Pope Leo XIV walks in a procession during Mass at Yaoundé-Ville Air Base in Yaoundé, Cameroon, April 18, 2026. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

Far from Rome, Pope Leo's missionary instincts take center stage

Vatican

"Leo has started to shed the soft-spoken reputation, raising his voice with a newfound fervor to decry the corruption and violence plaguing much of the African continent in messages that have rippled worldwide," writes NCR's Justin McLellan.

The Latest

Pope Leo XIV's visit to an African church linked to slavery reflects on his own complex heritage

Gerald Imray, Associated Press

Vatican ends canonization cause for Jesuit Fr. Walter Ciszek

Gina Christian, OSV News

Just war not 'a blank check for violence,' says Bishop Massa

Gina Christian

Editors' Choice

Michael J. O'Loughlin is pictured on the rooftop of the Jesuit Curia, with St. Peter's Basilica in the background, at the Vatican in September 2025. "Capturing the full range of experiences and individuals that make up the church is my goal as editor of NCR," writes O'Loughlin. (Courtesy of Michael J. O'Loughlin)

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Executive editor Michael J. O'Loughlin writes that a deep focus on news and analysis, with an emphasis on the ideals espoused during Vatican II, will guide his editorial vision for NCR.

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Most Read Stories

Detail of an icon of St. Augustine at Christ the King Cathedral in Superior Wis. (OSV News/The Crosiers/Gene Plaisted)

#1
St. Augustine is key to the difference between Pete Hegseth and Pope Leo

In the Christian tradition, the violent language found in the imprecatory psalms can never be separated from Jesus' command to love one's enemies. Scripture can never, as Peter Hegseth does, be marshaled to sanctify hatred.

ByKaren E. Park
In a joint interview with CBS's Norah O'Donnell on "60 Minutes" April 12, 2026, Cardinals Joseph Tobin of Newark, N.J., Robert McElroy of Washington, and Blase Cupich of Chicago, began by giving their impressions of the first U.S. pope, Pope Leo XIV. (OSV News screenshot/Facebook)

#2
Three cardinals stand with Pope Leo XIV in unprecedented interview

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, Washington, D.C. Cardinal Robert McElroy and Newark, New Jersey, Cardinal Joseph Tobin forcefully echoed Pope Leo XIV's calls for peace and repeated his, and their own, distress about the Trump administration's anti-immigrant policies.

ByMichael Sean Winters
Young worshippers with the Shalom Catholic Community attend Mass at San Damiano Mission in Brooklyn, New York, on Easter morning, April 5, 2026. (Courtesy of San Damiano Mission)

#3
Finding God in the Big Apple: Catholic missionaries reach out to young adults

In Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood, missionaries from the Shalom Catholic Community are working to help revitalize the church in the area. The missionaries, mostly millennials and Gen Z, reach out to people where they are.

ByRyan Byrnes

#4
Trump attacks Pope Leo in incendiary social media post

#5
Pentagon-Vatican meeting latest flash point in Trump's clash with religious leaders

#6
Dioceses, parishes take up Pope Leo's call to pray for peace, plan vigils for April 11

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Haiti convinced me that Pope Leo is right: Health care cannot be a luxury

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Trump's attack on NATO is the worst self-inflicted defeat of his tenure

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Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass at the Basilica of St. Augustine in Annaba, Algeria, April 14, 2026. (OSV News/Reuters/Guglielmo Mangiapane)

In reversal of nation's anti-Catholic past, Pope Leo defends US ideals against Trump

Guest Voices

For most of US history, Americans viewed the pope as a menace who harbored designs on the White House. Today, that menace is in the White House, and the pope is defending American ideals, writes Kathleen Sprows Cummings.

US bishops can't be judged by political timing

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Three cardinals stand with Pope Leo XIV in unprecedented interview

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Amid alienation and looksmaxxing, Vatican document offers young men purpose

NCR Voices

"A generation of young men who struggle to emulate aspirational standards of appearance are in dire need of the church's affirmation that they are just fine the way they are," writes Jeromiah Taylor. 

Vatican

Pope Leo XIV walks in a procession during Mass at Yaoundé-Ville Air Base in Yaoundé, Cameroon, April 18, 2026. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

Far from Rome, Pope Leo's missionary instincts take center stage

"Leo has started to shed the soft-spoken reputation, raising his voice with a newfound fervor to decry the corruption and violence plaguing much of the African continent in messages that have rippled worldwide," writes NCR's Justin McLellan.

Pope Leo XIV speaks to journalists aboard a flight on his way to Luanda, Angola, April 18, 2026. On the flight from Cameroon to Angola, the pope pushed back against a media narrative that has pitted him against President Donald Trump since the start of his 11-day apostolic journey to Africa. (OSV News/Luca Zennaro, pool via Reuters)
Vatican News

Pope Leo says he is 'not trying to debate' Trump, refocuses Africa trip on peace

"I primarily come to Africa as pastor, as head of the Catholic Church to be with, to celebrate with, to encourage and accompany, all of the Catholics throughout Africa," the pontiff said.

