Front page

Pope Francis waves to visitors from the popemobile before his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Oct. 9, 2024. (CNS/Vatican Media)

In his new release, The Jesuit Disruptor: A Personal Portrait of Pope Francis, Michael Higgins makes a compelling apology for the Argentina-born pontiff's plans to free the church from an overreliance on doctrine and tradition and bring fresh thinking into hidebound curial operations.

Earlier this year, Fr. Aleksandr Bohomoz and Basilian Sr. Lucia Murashko prepare to enter a triage center in Velykomykhajlivka in southeastern Ukraine. (NCR photo/Chris Herlinger)

Culture

Witnessing in a war zone: Stories of Christian humanitarians in Ukraine

Chris Herlinger

Saorise Ronan portrays Rona in "The Outrun."

Culture

Fall movies feature powerful female leads

Princess Jones

The Latest

Scripture for Life

October 12, 2024

Twenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time: The dangerous nature of prayer

Mary M. McGlone

Faith

October 11, 2024

Climate change puts peace, justice in peril, UN chief tells Franciscan college

Brian Roewe

Vatican News

October 11, 2024

Pope and Zelenskyy discuss repatriation of Ukrainian captives

Justin McLellan, Catholic News Service

October 11, 2024

In Argentina, Opus Dei 'categorically' denies allegations it's involved in human trafficking

Junno Arocho Esteves

Focus

Bishops process toward the altar in St. Peter's Square during Mass with Pope Francis for the opening of the Synod of Bishops on synodality at the Vatican Oct. 2. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

In Focus

Pope opens major Vatican summit pleading for a church where 'each person feels welcomed'

Pope Francis on Oct. 2 opened the final session of a Vatican summit on the future of Catholicism, encouraging participants not to use the monthlong meeting to push individual agendas, but to seek unity in diversity in the church so "each person feels welcomed."

Christopher White

Most Read Stories

Franciscan Fr. Daniel P. Horan celebrates Mass in May 2012. Horan has announced his departure from the Franciscan order. (The Catholic Sun/Charles Wainwright)

NCR Voices

#1
Always a Franciscan in spirit, but no longer a friar

Franciscan Fr. Dan Horan, a longtime NCR columnist, shares with readers the conclusion of his prayerful vocational discernment.

ByDaniel P. Horan

Pope Francis holds a consistory at the Vatican July 1, 2024, with cardinals living in Rome to approve the canonization of several sainthood candidates. The pope announced the date for the canonizations will be Oct. 20 for everyone except Blessed Carlo Acutis, whose canonization date is yet to be determined. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Vatican News

#2
Pope Francis, further cementing his legacy, names 21 new cardinals

Pope Francis on Oct. 6 announced that he will create 21 new cardinals, giving the 87-year old pontiff another opportunity to further cement his legacy by now naming 80% of the men who will one day elect his successor.

ByChristopher White

The spires of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in the Denver Archdiocese (Wikimedia Commons/Billy Hathorn)

NCR Voices

#3
Catholics Behaving Badly: Questionable defenses and double papal standards

It's time for another installment of Michael Sean Winters' long-running feature, Catholics Behaving Badly. This time, the regrettable examples come from the Denver Archdiocese and Raymond Arroyo's show on EWTN.

ByMichael Sean Winters

#4
These Catholic-led groups are supporting Kamala Harris in the 2024 election

#5
Editorial: Cardinal Dolan's 'Al Smith dinner' disappointment is misdirected

#6
These Catholic-led groups are supporting Donald Trump in the 2024 election

Opinion

NCR Staff

Your letters: The 'appalling' use of 'pogrom' to describe Oct. 7 Hamas attacks

Letters to the Editor

The Francis Effect podcast: Hurricanes; Horan's news; Massimo Faggioli on the synod

NCR Staff

Your letters: The 'appalling' use of 'pogrom' to describe Oct. 7 Hamas attacks

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the editor: NCR readers respond to Michael Sean Winters' column on the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks.

The Francis Effect podcast: Hurricanes; Horan's news; Massimo Faggioli on the synod

Ralph McCloud

After 200th death row exoneration, it's time to end death penalty

Guest Voices

People at the Smyrna Community Center in Smyrna, Georgia, visit an early voting location Nov. 3, 2022, during midterm elections. (CNS/Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

Yunuen Trujillo

Catholics can — and should — take a synodal approach to the election

Guest Voices

Through the past decade of synods, the Holy Spirit has been guiding the church in a more holistic direction, writes Yunuen Trujillo, one in which the stories of women and LGBTQ+ people are heard. How might this synodal posture transfer to the decision of how to vote?

Vatican

Francis, Zelenskyy, and a monk bend over a desk in the apostolic library to regard Zelenskyy's gift of an oil painting.

