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Ajani Gibson

Pope Leo XIV's Creole heritage highlights complex history of racism and the church in America

News

The new pope is just what the Catholic Church needs to unify the global church and elevate the profile of Black Catholics whose history and contributions have long been overlooked. 

Live

Pope Leo XIV praises freedom of speech and press

James V. Grimaldi

Pope Leo XIV's coat of arms and motto: Here's what they stand for

Camillo Barone

Parolin to Italian paper: 'Pope Leo XIV will lead the church with serenity'

Camillo Barone

Pope Leo XIV prays at Pope Francis' tomb

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass at Vatican grotto

Editors' Choice

Focus

In Focus

The pope from Chicago backed Pope Francis' major church reforms

The challenges for the Catholic Church in Chicago, where Robert Prevost grew up, are a microcosm of the gargantuan problems facing the worldwide Catholic Church that the new Pope Leo XIV must address.

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Most Read Stories

Pope Francis washes the foot of a prison inmate during the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper at Rome's Casal del Marmo prison for minors March 28, 2013. (CNS/L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters)
Vatican News

#1
In final act of mercy, Pope Francis donates entire private bank account to prisoners

The 200,000 euro donation captures the very essence of Francis' pontificate, said Bishop Benoni Ambarus, auxiliary Bishop of Rome.

ByCamillo Barone
U.S.-born Cardinal Robert Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops under Pope Francis, leaves the Vatican Synod Hall April 22, 2025, after the first general congregation of the College of Cardinals. (CNS/Vatican Media)

#2
The first American pope? This cardinal has the best chance of making history in this conclave

It is typically absurd to think of an American as pope. But in this conclave, a Chicago-born Augustinian friar who has spent much of his life outside of the United States is worthy of serious consideration.

ByChristopher White
Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, begins a news conference to present an update on the process for the synod on synodality, at the Vatican Aug. 26, 2022. (CNS/Paul Haring)

#3
This papal front-runner from a small island has a big role in the global church

As secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech oversaw the Vatican meetings that advanced Francis' vision of synodality — a church where everyone participates in decisions and the mission.

ByChristopher White

#4
Cardinal Ambongo could be first African pope in over 1,500 years

#5
Catholic outrage grows over 'Pope Trump' image on official White House media

#6
Conclave roundup: Conservative cardinals attack Pope Francis' legacy in US and Italian media

Opinion

Grassroots nonviolence among 20th century's greatest inventions, says Bill McKibben

Lessons for Leo XIV from his predecessor Leo XIII

NCR Voices
People of Chiclayo, Peru celebrate Pope Leo XIV

World's workers need Pope Leo XIV to be lionhearted on labor justice

Guest Voices

I’m hoping and praying for a pope who is lionhearted about labor justice — a justice that is fundamental to human society, overlaps with environmental and planetary health, and dictates how we treat our neighbors.

What can we learn about Pope Leo XIV from his X account?

Prevost is new pope, an American cardinal committed to the reforms Pope Francis began

People wait for the smoke to rise from the chimney in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on the evening of May 7, 2025, as cardinals gather in the Sistine Chapel on the first day of the conclave to elect a new pope. (OSV News/Reuters/Yara Nardi)

Catholicism makes no sense without a pope. So now we wait for white smoke.

For the Catholic, liberation comes through communion, writes Michael Sean Winters. The pope is the guarantor of that communion, a communion that stretches across all national boundaries and across the centuries, too.

Vatican

ope Leo XIV greets a woman in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican May 12, 2025, during a meeting with representatives of the media who covered his election. (OSV News photo/Vatican Media)

Release jailed journalists, says Pope Leo XIV in audience with media

Pope Leo XIV called for "disarming communication" in his first address to 3,000 journalists, and advocated for peaceful media and press freedom.

People gather in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican to pray the "Regina Caeli" prayer with Pope Leo XIV

Papal press event: Pope Leo XIV to meet 6,000 journalists Monday

Media representatives will be on the lookout for clues to the new pope's priorities and style.

ByCamillo Barone
Pope Leo XIV waves to the crowd from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican as he leads, for the first time, the midday recitation of the "Regina Coeli" prayer May 11, 2025. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

Pope Leo XIV pleads for end to Ukraine, Gaza conflicts: 'Never again war!'

In a moment reminiscent of Pope John Paul II's 1978 installation Mass, the new pope said, in Italian, "Be not afraid! Welcome the call of the church and of Christ the Lord." 

ByChristopher White, Camillo Barone, Rhina Guidos
Pope Leo XIV speaks with the College of Cardinals in the New Synod Hall at the Vatican May 10, 2025, during his first formal address to the college since his election May 8. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV pledges to pursue the reforms of Pope Francis

Leo said he will follow in the modernizing reforms of Pope Francis to make the Catholic Church inclusive, attentive to the faithful and a church that looks out for the "least and rejected.”