ByJustin McLellan
Pope Leo XIV speaks to the media as he leaves the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo to head back to the Vatican April 7, 2026. (OSV News/Reuters/Guglielmo Mangiapane)
Vatican News

Pope Leo upholds Vatican opposition to nuclear weapons despite Trump's 'weak' critique

The pope's repeated calls for a world without nuclear arms challenges the president's accusation that he has been soft on the nuclear issue.

ByBrian Roewe
Pope Leo XIV releases a dove with community representatives at the conclusion of a peace meeting at St. Joseph Cathedral in Bamenda, Cameroon, April 16, 2026. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

Pope calls out tyrants, corruption amid pause in Cameroon's deadly conflict

The pope celebrated his first large Mass in Africa, calling out those who "lay their hands on the African continent to exploit and plunder it."

ByJustin McLellan

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

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EarthBeat

Thi Mai sells fish at a market in Hue, Vietnam, on Apr. 4, 2026. She echoes a sentiment common among locals who believe the chemical alteration of the water after the Formosa marine disaster has stunted the growth and quality of the catch. (Photo: Reporter in Vietnam)

Vietnam's coastal Catholics hold the scars of Formosa disaster 10 years later

For the Catholic communities along the coastline devastated by the Formosa marine disaster in 2016, the "common home" described by Pope Francis in Laudato Si' remains a place of profound brokenness.

Indiana bishops put Eucharist at center of call to 'integral ecology' in new pastoral

The letter was commended by Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, who extended Pope Leo XIV's blessing to the bishops.

ByGina Christian, OSV News
Sr. Rose Nyondo, the program director for the Community Transformation Programme, and project coordinator Sr. Matilda Mubanga. The program, run by the Daughters of the Redeemer, promotes agricultural productivity in Chibombo and other areas in Zambia. (Derrick Silimina)

Daughters of the Redeemer pilot 'climate-smart' agricultural program in Zambia

In 2022, the Daughters of the Redeemer launched the Community Transformation Programme, which supports five Zambian villages with agricultural mentorship, nutrition programs, and water, sanitation and hygiene activities.

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Desiderio Vasquez, a local farmer, shows off a colorful cornucopia of the bounty cultivated and grown partly through a series of irrigation systems the community of Los Hornos, Honduras, built with the help of Catholic Relief Services and local partners. (NCR photo/Brian Roewe)

Green Climate Fund partnership opens access to millions for Catholic Relief Services

CRS announced its accreditation to the Green Climate Fund, which provides developing countries financing for projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to the impacts of a heating world.

ByBrian Roewe

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Culture

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Book Reviews

New book offers fresh perspective on work through a Catholic social teaching lens

NCR Book Club: Kate Ward's Making a Life expands commonly held understandings of work and reevaluates worker justice, looking at the whole person, not merely person-as-employee.

Adi Madden Cabrera, left, and McKenna Tuckett play Catholic school outcasts who start a punk band in "Edie Arnold is a Loser." (Katrina Wan PR)

Punk rock meets Catholicism in 'Edie Arnold Is a Loser'

Visually inventive and pulsating with youthful, vivacious energy, the film "Edie Arnold Is a Loser" might just be the first Catholic coming-of-age punk rock story.

ByZachary Lee
“Beyond Wellness: How Restoring the Religious Roots of Spiritual Practices Can Heal Us” and author Liz Bucar. (Photo © Liz Linder)
Book Reviews

Liz Bucar explores why the wellness industry has failed spiritual seekers

In 'Beyond Wellness,' religious ethics professor Liz Bucar makes the case for connecting yoga, meditation and other practices to their religious origins.

ByKathryn Post, Religion News Service
Natacha Karam and Minnie Driver as Hagar and Sarah in "The Faithful: Women of the Bible" (Fox)

Just how faithful is Fox's 'The Faithful: Women of the Bible'?

"The Faithful: Women of the Bible," a multi-episode biblical drama from Fox, spends a good deal of its run time on Sarah and Hagar. But important details stray from Scripture — and it matters.

ByAlli Bobzien

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The Black Catholic woman whose defiance on a bus predated Rosa Parks' action

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Third Sunday of Easter: Jesus shares the journey

Theologians' Corner - Even though the disciples on the road to Emmaus do not recognize Jesus, they invite him to remain with them. Perhaps they want to continue the hope-filled conversation.

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As long as the plant has nodes, life will emerge

In the garden, Sr. Corbin Hannah cultivates and tends hope, even amid overwhelm and heartache.

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A July 12, 2019, photo shows the UnitedHealthcare headquarters in Minneapolis. The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary have sued the company over its refusal to consider examining how its rapid growth and vertical integration affect health care in the U.S. (AP/Jim Mone)

Catholic nuns sue UnitedHealth Group, citing harm to health care access

"We think it's incumbent upon us to use our shareholder rights to ask the company to be transparent," Sr. Linda Haydock said. 

ByDan Stockman
A roadside billboard welcomes Holy Father Pope Leo XIV to Bamenda, Cameroon, April 14, 2026. (AP/Welba Yamo Pascal)

Nuns in Cameroon hope pope's visit opens path to peace amid fragile ceasefire

After nearly a decade of violence in the Anglophone region of Cameroon, women religious and residents say Pope Leo XIV's visit could help extend a temporary truce and revive hopes for reconciliation.

ByDoreen Ajiambo

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