Vatican News

Pope and Zelenskyy discuss repatriation of Ukrainian captives

Pope Francis and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met for the third time since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, focusing their discussion on the repatriation of Ukrainian nationals held in Russian captivity.

Belgian Deacon Geert De Cubber, a member of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, speaks during a news conference at the Vatican Oct. 9. He told reporters that delegates are discussing women deacons, even though the Vatican's doctrine chief has said that the time is not ripe to pursue women deacons. (CNS/Justin McLellan)

View from the Vatican

LGBTQ issues surface inside and outside Vatican synod

Delegates are officially barred from discussing specifics of the conversations inside the Vatican's synod hall. But members told NCR that hot-button issues are being discussed both inside the room and on the sidelines.

ByChristopher White

Pope Francis leads the recitation of the Angelus prayer with visitors gathered in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Oct. 6, 2024. At the end of the Angelus, the pope announced he would create 21 new cardinals Dec. 8. (CNS/Vatican Media)

Vatican News

What Francis' newest cardinal picks mean for the next pope

The pope just announced a new consistory that will take place Dec. 8 appointing 21 new cardinals from around the world. Eleven of these new cardinals are from religious orders. Only one of them is older than 80 so will not be eligible to vote in the conclave.

ByChristopher White

Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip: Synod dancing

Francis, the comic strip: Brother Leo and Gabby take a peek inside the synod hall.

ByPat Marrin

Climate change puts peace, justice in peril, UN chief tells Franciscan college

A symposium at Siena College in New York looked at the ethical and spiritual implications of the global environmental crisis, and heard messages from Pope Francis and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.

Brian Roewe

Marie Cook reacts to the damage to her home in Wellington, Fla., Oct. 10, 2024, after a tornado formed by Hurricane Milton touched down striking homes in the neighborhood and surrounding area. (OSV News photo/Bill Ingram/Palm Beach Post/USA Today Network via Reuters)

Science

Catholic Charities USA launches Hurricane Milton relief fund

As Hurricane Milton takes aim at Florida just days after Hurricane Helene, Catholic Charities USA has launched a dedicated disaster relief donation campaign.

ByGina Christian, OSV News

A scene from the DreamWorks animated movie "The Wild Robot" (NBCUniversal)

Viewpoints

In 'The Wild Robot,' AI and nature teach each other about solidarity and survival

The gorgeously animated new movie "The Wild Robot" may help to plant seeds for a better future, giving families an entertaining entryway to conversations about mutuality and solidarity with the environment.

ByJohn Dougherty

A woman in New York City jogs past blooming cherry trees on Day April 22, 2021.

Urban forest fund directs $8M to faith groups to root trees in neglected areas

American Forests, a national conservation organization, is directing millions of dollars from the nation's largest climate law toward faith communities to plant trees in parts of cities long overlooked and underserved.

ByBrian Roewe

Amid Helene's destruction, heartache, survivors need prayer, support and love, says Tennessee bishop

Faith

Charlotte bishop surveys Helene relief efforts in North Carolina

Helene's impact across broad swath of US South leaves resources stretched thin

Culture

Book Reviews

New book highlights Pope Francis' salutary disruption

Witnessing in a war zone: Stories of Christian humanitarians in Ukraine

In excerpts from Solidarity and Mercy, a new book compiling and adding to his reporting for GSR and NCR, Chris Herlinger profiles Fr. Aleksandr Bohomoz, a Catholic cleric who left Russia-occupied Ukraine in late 2022.

ByChris Herlinger

Fall movies feature powerful female leads

If you're among the Catholics disappointed by the synod's failure to sufficiently amplify the voices and perspectives of women, you might take heart in one (or all) of the many female-led films being released this fall.

ByPrincess Jones

In the Catholic storytelling style reminiscent of Flannery O'Connor and Bruce Springsteen, MJ Lenderman leaves it up to the audience to decide whether his flawed characters are likely to be redeemed. (Karly Hartzman)

The Catholic storytelling tradition in MJ Lenderman's new album

While MJ Lenderman uses religious language throughout, this is not an album about spiritual longing, but about storytelling. It is up to the audience to determine if redemption is on offer here.

ByMichael O'Connell

The religious impulse of 'The Rings of Power' Season 2 finale

'Close Your Eyes' is a spiritual cinematic experience

Book Reviews

New book shares stories of Roman Catholic womenpriests

Sr. Mary Teresa Barron, a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles, speaks during a news conference on the Synod of Bishops on synodality at the Vatican Oct. 7. (CNS/Justin McLellan)

Guest Voices

The synod is far from over

"Cultivating a culture of synodality is filled with promise," writes Sr. Colleen Gibson, "though not without the growing pains that come with allowing our hearts and minds to be reformed by the Spirit."