ByNicole Winfield

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Cardinals: President Trump had nothing to do with selecting first US pope

Leo XIV's brother recalls feeling of 'disbelief' over his sibling becoming pope

Catholic Chicagoans celebrate as native son Pope Leo XIV becomes first American pope

Pope Leo XIV, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, waves to the crowds in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican after his election as pope May 8, 2025. The new pope was born in Chicago. (CNS/Vatican Media)

Before he was pope, Leo XIV said it's time for action on climate change

Will Pope Leo XIV continue Pope Francis' environmental legacy? Here's what we know about Leo's commitment to care for our common home.

The English edition of "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home," Pope Francis' encyclical on the environment is pictured during a news conference at the Vatican on June 18, 2015. At left is Cardinal Peter Turkson. (CNS/Paul Haring)

These cardinals will likely consider the climate when casting votes for the next pope

Since the birth of the modern environment movement in the 1970s, every pope has turned attention toward matters of ecology — whether pollution, biodiversity loss, deforestation or climate change.

ByBrian Roewe

No time to turn back on clean energy

There is broad public support for continuing bipartisan investments in the environment and green energy.

ByBridget Moix, Religion News Service
From left: Srs. Rebecca Conlon, Yoonmi Kim, Ha-suk Shin, and Anne Carbon, Columban Sisters from Latifabad, Hyderabad, in Pakistan, participate in a demonstration on Nov. 6, 2019, advocating for greening initiatives in Hyderabad following the 2019 Amazon synod. (Jawed Munawar)
Viewpoints

Inspired by Laudato Si', sisters turn Francis' vision into ecological action

We asked panelists: What can we learn through, from and for nature? What kind of threat does climate change pose to peace? What are you doing to change it? Responses reflect the living legacy of Pope Francis' love for creation.

ByThe Life Panelists

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Pope Francis showed me that climate justice is connected to all I care about

Justice

Apache, allies again ask courts to block Oak Flat transfer to foreign mining company

I converted to Catholicism because of Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si'

Culture

Francis: The pope who left a fingerprint on pop culture

The culture’s fascination with Francis’ papacy indicated a hunger for the simplicity and humility he projected. It was an antidote we craved.

"Cross in the Mountains," by Caspar David Friedrich (Artvee)

At the Met, Caspar David Friedrich exhibit highlights nature-based mysticism

"The Soul of Nature" is the first thorough survey of Caspar David Friedrich's career to be staged in the United States, and is currently on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through May 11.

ByMichael Centore

Now 'Francis' belongs to the pages

The real Pope Francis will be the focus of many official and scholarly examinations, but Francis and the other characters in the comic strip will also have a place among other beloved cartoon characters that live forever.

ByPat Marrin

Martin Scorsese and Pope Francis teamed to produce a documentary called 'Aldeas — A New Story'

Martin Scorsese is producing a documentary made with Pope Francis that will chronicle the late pontiff's work with cinema in the global educational movement he founded before his death.

ByJake Coyle, Associated Press

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Who gets to speak on the Catholic internet – and who doesn't?

Bourbon-plumped currants enhance the flavor of hot cross buns for Easter

Book Reviews

'Bending Toward Justice' raises a prophetic call for synodality and community

A woman holds an image of then-Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost in front of the Cathedral of St. Mary in Chiclayo, Peru, May 8, 2025, after he was elected the pope at the Vatican and chose the name Leo XIV. As an Augustinian priest, he spent many years as a missionary in Peru. (OSV News/Reuters/Diego Torres Menchola)

Few know Pope Leo XIV like these Augustinian sisters from Peru's Catholic community

"He has shared meals with us, celebrated with us, accompanied us, encouraged us, and that is moving for us, because he has done so in his simplicity, with trust, with prayer," one sister said.

A Latin American sister waits in St. Peter’s Square after white smoke signals the election of a new pope at the Vatican May 8. (GSR photo/Rhina Guidos)

Leo XIV a surprise from the Spirit, say Latin American sisters

"The spirit continues to blow where she wills," writes Sr. Helga Leija. "And this time, she has done so through a multicultural pope with a missionary soul and a universal heart."

By
Columns

Dear brother, Pope Leo XIV

 "We, in the reality of daily life, need a brother who treats us as sisters," Sr. Magda Bennasar writes. "We pray that it will be so." 

By
Columns

The gaze that sees: When Pope Francis met with women deprived of their freedom

In 2018, Pope Francis visited the San Joaquín women's prison in Chile. Sr. Lourdes López Munguía recounts how his gaze and a heartfelt song by the inmates left an indelible mark on those who experienced that encounter.

ByLourdes López Munguía

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Sisters respond with joy to election of Pope Leo XIV

Sisters hopeful synodal process of 'walking together' will continue under new pope

Where are sisters during the conclave? This year, at UISG general assembly

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