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Santos Alfaro Ayala hugs his mother during Mass April 13, 2024 in Guarjila, El Salvador. Alfaro, a Catholic husband and father of two, offered his testimony of being unjustly detained for almost three months.

In El Salvador, a Mass of thanksgiving for wrongfully jailed father

News

Santos Alfaro Ayala was wrongfully imprisoned for almost three months under El Salvador's "state of exception," which has suspended due process rights for the government's fight against armed gangs. Alfaro and his community are rejoicing at his release.

The Latest

Editors' Choice

Focus

Pope Francis greets people as he rides the popemobile around St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 25. Francis sent a brief letter to Drachma Parents April 30, responding to their criticism of a Vatican document that condemned gender theory and gender-affirming surgeries. Their original letter to Francis was dated April 23. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

In Focus

Pope responds with 'open heart' to Vatican document criticism from parents of LGBTQ children

Pope Francis has written to a group of parents of LGBTQ persons, responding to their criticism of a Vatican document that condemned gender theory and gender-affirming surgeries. He told them he received their critique with an "open heart."

Most Read Stories

(Unsplash/Alice Donovan Rouse)
Guest Voices

#1
Catholic students, theologians, ministers write an open letter to Pope Francis

"We love this church, we love our Catholic faith," but "personally, professionally and ministerially, we are concerned with Dignitas Infinita's statements on gender theory and sex change," they write.

By
Pope Francis speaks to members of the Italian Catholic Action lay association gathered in St. Peter's Square during a meeting at the Vatican April 25, 2024. (CNS/Lola Gomez)
Vatican News

#2
Pope asks lay Catholics to prepare for synod's 'prophetic' stage

The most important outcome of the current Synod of Bishops on synodality is the synodal process itself and not the hot-button topics discussed, Pope Francis said.

ByJustin McLellan, Catholic News Service
Protestors assemble outside stone church with pride flags

#3
Catholic priest resigns from Michigan church following protests over his criticism of a gay author

ByThe Associated Press

#4
'It's a different time': Relations between US sisters, Vatican have changed radically

#5
Candace Owens converts to Catholicism

#6
With the red heifer ceremony, God purifies the people through the earth

Opinion

Pope Francis needs to stop treating Vatican officials like princes

Guest Voices

On Gaza, NY Catholic Worker community echoes Pope Francis: 'Please! Stop the war.'

Guest Voices
Ralph McCloud (second from left), then- director of the U.S. bishops' Catholic Campaign for Human Development, participates in a panel discussion on the debt ceiling May 31, 2023, at Georgetown.

Pillar publishes hit piece on US bishops' anti-poverty group

NCR Voices

It is impossible to know if The Pillar was a willing accomplice in the hit job it published, or if it was simply ignorant of the malice and ignorance of its unnamed sources, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters. 

They arrested us. I hope it brings an end to nuclear weapons.

Guest Voices

Editorial: Finally, (some) US dioceses are taking the pope's climate message seriously

Editorial
Jason Blakely is pictured in a screenshot from a video about his book Lost in Ideology: Interpreting Modern Political Life (NCR screenshot/YouTube/Jason W Blakely)

Blakely's book on ideology bristles with insights

NCR Voices

We all use ideologies in one way or another to make sense of our world, and we need to find ways to discuss that world with people who possess different ideological reference points, writes Michael Sean Winters.

Vatican

Frame filled with aerial view of enormous crowd
Vatican News

Fear is the great nemesis of faith, pope says at general audience

"Here, then, is the great enemy of faith: it is not intelligence, it is not reason, as, alas, some continue obsessively to repeat," Francis said. The enemy is "simply fear."

Loretto Sister Jeannine Gramick, seen in this 2001 file photo, and Pope Francis, are seen in this composite photo. (CNS composite; photos by Nancy Wiechec and Paul Haring)
Vatican News

After Vatican text, pope tells Jeannine Gramick: Trans people 'must be accepted'

Loretto Sr. Jeannine Gramick recently wrote to Pope Francis to express disappointment with a new Vatican document that condemned "gender ideology." Francis told Gramick: "Transgender people must be accepted and integrated into society."

ByJeannine Gramick
Members of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops start a working session in the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall Oct. 18.
Vatican News

Pope's study groups reflect evolving nature of synod process, theologians say

 Pope Francis has now established 10 working groups to study some of the most controversial issues that have emerged in the Synod of Bishops. Theologians say it is difficult to assess what their impact might be.

ByChristopher White
Pope Francis greets people as he rides the popemobile around St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 25. Francis sent a brief letter to Drachma Parents April 30, responding to their criticism of a Vatican document that condemned gender theory and gender-affirming surgeries. Their original letter to Francis was dated April 23. (CNS/Lola Gomez)
Vatican News

Pope responds with 'open heart' to Vatican document criticism from parents of LGBTQ children

Pope Francis has written to a group of parents of LGBTQ persons, responding to their criticism of a Vatican document that condemned gender theory and gender-affirming surgeries. He told them he received their critique with an "open heart."

ByChristopher White

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

Global group of pastors looks at parishes, synodality and mission

Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip

Vatican News

Bishop Seitz expresses 'grave concern' over scapegoating of migrants in 2024 election

Roberta Zolkoski welcomes visitors to the Earth Day Community Resources Fair at St. Teresa of Kolkata parish, St. Catherine of Siena church, in Pittsburgh.
Faith

Pittsburgh parish creation care group hosts Earth Day fair

St. Teresa of Kolkata Parish houses the Diocese of Pittsburgh's only care for creation group. Its resources fair April 27 explored ways people can live more in line with Laudato Si'. 

