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Pope Leo XIV smiles as he greets visitors and pilgrims from the popemobile under the rain in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican before his weekly general audience Sept. 10, 2025. (CNS/Lola Gomez)
View from the Vatican

Reading the Leo pontificate: 5 takeaways from the pope's wide-ranging interview

Vatican

View from the Vatican: Pope Leo XIV's interview with a Vatican journalist provides insight into how he sees his role as pope: a bridge-builder, engaging but uncontroversial, and acting as an astute administrator.

The Latest

Thousands of motorcyclists converge on Portuguese shrine for annual Blessing of the Helmets

Felipe Bento, Iain Sullivan, Associated Press

Defense in Vatican 'trial of the century' asks prosecutor to recuse himself for questionable conduct

Nicole Winfield, Associated Press

US Supreme Court justice speaks at Vatican Jubilee of Justice

Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Editors' Choice

Young people use their cellphone lights during a vigil at Orem City Center Park in Utah Sept. 11 after U.S. conservative activist and commentator Charlie Kirk, 31, was fatally shot during a Sept. 10 event at Utah Valley University in Orem. (OSV News/Reuters/Jim Urquhart)

In Focus

American Catholicism at the crossroads in the face of rising political violence

Faith communities — especially the Catholic Church, with its deep intellectual and social gospel tradition — can play a decisive role in shifting the culture of discourse.

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Most Read Stories

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan joins the assembly in reciting the Nicene Creed during an ecumenical prayer service for peace in the world in honor of Mary, Mother of God, at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral in the Brooklyn Heights section of Brooklyn, New York, May 20, 2025. (OSV News/Gregory A. Shemitz)

#1
Cardinal Dolan calls the late Charlie Kirk 'a modern-day St. Paul.' I'm not making this up.

Cardinal Dolan joins the Catholic right's ever growing quest to lionize the late Charlie Kirk as a Christian martyr.

ByJohn Grosso
Left: Charlie Kirk speaks at the 2025 Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida (Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore). Right: Bishop Robert Barron speaks at the USA National Jubilee Pilgrim Gathering at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome July 30, 2025. (CNS/Lola Gomez)
Guest Voices

#2
Bishop Barron paints Charlie Kirk as Christlike. That's not based in reality.

Charlie Kirk didn't deserve to be shot, but we shouldn't make him into a martyr or an example of Christian compassion and discourse. But that's what Bishop Robert Barron has tried to do, writes Tulio Huggins.

ByTulio Huggins
Carlo Acutis souvenirs are displayed in a shop window in Assisi, Italy, in June 2023. (RNS/Michael Di Giovine, CC BY)

#3
Relic of the Catholic Church's first millennial saint stolen from Venezuelan parish

A relic of Carlo Acutis, who was declared the Catholic Church's first millennial saint last week, was stolen from a parish in western Venezuela, the coordinator of a youth group devoted to the man known as "God's Influencer" confirmed Friday.

ByAssociated Press

#4
Pope Leo's 1st formal interview: Wage inequality, Elon Musk, peace and polarization

#5
Pope Leo's official portrait breaks conventions in papal imagery

#6
Charlie Kirk's murder is a wound inflicted on our shared humanity

Opinion

Chatbot Barbie for Christmas? AI companions and child welfare don't mix

'Get rid of nuclear weapons and end our wars,' says New Mexico Archbishop John Wester

A person walks by a growing memorial at Utah Valley University after Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk was shot and killed Sept. 13, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Is the United States a toppling empire?

Guest Voices

Political violence rises when grievance and hopelessness converge; these forces are present and intensifying in the United States today. But Kat Armas says despair is not the only path.

Cardinal Dolan calls the late Charlie Kirk 'a modern-day St. Paul.' I'm not making this up.

Your letters: Charlie Kirk, Bishop Barron and church reform

Young people use their cellphone lights during a vigil at Orem City Center Park in Utah Sept. 11 after U.S. conservative activist and commentator Charlie Kirk, 31, was fatally shot during a Sept. 10 event at Utah Valley University in Orem. (OSV News/Reuters/Jim Urquhart)

American Catholicism at the crossroads in the face of rising political violence

Faith communities — especially the Catholic Church, with its deep intellectual and social gospel tradition — can play a decisive role in shifting the culture of discourse.

Vatican

Defense in Vatican 'trial of the century' asks prosecutor to recuse himself for questionable conduct

Defense lawyers in the Holy See's "trial of the century" asked the Vatican prosecutor to recuse himself from the appeals trial Monday, arguing he was implicated in questionable behavior according to years of private WhatsApp messages that have shaken the proceedings.

Pope Leo XIV smiles as he greets visitors and pilgrims from the popemobile under the rain in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican before his weekly general audience Sept. 10, 2025. (CNS/Lola Gomez)
View from the Vatican

Reading the Leo pontificate: 5 takeaways from the pope's wide-ranging interview

View from the Vatican: Pope Leo XIV's interview with a Vatican journalist provides insight into how he sees his role as pope: a bridge-builder, engaging but uncontroversial, and acting as an astute administrator.

ByJustin McLellan
Pope Leo XIV smiles as he greets visitors and pilgrims from the popemobile as he rides around St. Peter's Square at the Vatican before his weekly general audience Sept. 17, 2025. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

Leo's embrace of Francis' LGBTQ+ acceptance follows surprising new study on priests

A new study found that priests who approve of Pope Francis are more likely to adopt a pastoral approach to LGBTQ+ Catholics. Could the same dynamic take hold under Pope Leo?

