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

Culture

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.

The Latest

Columns

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross: A divine paradox

Mary M. McGlone
Soul Seeing

The line that breaks: Poetry as soul seeing

Jonathan Tomick

Speculation mounts on Pope Leo's first papal trip

Camillo Barone

Editors' Choice

Flags at the White House in Washington fly at half staff following a deadly shooting incident in the church at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. A shooter opened fire with a rifle through the windows of the school's church and struck children celebrating Mass Aug. 27 during the first week of school, killing two and wounding 21 people in an act of violence the police chief called "absolutely incomprehensible." (OSV News/Reuters/Brian Snyder)

In Focus

MAGA Catholics are wrong: Prayers are not enough in epidemic of gun violence

Again and again, our country is shaken by crises. Too often, politicians offer "thoughts and prayers" as their only response. And too often, these words are used to silence calls for meaningful change.

Support journalism that matters. 

Your donation to NCR keeps independent Vatican news accessible to all. 

Donate Now

Most Read Stories

Badly divided US bishops' conference needs unifying leadership
NCR Voices

#1
Badly divided US bishops' conference needs unifying leadership

Some are campaigning for Coakley, but NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters hopes the U.S. bishops select a president in the center, someone as publicly committed to fighting abortion as he is to defending immigrants.

ByMichael Sean Winters
Pope Leo XIV delivers the homily during the canonization Mass of St. Carlo Acutis, a British-born Italian boy who became the first millennial to be made a Catholic saint, and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sept. 7. (OSV News/Reuters/Guglielmo Mangiapane)

#2
Pope Leo's homily for the canonization Mass for Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati

The new saints "are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upwards and make them masterpieces," the pope said.

ByOSV News
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk appears at a Utah Valley University speaking event in Orem, Utah, Sept. 10, 2025. Kirk was shot during the event, and President Donald Trump later said on social media that Kirk had been killed. (OSV News/Trent Nelson, The Salt Lake Tribune via Reuters)

#3
Shock and prayers after conservative activist Charlie Kirk shot and killed

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed after being shot Sept. 10 during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, the president announced on social media. 

ByKate Scanlon, OSV News, John Grosso

#4
Over centuries, Catholic confession has evolved from public confession to private penance

#5
'Nonviolence isn't passive,' world-renowned theologian Stanley Hauerwas says

#6
The Council of Nicaea forbade kneeling during the Sunday Eucharist

Opinion

Your letters: The English Mass and confession

Letters to the Editor

Villanova students hope for social teaching, human dignity from home-grown pope

Flags at the White House in Washington fly at half staff following a deadly shooting incident in the church at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. A shooter opened fire with a rifle through the windows of the school's church and struck children celebrating Mass Aug. 27 during the first week of school, killing two and wounding 21 people in an act of violence the police chief called "absolutely incomprehensible." (OSV News/Reuters/Brian Snyder)

MAGA Catholics are wrong: Prayers are not enough in epidemic of gun violence

Guest Voices

Again and again, our country is shaken by crises. Too often, politicians offer "thoughts and prayers" as their only response. And too often, these words are used to silence calls for meaningful change.

Where is God when headlines are bleak?

Columns

Where is God when headlines are bleak?

Columns
Elevation of the Eucharist is depicted in a stained-glass window at St. Anthony's Church in North Beach, Maryland, July 15, 2021. (CNS/Bob Roller)

The Council of Nicaea forbade kneeling during the Sunday Eucharist

Guest Voices

The 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea is an appropriate time for the U.S. church to reconsider its deviation from the general practice of standing during the Eucharistic prayer.

Vatican

Pope Leo XIV poses for a photo with Brian Burch, the new U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, the ambassador's wife, Sara, and their nine children, daughter-in-law and granddaughter in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican Sept. 13. (CNS/Vatican Media)

Pope Leo welcomes Burch as new US ambassador to the Holy See

The new diplomat served as president of CatholicVote, a right-leaning political advocacy organization, from 2008 until his nomination as ambassador.

Pope Francis greets immigrants as he arrives at the port in Lampedusa, Italy, July 8, 2013. (CNS/Tullio Puglia, pool)

Speculation mounts on Pope Leo's first papal trip

The pontiff said he hoped to visit the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, where his predecessor first traveled as pontiff, "soon, in person."

ByCamillo Barone
Pope Leo XIV meets at the Vatican Sept. 11, 2025, with newly appointed bishops, including about a dozen from the United States, who were in Rome for a Vatican-sponsored course for new bishops. (CNS/Vatican Media)
Vatican News

Pope tells new bishops they must address abuse claims promptly

Pope Leo XIV told 192 new bishops from around the world that they must respond promptly to allegations of inappropriate or abusive behavior by priests.

ByCindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Pope Leo XIV redraws diocesan map of Hebei, long tied to China's underground church

The move signals a new phase in Sino-Vatican relations and the regularization of local church structures.

ByClaire Giangravé, Religion News Service

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Being a bishop requires humility, creativity, pope says

Crying out to God can be sign of hope, not crisis of faith, pope says

'We need to pray a lot,' pope says after Israeli attack in Qatar

EarthBeat

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

Joined by interfaith leaders, the bishops said Africa cannot be subject to foreign interests but must be the architect of its own future.

Antonio Frietze, who helped lead an effort for the Archdiocese of San Antonio to join the Laudato Si Platform, shakes hands with Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller during a mass celebrating making a climate action commitment. (Courtesy of Catholic Climate Covenant)

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

What actually works to mobilize church leaders to take climate action? Communication scholars and concerned Catholics shared what has worked for them in recent years, from strategic approaches to specific examples. 

ByRebecca Randall
A protester holds a slogan as they join the global march to end fossil fuel on Sept. 15, 2023, in Quezon City, Philippines. (AP photo/Aaron Favila)

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

The fossil fuel, weapons and financial industries thrive on instability and cronyism, and they obstruct efforts toward climate justice and peace, top leaders of three Catholic networks said.

ByCarol Glatz, Catholic News Service
Pope Leo XIV looks at a horse as he greets farm workers in the papal gardens in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Sept. 5, 2025. The pope inaugurated Borgo Laudato Si' the same day, officially opening the historic papal residence as a center dedicated to the principles of care for creation and human dignity outlined in Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si'. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

Legacy of 'green' papal teaching takes root at Vatican ecology center

Pope Leo XIV on Friday, Sept. 5 will inaugurate a new center for integral ecology on Vatican-owned property south of Rome.

ByJustin McLellan

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Considering war and peace during the Season of Creation

All creation gives praise: Seeking God — and wonder — in the cosmos

Guest Voices

Take a treeish point of view on this year's Season of Creation

Culture

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.

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
Morgan Spector plays George Russell, an amalgam of Cornelius Vanderbilt and his grandson William in HBO's "The Gilded Age." (HBO/Karolina Wojtasik)

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

HBO's popular costume drama series "The Gilded Age" asks us to sympathize with people much like those currently running our country into the ground, writes Jim McDermott.

ByJim McDermott
In her new book, Struck Down, Not Destroyed: Keeping the Faith as a Vatican Reporter, America magazine's Colleen Dulle opens up about her own disillusionment with the institutional church throughout her tenure as a reporter – and why and how she's stayed Catholic despite the often devastating disappointments. (Chris Geerdes)
Book Reviews

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

In her new book, Colleen Dulle opens up about her disillusionment with the institutional church throughout her tenure as a Vatican reporter — and why and how she has stayed Catholic despite devastating disappointments.

ByOlivia Bardo

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

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

The many faces of the movie nun

Seth Worley on directing 'Sketch' and empowering kids to make art out of pain

Letter from sister

Kenya nuns condemn assault by sister captured on viral video

Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph called the incident "regrettable," as church law experts weigh possible penalties and fellow sisters urge compassion.

Religious sisters at the Youth2000 Summer Festival, held Aug. 7-10, 2025, in Kilmore, Ireland. (Courtesy of the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore)
Columns

In this Irish diocese, I see religious life alive and flourishing

As Pope Francis told us: Look to the past with gratitude, live the present with passion, and embrace the future with hope. This threefold approach to reflecting on religious life has become a kind of examen.

By
Bethany Sr. Bhagya Thalichirayil interacts with "Didi" (red), a senior resident, and Sujatha (left), the youngest resident of Asha Bhavan, a home for disabled and abandoned women at Ichilampady, a village in Karnataka state, southwestern India. (Thomas Scaria)

India's disabled, abandoned women find hope among these Eastern Catholic nuns

The Bethany sisters run 29 centers for disabled and abandoned women across India. At Asha Bhavan, the sisters give these women the care, community and dignity they need.

ByThomas Scaria

Q&A with Sr. Josefina Cattaneo, the Argentine nun evangelizing as a TikTok superstar

With hundreds of thousands of followers across TikTok and Instagram, Sr. Josefina Cattaneo from Argentina has wielded social media as a tool for evangelizing.

ByRhina Guidos

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

A podcast was a different kind of border for this 84-year-old sister to cross

Zambian sisters lament funding hit to African climate programs after USAID shutdown

Q&A with Sr. Carla Luisa Frey Bamberg, tackling human trafficking in Angola