A woman walks past couches in the Kamuchiri village of Mai Mahiu in central Kenya's Nakuru County April 29, 2024, after heavy flash floods wiped out several homes when a dam burst, following heavy rains. (OSV News photo/Thomas Mukoya, Reuters)
Faith

Kenyan archbishop appeals for humanitarian aid as floods devastate the country

Amid severe floods in Kenya, rescue operations were continuing April 29 as the death toll surpassed 120 people due to excessive rains and floods linked to the continuing El Nino phenomenon in East Africa. Archbishop Anthony Muheria of Nyeri appealed for humanitarian support to aid thousands of displaced people.

ByFredrick Nzwili, OSV News
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, is seen in this screen grab reading Pope Francis' speech for the inauguration of the Faith Pavilion at COP28, the U.N. Climate Change Conference, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Dec. 3.
Viewpoints

The Vatican should do more to influence UN climate action

Paris Agreement pledges alone won't reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Vatican can respond with an initiative based on the work of the Laudato Si' Action Platform and the competencies of Catholic universities. 

ByGriffin Thompson
Red heifer and white buffalo (Left: Dreamstime/Bbsimpson; right: Dreamstime/Kenny Tong)
Viewpoints

Black Elk, White Buffalo Woman and the mystery of the red heifer ceremony

The red heifer ceremony flows out of our deepest human spiritual instincts. Rituals that combine land, power and wholeness, where mystery is greater than clarity. Lakota Catholic spirituality helps us to understand.

ByDamian Costello

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Viewpoints

With the red heifer ceremony, God purifies the people through the earth

Justice

How clean water and faith go hand in hand

Justice

Brazil's bishops alarmed over growing number of land disputes under Lula's government

Culture

The Heeler family in the Disney+ show "Bluey" includes parents Bandit and Chilli, and daughters Bluey and Bingo.

What 'Bluey' teaches us about times of spiritual desolation

What St. Ignatius of Loyola insists — and what Bluey's father, Bandit Heeler displays — is that when in a state of spiritual desolation, making a rash decision is never the answer. 

A reader holds folded hands on top of an open Bible that lays on a wooden surface. (Unsplash/Jametlene Reskp)
Book Reviews

'The Hero and the Whore' invites us to consider the lens we bring to the Bible

The Hero and the Whore: Reclaiming Healing and Liberation through the Stories of Sexual Exploitation in the Bible asks readers to shed the patriarchal lens through which most of us have read and studied the Bible.

ByNatalie Alfaro Frazier
Black and white concert photo

Why you might have heard Paul Simon’s ‘The Sound of Silence’ at Spanish Mass

‘The Sound of Silence’ version of the ‘Our Father’ has been widespread throughout Latin America and U.S. Latino communities for the last few decades.

ByAleja Hertzler-McCain, Religion News Service
Pope Francis prays during the Good Friday Liturgy of the Lord's Passion in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican March 29. (CNS/Vatican Media)
Book Reviews

New book takes readers 'On Retreat With Pope Francis'

Book review: In First Belong to God: On Retreat With Pope Francis, Austen Ivereigh offers a retreat based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and delivering a compelling summary of Pope Francis' theology.

ByMaryanne Hannan

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Regina King stands out in uneven biopic about political trailblazer Shirley Chisholm

Book Reviews

'Righting the American Dream' spotlights lingering damage of Reagan presidency

Book Reviews

Rabbi finds hope, comfort in new book by his friend, Pope Francis

Sr. Laure Blanchon is pictured in this photo. Seven women theologians recently published a book in France called Reform or Die, exploring ways for the Catholic Church to build a new future.(Courtesy of Laure Blanchon)

Q&A with Sr. Laure Blanchon, listening to voices of the vulnerable

Sr. Laure Blanchon of the Ursulines of the Roman Union met with GSR in Paris to discuss how the French Catholic church can reform and be faithful to its mission, in the wake of abuse revelations.

Francesca DiPaola, Claire Halbur, Eseni Ellington, Christie Young and Stacey Jackson are the five young women who visited three religious communities while being filmed for "The Sisterhood" in 2014.

"The Sisterhood: Becoming Nuns" 10 years later

 People on both sides of the reality-TV discernment journey claim significant benefits from the experience, even though none of the young women from the show actually became a nun.

ByTheresa Doerfler
From left: Sr. Jane Wakahiu, head of the Catholic Sisters Initiative at the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation; Gail DeGeorge, editor of Global Sisters Report; Ursuline Sr. Michele Morek, GSR sister liaison; Benedictine Sr. Helga Leija, sister liaison for Spanis

10 years of a 'great adventure' at Global Sisters Report

I've been blessed to use my experience in the best job and most important mission I've ever had in my journalism career, writes Global Sisters Report editor Gail DeGeorge.

ByGail DeGeorge
Sr. Teresa Anyabuike, a member of the African Faith and Justice Network, bottom middle, poses with students after a seminar about child abuse and human trafficking in Abuja, Nigeria. Sr. Eucharia Madueke writes that GSR has made the AFJN's Women Empowerment Project credible to the public and inspired sisters within and outside Africa. (CNS/Courtesy of Sr. Eucharia Madueke)

GSR amplifies voices and activities of African sisters beyond the continent

Global Sisters Report, with its global outreach and trusted reputation, has been a real gift to African sisters and to me, in my capacity as the coordinator of Africa Faith and Justice Network's Women Empowerment Project.

By

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Sr. Teresita Weind, tireless advocate for Black sisters, dies at 81

My experience with Global Sisters Report

Q & A with Sr. Josephine Huynh Thi Ly, serving HIV/AIDS patients with love and respect

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