Podcast:
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, left, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, appears with, from left, Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, master of ceremonies; Cardinal Pietro Parolin; and Bosnian Cardinal Vinko Puljić on the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, shortly after he was elected pope, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Inside the conclave, Part 2: The surprising final moves toward an American pope

News

Twenty cardinal electors and influential cardinal non-electors spoke to NCR after Pope Leo XIV's election. In Part 2 of this series, the conclave opens and the cardinals make their crucial choice.

The Latest

The Catholic megaparish packing City Hall for immigrant safety

Aleja Hertzler-McCain, Religion News Service

Pope Leo meets Palestinian President Abbas, discuss urgent need for Gaza aid, two-state solution

Associated Press

Democrats sweep key off-year races as voters raise economic, cost-of-living concerns

Kate Scanlon, OSV News

Editors' Choice

Volunteers are pictured in a file photo serving people in need during a free dinner provided by the Emergency Assistance Department of Chicago Catholic Charities. (OSV News/Jim Young, Reuters)

In Focus

With SNAP benefits in flux, Catholic Charities agencies step up food programs

"We can try to help our leaders understand that these people should not be pawns on their political chessboard," said Deacon Kevin Sartorius. "That's not fair. These are people who are in need of food."

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Most Read Stories

#1
Pope urges Catholic teachers to focus less on professional outcomes, more on spiritual lives

Pope Leo XIV urged Catholic teachers on Tuesday to focus less on pre-professional outcomes and more on educating students to have rich spiritual lives and use technology in ways that keep human dignity front and center.

ByNicole Winfield, Associated Press
Pope Leo XIV and Anglican Archbishop Stephen Cottrell of York, England, left, lead midday prayer with Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican Oct. 23, 2025. (CNS/Vatican Media)

#2
Former Anglican bishop predicts new wave of conversions to Catholic Church

A former Anglican bishop urges church leaders to prepare for a surge of Catholic conversions, as a historic Vatican visit by King Charles III coincided with a deepening division in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

ByJonathan Luxmoore, OSV News
Lac du Flambeau Business Development Corporation CEO Larry Turner (left) and Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians President John Johnson Sr. (right) look on as Sr. Sue Ernster signs title documents for property the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration had owned Oct. 31. The nearly 2-acre parcel is about 15 minutes east of the Lac de Flambeau Reservation. (Courtesy of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration)

#3
In act of reparation, Franciscan sisters return land to Chippewa Indians in Wisconsin

They sold it for about 1% of its appraised value of $2.6 million value, citing their role in colonialism and residential boarding schools.

ByDan Stockman

#4
A Muslim reflects on 'Nostra Aetate' and its enduring call to mutual understanding

#5
ICE again prevents Chicago Catholics from bringing Eucharist to immigrant detainees

#6
What a new survey of US Catholic priests does, and does not, tell us

Opinion

'God's Grandeur' shines in our care for creation

Columns

'God's Grandeur' shines in our care for creation

Columns
Protesters gather to denounce President Donald Trump's behavior and policies during a "No Kings" rally in Miller Place, N.Y., Oct. 18, 2025. Similar demonstrations took place throughout the day in cities and towns across the nation, drawing millions of participants. (OSV News/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Voting in Trump's shadow: Democrats got a boost in key city, state elections

NCR Voices

Off-year elections can sometimes be over-interpreted, but this year's three major contests were conducted in the shadow of Trump. The results can be properly interpreted as a referendum on the president.

Why 'I hope she converts' is bad for Usha Vance, for love and for America

As Trump brings back nuclear testing, theologian poses a different vision of global security

Guest Voices
Luzerne County's ballot drop boxes are seen in the county's warehouse in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023.

Are there signs of intelligent life in the Democratic Party?

"The whole party needs a collective 'Sister Souljah' moment if it wants to win elections again," NCR's Michael Sean Winters writes. 

Vatican

Pope Leo meets Palestinian President Abbas, discuss urgent need for Gaza aid, two-state solution

Pope Leo calls for dialogue as US builds up military presence on Venezuelan coast

Pope Leo XIV has called for dialogue and peace in Venezuela as the United States amps up pressure on the South American country — where relations between the socialist regime and Catholic officials have become tense.

ByDavid Agren, OSV News
Vatican News

Space must be safeguarded for the common good, says Vatican diplomat

Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Holy See's U.N. apostolic nuncio and permanent observer, delivered two statements on the issue Oct. 27 and Oct. 30 at the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

ByGina Christian, OSV News
Pope Leo XIV greets people from the popemobile while riding through St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Nov. 1, 2025, after celebrating Mass. (CNS/Lola Gomez)
Vatican News

Pope Leo calls on US authorities to respect migrants' spiritual needs

Pope Leo XIV appealed for greater consideration for the "spiritual rights" of migrants in the United States, saying church ministers should be allowed to provide pastoral care to detained people.

ByNCR Staff

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Mary, mother of Jesus and all believers, is not co-redeemer, Vatican says

Pope calls for end to violence in Sudan, Tanzania

Vatican News

At education Jubilee, pope names St. John Henry Newman 'doctor of the church'

EarthBeat

Jemima Cheruto bends to fetch water outside her home in Ortum, northern Kenya.

