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Pope Leo XIV, the former Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, waves after walking onto the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican May 8, 2025, following his election during the conclave. (OSV News/Catholic Press photo/Vatican Media)

Inside the conclave, Part 1: How an American missionary became Pope Leo XIV

News

After Pope Leo XIV's election, NCR spoke with cardinal electors and influential cardinal non-electors who witnessed the inner dynamics of the conclave and the pre-conclave days. They shared what ultimately led them to Leo.

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Editors' Choice

Fr. Dennis Berry drives a young Venezuelan couple and their 8-year-old son back home from the rectory at St. James Parish, where they spent the afternoon doing laundry for themselves and eight other Venezuelans living with them. (NCR photo/Camillo Barone)

In Focus

Prayer for laundry: Chicago priest helps Venezuelan migrants navigate risk, fear

Even doing laundry is a risk for many recently arrived Venezuelans on Chicago's South Side, where ICE patrols have reshaped daily life. One small parish offers families support.

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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

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.

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

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

Pope Leo XIV approved the text Oct. 7 and ordered its publication, said the note, which was released Nov. 4. Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the doctrinal dicastery, presented the document during a conference at the Jesuit headquarters in Rome and said its teaching becomes part of the church's "ordinary magisterium" and must be considered authoritative.

ByCindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Pope calls for end to violence in Sudan, Tanzania

After reciting the Angelus prayer Nov. 2, the feast of All Souls, the pope offered special prayers for the victims in el-Fasher, capital of Sudan's North Darfur state.

ByCindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

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

Pope condemns antisemitism and vows to fight it as tensions rise over Israel's war in Gaza

Pope Leo XIV will pray at the site of the 2020 Beirut port blast in his first foreign trip

EarthBeat

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.

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

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

The orange flower has become a symbol of the country’s celebrations that take place every Nov. 1 and 2. Also known as the "flower of the dead", the cempasuchil is believed to be a point of connection between the worlds of the dead and the living, with bright petals that light the path of dead souls to the altars set out by their family.

ByMEGAN JANETSKY , Claudia Rosel, Associated Press

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

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

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

More than 230 pilgrimages across the US mark 10 years of Laudato Si'

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

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.  

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
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)

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

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

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

God was with me in the desert of my captivity

ICE again prevents Chicago Catholics from bringing Eucharist to immigrant detainees