Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican's foreign minister, walks in a procession to enter Phu Cam Cathedral in Hue for a Mass on April 12.
Vatican News

Vatican's top diplomat visits Vietnam, fueling speculation of Pope Francis visit

Vatican

The Vatican's foreign minister made a first-of-its kind visit to Vietnam, fueling speculation that Pope Francis may add an historic stop to the country during his September trip across Asia. 

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Focus

A voter drops a ballot paper into a drop box from his vehicle in San Diego during the Super Tuesday primary election March 5.

In Focus

It's an election year. What role should bishops play in politics?

Michael Sean Winters has advice for U.S. bishops ahead of this year's elections: "Does what I intend to say or do help unite the Body of Christ? And if the answer is no, it is better to say nothing at all." 

Most Read Stories

Richard B. Hays, left, and Christopher B. Hays, right. (Photos courtesy Duke, left, and Fuller, right)
Guest Voices
#1

Conservative Christians just lost their scholarly trump card on same-sex relationships

Theologian Richard Hays' reversal comes at a bad time for those who oppose accepting LGBTQ Christians.

ByJonathan Merritt, Religion News Service
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, speaks at a news conference to present the dicastery's declaration, "Dignitas Infinita" ("Infinite Dignity") on human dignity at the Vatican press office April 8, 2024. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)
Vatican News
#2

Vatican condemns surrogacy, gender-affirming surgery, gender theory in new doctrinal note

Sex change operations, gender theory and surrogate motherhood pose grave threats to human dignity — as does the criminalization of homosexuality — according to a major new Vatican document.

ByChristopher White
People carry a banner past the U.S. Supreme Court while participating in the 49th annual March for Life in Washington Jan. 21, 2022.
NCR Voices
#3

Trump is no champion for the pro-life cause

By aligning itself with Trump, the pro-life cause finds itself in a long line of people and causes damaged irreparably by hitching their bandwagon to the former president, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

ByMichael Sean Winters
#4

Vatican document on human dignity establishes theological guardrails

#5

In a church that has yet to deal justly with women, I stay a keeper of the vision

#6

A Latin Mass community moved in. Then wrecked a historic Vatican II altar.

Opinion

'Dignitas Infinita' and the limits of pastoral care

Guest Voices

Conservative Christians just lost their scholarly trump card on same-sex relationships

Guest Voices
A voter drops a ballot paper into a drop box from his vehicle in San Diego during the Super Tuesday primary election March 5.

It's an election year. What role should bishops play in politics?

NCR Voices

Michael Sean Winters has advice for U.S. bishops ahead of this year's elections: "Does what I intend to say or do help unite the Body of Christ? And if the answer is no, it is better to say nothing at all." 

Trump is no champion for the pro-life cause

NCR Voices

Tom Gumbleton was a bishop cut from a different cloth

Guest Voices
Letters to the Editor

Your letters: 'Dignitas Infinita,' and streaming the Eucharist

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the editor: NCR readers reply to articles on Vatican's new document, Dignitas Infinita, and Eucharistic streaming debates. 

Vatican

Pope Francis greets retired Pope Benedict XVI during an encounter for the elderly in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Sept. 28, 2014.
Vatican News

What did Pope Francis really think about Benedict XVI?

Listen: In The Vatican Briefing, Joshua McElwee and Christopher White discuss the Vatican's document "Dignitas Infinita." And they speak with a Vatican journalist about his book-length interview with Pope Francis. 

Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican's foreign minister, walks in a procession to enter Phu Cam Cathedral in Hue for a Mass on April 12.
Vatican News

Vatican's top diplomat visits Vietnam, fueling speculation of Pope Francis visit

The Vatican's foreign minister made a first-of-its kind visit to Vietnam, fueling speculation that Pope Francis may add an historic stop to the country during his September trip across Asia. 

ByJoachim Pham
Francis, the comic strip: St. Francis knew the secret medicine for a long, joyful life, and Francis plans to put it into practice!
Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip: St. Francis knew the secret medicine for a long, joyful life, and Francis plans to put it into practice!

ByPat Marrin
Cardinal pictures walking, with Swiss Guard in background.
Vatican News

Vatican warns of potential religious freedom violation in court case

The Vatican Secretariat of State sent a formal statement to the French Embassy to the Holy See reaffirming that Pope Francis had sent a top Vatican official to investigate a French religious congregation and warning that interference by a French civil court in an internal church matter could be a "serious violation" of religious freedom.

ByCarol Glatz, Catholic News Service

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

Pope pleads for military restraint in the Middle East

Vatican News

Cultivate solidarity through prayer, adoration, pope tells donors

Vatican News

Pope turns Rome catechism class into 'school of prayer'

Pope Francis greets members of the Italian Catholic Movement of Adult Scouts during a meeting at the Vatican April 13, 2023. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Faith

Seek contact with nature to change polluting lifestyles, pope says

Humanity must have more direct contact with nature to counter the modern lifestyles that are destroying the planet, Pope Francis told members of the Italian Catholic Movement of Adult Scouts during a meeting at the Vatican April 13.

