Pope Leo XIV's visit to Argentina comes amid allegations of sexual abuse and other crimes involving Catholic clergy and lay members, with survivors demanding stronger action from the Vatican against those accused or convicted.
With more than a million expected to see him in France, Pope Leo XIV is set to make quite the splash during his four-day trip to the country, long thought to be hostile to the realm of religion.
First elected as a Reagan Republican to the U.S. House in 1984, the outgoing governor has staked out positions sometimes at odds with the national party and largely supports official church stances.
Arguably the most influential Catholic monk since Thomas Merton, Brother David Steindl-Rast has carried Benedictine spirituality into the modern world. This week, he turned 100 years old.
In partnership with the church, the Russian government presents itself as a defender of "traditional values." The campaign is also meant to raise the birth rate, a goal the Kremlin treats as a matter of national survival.
When white smoke billowed out of the Sistine Chapel last May, NCR's former Vatican correspondent Christopher White was there. White thought it would be Robert Prevost: "His election may have been a surprise, but he isn't."
The notion of the leader of the Catholic Church playing a word game, lingering at a parishioner's kitchen table, or going to a ballgame does make him seem more human. And this ordinariness can be a model for us.
Growing up in Chicago and then attending seminary in Michigan as a young teenager, Robert Prevost would have been aware of change taking place in both his hometown and the church.
