Leo XIV from his predecessor Leo XIII

NCR Voices

World's workers need Pope Leo XIV to be lionhearted on labor justice

Guest Voices
Pope Francis hands Cardinal Robert Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, a copy of Spes Non Confundit, ("Hope Does Not Disappoint"), his document proclaiming the Holy Year 2025, during a ceremony in front of the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican May 9, 2024. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

What can we learn about Pope Leo XIV from his X account?

Pope Leo XIV has read NCR. We took a deep dive into the tweets of Pope Leo XIV, from when he was Cardinal Robert Prevost, to begin to understand the man who will now lead 1.4 billion Catholics.

Vatican

Pope Leo XIV tries on a traditional shawl as he greets participants in the Jubilee of the Eastern Churches in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican May 14, 2025.
Vatican News

Peacemaker pope? Leo XIV offers to mediate disputes in global wars

The new pontiff makes offer to world leaders engaged in wars in audience with Eastern Catholics. 

A member of the faithful holds their phone after Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City, where an image of the pope was shown on screen at Zocalo Square May 8, 2025, after Cardinal Robert Prevost was announced as Pope Leo XIV. (OSV/Reuters/Henry Romero)

Pope Leo XIV is staying on social media

Despite rumors to the contrary, Pope Leo XIV will be keeping the papal social media presence on X and Instagram. He shared his first post Tuesday afternoon Rome time.

ByCamillo Barone, John Grosso

Faithful of Peru diocese celebrate papal election of man they regard as one of their own

Thousands of Catholics packed the plaza outside the Cathedral of Santa Maria de Chiclayo in this northern Peruvian city to celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving for an adoptive son: Pope Leo XIV.

ByDavid Agren, OSV News
With a new papacy underway, Gabby and Brother Leo try to figure out their futures.
Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip: The Leo Chronicles

Francis, the comic strip: With a new papacy underway, Gabby and Brother Leo try to figure out their futures.

ByPat Marrin

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

By electing Pope Leo XIV, some see Vatican making very American political play

In boots during floods, in vestments at Mass: Peruvians claim Leo XIV as a local

Pope's Michigan high school classmate says he was smart, well-liked and 'tutor' of the school

Members of the Native American coalition Apache Stronghold protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington Sept. 11, 2024, the day the coalition filed an appeal asking the high court to overturn a federal appeals court ruling allowing development of a copper mine in Oak Flat, Ariz., on a site Native Americans consider sacred. (OSV News/Reuters/Piroschka van de Wouw)

Federal court pauses transfer of Oak Flat sacred site to mining company

A federal judge paused a land transfer of 2,400 acres — including the centuries-old Western Apache sacred site, Oak Flat — to a mining company while the Supreme Court considers a separate appeal on religious protection grounds.

'Leo will follow Francis.' Amazon Catholics hope the new pope will protect the rain forest

Clergymen and faithful in the Amazon region see Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV, who spent about two decades in Peru's countryside, as a pontiff who will protect the region and fight against climate change.

ByMauricio Savarese, Steven Grattan, Associated Press
Mari Luz Canaquiri, from the Kukama Indigenous village of Shapajilla, in the Peruvian Amazon, is president of Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana, an organization of Kukama women whose name means "women who work." (Goldman Environmental Prize)

Environment prize winner's journey to protect river began in remote Amazon parish

The first rights-of-nature case taken to court in Peru has roots in the parish of Santa Rita de Castilla. One of the effort's leaders, Mari Luz Canaquiri, just won the Goldman Environmental Prize.

ByBarbara Fraser
Pope Leo XIV, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, waves to the crowds in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican after his election as pope May 8, 2025. The new pope was born in Chicago. (CNS/Vatican Media)

Before he was pope, Leo XIV said it's time for action on climate change

Will Pope Leo XIV continue Pope Francis' environmental legacy? Here's what we know about Leo's commitment to care for our common home.

ByBrian Roewe

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

These cardinals will likely consider the climate when casting votes for the next pope

No time to turn back on clean energy

Viewpoints

Inspired by Laudato Si', sisters turn Francis' vision into ecological action

Culture

Francis: The pope who left a fingerprint on pop culture

The culture’s fascination with Francis’ papacy indicated a hunger for the simplicity and humility he projected. It was an antidote we craved.

"Cross in the Mountains," by Caspar David Friedrich (Artvee)

At the Met, Caspar David Friedrich exhibit highlights nature-based mysticism

"The Soul of Nature" is the first thorough survey of Caspar David Friedrich's career to be staged in the United States, and is currently on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through May 11.

ByMichael Centore

Now 'Francis' belongs to the pages

The real Pope Francis will be the focus of many official and scholarly examinations, but Francis and the other characters in the comic strip will also have a place among other beloved cartoon characters that live forever.

ByPat Marrin

Martin Scorsese and Pope Francis teamed to produce a documentary called 'Aldeas — A New Story'

Martin Scorsese is producing a documentary made with Pope Francis that will chronicle the late pontiff's work with cinema in the global educational movement he founded before his death.

ByJake Coyle, Associated Press

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Who gets to speak on the Catholic internet – and who doesn't?

Bourbon-plumped currants enhance the flavor of hot cross buns for Easter

Book Reviews

'Bending Toward Justice' raises a prophetic call for synodality and community

Doreen Ajiambo, GSR's Africa regional correspondent, won an Associated Church Press award of excellence for her reporting on floods in Kenya causing homelessness and ultimately refugees in their own country. Ajiambo was among a few Associated Church Press recipients at GSR and NCR. (GSR screenshot)

GSR writers win Associated Church Press awards, including award of excellence

Associated Church Press also honored a National Catholic Reporter staff writer. Plus, the Religion Communicators Council awards a Global Sisters Report correspondent with best in class reporting.

Pope Leo XIV waves to the crowd from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican as he leads, for the first time, the midday recitation of the "Regina Coeli" prayer May 11, 2025. (CNS/Vatican Media)
Columns

In Leo XIV, I see qualities of a holy/whole person, and potential for more

The word holy derives from words that mean "being whole." There is an emerging consciousness that first sees reality from wholeness. I believe and hope that our newly elected pope is this kind of holy/whole person.

ByNancy Sylvester
Sr. Jolly Joseph

Daughters of the Sacred Heart face challenges ministering in the Philippines

The congregation struggles to make money to support their mission. Recruiting new members is also difficult.

By
Sr. Felister Maria Kwamboka, who belongs to the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph Asumbi, plays with children at the nursery school that is part of the Baragoi Catholic Mission in Samburu County, northern Kenya. The school provides a safe space for children from all the tribes in Baragoi to learn and play. (Lourine Oluoch)

In Kenyan town of divided tribes, sisters serve all at Baragoi Catholic Mission

At the mission, "no one cares whether they are from the Turkana or Samburu community," says Sr. Felister Maria Kwamboka. "We remind them every day that all children belong to Jesus, and he sent angels to protect us."

ByLourine Oluoch

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Few know Pope Leo XIV like these Augustinian sisters from Peru's Catholic community

Leo XIV a surprise from the Spirit, say Latin American sisters

Dear brother, Pope Leo XIV

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