Heidi Schlumpf

Vatican City: The bishops of El Salvador will meet with Pope Francis on Oct. 15, the day after the canonization of martyred Archbishop Óscar Romero, and will invite the pope to visit the new saint’s tomb in their country.

Vatican City — A possible papal trip to North Korea would be “a gigantic step,” but North Korea must first “do the groundwork” before Pope Francis could go, a South Korean bishop said, adding that the pope “brings much fruit” wherever he goes.

The guilty verdict in the police shooting of Laquan McDonald is a "victory for Laquan and a victory for justice in Chicago," but the fight for greater justice in Chicago's poor, black neighborhoods continues, said a Chicago priest and anti-violence activist.

Morning Briefing: Kavanaugh vote in the Senate today, Nobel Peace Prize to activists against mass rape as weapon of war, and waiting for the decision in the Laquan McDonald shooting trial

The "Authentic Reform" conference ended with a call for like-minded organizations to band together to force church leaders to act against sexually active clergy, and those who abuse minors.

Theologians are seeing the urgency of doing public theology, a term coined by Lutheran theologian Martin Marty in the 1970s. But given the polarized political sphere, especially on social media, plus equally destabilizing controversies within the church, not to mention a lack of support from within academia, they are facing challenges in bringing their academic expertise into the public square.

Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, 88, who stepped down from active ministry this summer after credible allegations of sexual abuse of seminarians and children, has moved to a home for priests in Kansas to live out a "life of prayer and penance."

Morning Briefing: Pope asks Chinese Catholics to trust him, a longtime bishops’ advisor reveals abuse and a strange government choice for the Romero canonization

A liturgical canonist and teacher who had admitted abusing a minor while serving as an associate pastor in the United States is no longer teaching at the Canadian pontifical university where he had been a full professor.

Morning Briefing: Brooklyn Diocese part of $27.5 million sex abuse settlement, scandal hits Pope Francis’ popularity, Chicago priest burns a rainbow flag.

In tackling clergy sex abuse, the "Authentic Reform" schedule includes such topics as "Humanae Vitae as a Charter for Reform," "Purifying the Clergy" and "The Problem of Homosexuality."

John Huels, who has admitted he abused Michael Bland as a teenager, continues work as a liturgical canonist and a full professor at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Canada. 

Morning Briefing: Vatican visits about sex abuse, who’s not evacuating for Hurricane Florence and a surprising letter from Pope Benedict XVI

Morning Briefing: Trump comments on sex abuse scandal, Kavanaugh hearings continue today and U.S. accepting record low numbers of refugees.  

With surveys showing increasing numbers of young people leaving the church, it would seem recent abuse revelations would prompt a greater exodus. But young Catholics who spoke to NCR are not giving up.

Morning Briefing: Updates on news about the unfolding sex abuse crisis in the church

Chicago -- Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich urged his fellow bishops to hold one another accountable and accept leadership from lay people on issues related to clerical sex abuse, while also praising Pope Francis' response — or lack thereof — to accusations by his former ambassador to the U.S.

Reaction to an explosive letter from a former Vatican ambassador to the United States has been swift and predictably partisan, leaving many Catholics wondering whether the letter's uncorroborated allegations against high-ranking church officials — including Pope Francis — are true or not.

Morning Briefing: Trump’s “Watergate moment,” voices Pope Francis won’t hear in Ireland, controversy over a retreat for gay priests and more sex abuse reaction, including two statements to sign