 

Visitors hold up a flag from Peru in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican March 26, 2023. According to Vatican police, some 35,000 people gathered in the square to join Pope Francis in praying the Angelus. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Justice

Pope sides with Peruvian villagers who accused Catholic group of trying to steal their land

Pope Francis on April 13 sided with a group of Peruvian villagers who have complained that companies linked to a powerful South American church group have tried to evict them from their land using lawsuits and obscure land titling schemes.

 

ByGabriela Molina, The Associated Press
Despite a dry spell exceeding 30 days, the cowpea plants at Malala village in Beitbridge district, Zimbabwe, are still going strong. The leaves and peas supply families with more diverse nutrition options. Catholic Relief Services provided training and drought-resistant seeds to help farmers produce a harvest even during droughts. (CRS/Richard Savo)
Justice

Climate-impacted farmers in Zimbabwe get boost from Catholic agencies

As an El Niño-induced drought hits Zimbabwe's rural areas, Catholic agencies such as Caritas and Catholic Relief Services are exploring long term climate resilience solutions to address food security concerns.

ByMarko Phiri
Fordham University is one of 11 institutions nationwide selected for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program. (CNS/Fordham University/Michael Falco)
Justice

Fordham University set to invest in environmental justice with $50 million EPA grant

The largest grant ever awarded to Fordham University in its 183-year history is set to funnel millions of federal dollars to community organizations undertaking environmental justice projects across the Bronx and beyond.

ByBrian Roewe

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Justice

Brazil's Yanomami leader asks the Pope to support President Lula in reversing damage to the Amazon

Viewpoints

Human rights and human dignity demand climate action

Justice

New York Catholic Workers bring new growth with rooftop garden

Culture

Pope Francis touches the death wall at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, in this July 29, 2016, file photo.
Book Reviews

Rabbi finds hope, comfort in new book by his friend, Pope Francis

Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Pope Francis have studied and grieved the Holocaust together many times, but the pope's new memoir offered Skorka fresh insight into why they share a special concern about this painful issue. 

Siju David and friends were the subject of the movie "Manjummel Boys." (Courtesy of Siju David)

India's hit film 'Manjummel Boys' tells a resurrection story

I encountered God in the movie theater watching "Manjummel Boys." The true story behind it illustrates Jesus' words: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends."

ByLissy Maruthanakuzhy
Godzilla and Kong are pictured in Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures' "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire," a Warner Bros. Pictures release. (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire' contains surprising Easter wisdom

"Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" might be a fun two-hour escape from reality, but it spoke to writer Jonathan Tomick about accepting God's call to step into difficulty.

ByJonathan Tomick
Brittany Elmore of Houston poses for a photo with her daughter Brooklyn near a "Black Lives Matter" sign May 23, 2021.
Book Reviews

'Struggle for Racial Justice' urges Catholic conversions of hearts and minds

In The Catholic Church and the Struggle for Racial Justice, Mathew Kappadakunnel offers a unique perspective as a first-generation American of South Indian descent who has wrestled with his own call to anti-racism work. 

ByAlessandra Harris

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Katie Pruitt probes life as 'recovering Catholic' on new album

Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' is a requiem and resuscitation of a genre

Book Reviews

Philip Berrigan's revolutionary words live on in new collection

Yellow daffodils (Unsplash/Yoksel Zok)

Follow the daffodil. There is only light in front of us.

Sometimes it's hard to gain perspective. But wisdom is all around me if only I take that long, loving look at the real. Take time during spring, whenever it arrives where you live, to watch the emergence of life.

Sr. Fébronie Kamana of the Oblates of the Holy Spirit in Rwanda started as a music learner because she has never had any formal musical education. (Courtesy of Aimable Twahirwa)

Q & A with Sr. Fébronie Kamana, who uses music as a bridge to spirituality

As a nun on the Rwanda music scene who has composed popular praise and worship songs, Sr. Fébronie Kamana of the Oblates of the Holy Spirit in Rwanda is a talent to keep tabs on.

By
Siju David and friends were the subject of the movie "Manjummel Boys." (Courtesy of Siju David)

India's hit film 'Manjummel Boys' tells a resurrection story

I encountered God in the movie theater watching "Manjummel Boys." The true story behind it illustrates Jesus' words: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends."

ByLissy Maruthanakuzhy
The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati partnered with other religious congregations in their region to place an anti-gun violence billboard along Interstate 75.

Monday Starter: Sisters in Cincinnati sponsor billboard against gun violence

Monday Starter: "Inaction in the face of this epidemic is unacceptable," Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati and other congregations said in a statement announcing a billboard message to end gun violence and promote peace. 

ByDan Stockman

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

At burial ground for unidentified migrants, sisters pray for the dead

Vocation is one call after another

Prayer vigil for Gaza reveals power and poverty of nonviolent action

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