'We are asking the world to act': African women on frontlines of climate change demand justice at COP30

As leaders prepare to meet in Belém, Brazil, women living the climate emergency in Kenya and across Africa are demanding global action, gender justice and investment in local adaptation.

Bishops, humanitarian leader urge bold, courageous action at UN climate conference

Ahead of the United Nations' annual climate conference, two U.S. Catholic bishops and the leader of a top Catholic aid agency are calling for urgent, long-term action to safeguard both creation and humanity.

ByGina Christian, OSV News
Fishermen work on Lake Victoria.

Ahead of COP30, a Kenyan village turns to bamboo and faith to fight climate change

As Lake Victoria's rising waters displace families, Catholic leaders and villagers plant bamboo to restore their land and send a message to world leaders meeting in Brazil. 

ByDoreen Ajiambo
Roughly 150 people took part in a dialogue on labor and the environment in Appalachia Oct. 25 at the pastoral center of the Pittsburgh Diocese. The event marked the 50th anniversary of the Appalachian bishops' pastoral letter "This Land is Home to Me" and the 10-year anniversary of Pope Francis' encyclical "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home." (Pinnacle Productions)

WV bishop urges boycotts for better pay at event marking Appalachia pastoral letter

At a dialogue on labor and the environment in Appalachia, Bishop Mark Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, lent his support to union-led boycotts to "foster a more just economy, more humane world."

ByBrian Roewe

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

This orange flower cloaks Mexico during Day of the Dead. Climate change is putting it at risk

Faith-based disaster relief groups mobilize to respond to Hurricane Melissa

Catholic nuns combat psychological toll of climate change on rural Kenyan communities

Culture

Painting "A Group of Saints and Angels" by Mattia Preti (1613-1699)
Book Reviews

Everyday saints with Robert Ellsberg

From Hagar to Mother Mary Lange, from St. Valentine to Mister Rogers, this collection finds holiness across time and space. 

Bifolio from a "Choir Book," Spanish, 1400-1450. (Michael Centore)

New 'Painted Pages' exhibit at University of St. Joseph beautifies prayer

When does the artistic process cross over into prayer? This small, but well-curated exhibit featuring manuscripts from the "golden age" of handmade books obliterates distinctions between calligraphy and visual art.

ByMichael Centore
(Unsplash/Aaron Burden)
Book Reviews

The Catholicity of Julia Cameron's 'The Artist's Way'

Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, first published in 1992, has sold over 5 million copies. Catholic creatives say the book and its spirituality have been transformative.

ByJean P. Kelly
"Mr. Scorsese," Rebecca Miller's five-part documentary out now on Apple TV+, traces the famed director's career exploration of blasphemy and salvation, devotion and rejection, sin and grace. (Apple TV+)

For 'Mr. Scorsese,' faith — like cinema — is unfinished business

"Mr. Scorsese," Rebecca Miller's five-part documentary out now on Apple TV+, traces the famed director's career exploration of blasphemy and salvation, devotion and rejection, sin and grace.

ByJose Solís

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Filmmakers tell story of Ukraine's persecuted Christians 'hunted' by Russia

Book Reviews

New book demythologizes Mary, emphasizes her political and ecclesial role

Jelly Roll's Vatican performance offers hope to those impacted by addiction

Jemima Cheruto bends to fetch water outside her home in Ortum, northern Kenya.

'We are asking the world to act': African women on frontlines of climate change demand justice at COP30

As leaders prepare to meet in Belém, Brazil, women living the climate emergency in Kenya and across Africa are demanding global action, gender justice and investment in local adaptation.

Sisters and collaborators gather to pray and reflect at the end of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation's Catholic Sisters Initiative Convening Oct. 31 in Mexico City. (GSR photo/ Rhina Guidos)

As Hilton Foundation encourages collaboration, LCWR official hints at union of consecrated life in hemisphere

"Next time we meet, we might be the Consecrated Religious of the Americas," said LCWR executive director Carol Zinn at the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation's Catholic Sisters Initiative Convening in Mexico City Oct. 29-31.  

ByRhina Guidos
Columns

In pluralist India, the sacred and mystical leave their marks on everyday life

After spending a month in India around temples, mosques and Catholic churches, theologian Consuelo Vélez reflects on the cultural and spiritual experience and the common challenge of expressing faith.

By
Sr. Noelle Corscadden of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Loreto Sisters, third from right, is pictured with sisters of the Congregation of Jesus and the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in South Sudan. (Courtesy of Noelle Corscadden)

Congregation of Jesus, Loreto Sisters to merge into one congregation

The Vatican's decree granting the merger of the Congregation of Jesus and the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Loreto) comes 416 years after Venerable Mary Ward first set out her vision for a new way of religious life for women. 

BySarah Mac Donald

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

In act of reparation, Franciscan sisters return land to Chippewa Indians in Wisconsin

Monday Starter: In person and online, sisters take part in 'No Kings' demonstrations

God was with me in the desert of my captivity