ByCamillo Barone
Pope Leo XIV answers a question from Elise Allen, senior correspondent at Crux, during an interview at the pope's residence inside the Vatican's Palazzo Sant'Uffizio July 30, 2025. The biography of the pope is titled, "Leo XIV: Citizen of the World, Missionary of the XXI Century," and it will be published in Spanish by Penguin Peru Sept. 18. English and Portuguese editions of the book will be released in early 2026. (CNS/Courtesy of Crux)
Vatican News

Pope nixes 'virtual pope' idea, explains concerns about AI

Pope Leo XIV said a proposal to create an AI-version of him so people could have a virtual audience with the pope pretty much horrified him.

ByCindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

In interview, Pope Leo urges US bishops to engage Trump, discusses Gaza, abuse and LGBTQ+ issues

Vatican News

Pope tells new US ambassador he is praying for Charlie Kirk and his family

Relentless effort, quick action are not always the answer, pope says

EarthBeat

The property of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Wheeling, West Virginia (Courtesy of Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph)
Columns

Fracking will invade, violate, pollute our land, says West Virginia Catholic sister

For decades, the Sisters of St. Joseph refused to lease land to gas companies. Now they have no choice. A new West Virginia law allows fracking against a landowner's wishes if enough neighbors agree to fracking on their land.

Vatican News

Theology must address climate change, AI, other real concerns, pope says

Because "true knowledge of God is realized in a life transformed by love," the Catholic Church needs theologians whose pursuit of understanding is framed by care for the real concerns of modern men and women, Pope Leo XIV said.

ByCindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
Late evening sun illuminates rock formations at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colo., July 23, 2020. (OSV News/Bob Roller)

You don't have to be a superhero to honor the Season of Creation

None of us individually is going to save the world. But each of us can do something. And here's something that's one of the world's largest sources of microplastic pollution and energy waste. I'm talking about clothes.

ByEffie Caldarola, OSV News
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, speaks at an event in Athens, Greece on May 8, 2025. (AP photo/Petros Giannakouris, File)

Orthodox patriarch visits US to meet with Trump, receive award for environmental work

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is making his first visit in four years to the United States, where he was scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump and receive honors for his environmental advocacy.

ByPeter Smith, The Associated Press

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

As Africa prepares for COP30, its Catholic bishops urge African solutions on climate

Messages that mobilize: How to convince church leadership to take climate action

Catholic networks: Push for profits, power threaten peace, climate justice

Culture

Robert Redford's faith legacy in film

Although not religious, many of the more than 70 films in which Redford starred since 1960, and the nine he directed since 1980, explored themes of ethical quandaries, spirituality and moral decisions and were respectful of faith. 

University of Notre Dame coach Frank Leahy, foreground, poses for a photo with four players at football practice on Aug. 31, 1949, in South Bend, Ind. (AP/Harry L. Hall, File)
Book Reviews

The incredible success of a Notre Dame football legend — and the price he paid for it

He embodied an archetype: the hard-working, faithful Irish Catholic descendant of immigrants who reached the best of his own ability. But Frank Leahy paid a price for marching Notre Dame to victory on the gridiron.

ByJay Sorgi
Each episode of "The Pitt" follows one single hour of the same day, as the staff at the emergency room of Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center deal with bureaucratic, medical and personal issues. (Warrick Page/HBO Max)

Binge-watching 'The Pitt' with COVID was a deeply consoling experience

Jose Solís wasn't a big fan of medical dramas when he turned on HBO Max's 'The Pitt.' But not only did it hold his attention through 104° fever and extreme fatigue, he found himself deeply consoled by it as well.

ByJose Solís

For some Dobson kids, focusing on the family led to estrangement

These days, Focus on the Family is offering a new kind of parenting advice, this time tailored for parents whose adult kids have gone 'no contact.'

ByKathryn Post, Religion News Service

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

'The Gilded Age' asks us to sympathize with the class that's destroying us

Book Reviews

Q&A with Colleen Dulle on keeping the faith when the church disappoints

In 2025, the 'immortal' Henrietta Lacks is still receiving her due

Children play on a worn jungle gym at an outreach center in Durban, South Africa, run by the Daughters of St. Francis of Assisi. (GSR photo/Doreen Ajiambo)

Sisters in South Africa say donors look away as they struggle to serve poor

Catholic sisters describe collapsing ministries, growing inequality and urgent needs they say go unseen by international supporters.

Courtyard surrounded by open arched windows

The urgent need for systematic safeguarding in religious communities

Religious communities cannot claim moral authority while failing to protect their own members from harm.

By
Child's drawing shows cat and the word love.
Columns

A little child shall lead them to build bridges of art and hope

We are inviting young people everywhere to create: to express, to heal, to unite, to hope and to grow together. 

By
Sr. Ruth Kuyumba, right, engages Memory Musonda and her son Joshua in a conversation during a home visit. Sr. Agnes Kateule, left, uses sign language to communicate with Joshua. Memory and Joshua were beneficiaries of the recently defunded Inclusive Family Strengthening project, formerly managed by the Sisters of Mercy with support from Catholic Relief Services. (Derrick Silimina)

Inclusive Family Strengthening project, now defunded, bolstered women in Zambia

"We recorded over 200 success stories," says Mercy Sr. Ruth Kuyumba, former coordinator of the project, which "also promoted fathers' participation in parenting and ensured every child has a home to grow up in."

By

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Benedictine monasteries take me on a deep dive into the Psalms

Cultural awareness matters in assessing candidates for religious life

When memories disappear, friendships remain