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Pope Francis greets Cynthia Bailey Manns, a synod member and director of adult learning at St. Joan of Arc Parish in Minneapolis, before a session of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops Oct. 17, 2023, at the Vatican. (CNS/Vatican Media)

Amid synod process, Catholics continue to call for expanded church roles for women

News

Calls for fuller participation of women in church leadership have been heard throughout the multi-year synod process. Now, as the process has moved into its next phase, the call for expanded roles for women continues.

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Editors' Choice

Focus

Pope Francis greets people as he rides the popemobile around St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 25. Francis sent a brief letter to Drachma Parents April 30, responding to their criticism of a Vatican document that condemned gender theory and gender-affirming surgeries. Their original letter to Francis was dated April 23. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

In Focus

Pope responds with 'open heart' to Vatican document criticism from parents of LGBTQ children

Pope Francis has written to a group of parents of LGBTQ persons, responding to their criticism of a Vatican document that condemned gender theory and gender-affirming surgeries. He told them he received their critique with an "open heart."

Most Read Stories

(Unsplash/Alice Donovan Rouse)
Guest Voices

#1
Catholic students, theologians, ministers write an open letter to Pope Francis

"We love this church, we love our Catholic faith," but "personally, professionally and ministerially, we are concerned with Dignitas Infinita's statements on gender theory and sex change," they write.

By
Pope Francis greets people as he rides the popemobile around St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 25. Francis sent a brief letter to Drachma Parents April 30, responding to their criticism of a Vatican document that condemned gender theory and gender-affirming surgeries. Their original letter to Francis was dated April 23. (CNS/Lola Gomez)
Vatican News

#2
Pope responds with 'open heart' to Vatican document criticism from parents of LGBTQ children

Pope Francis has written to a group of parents of LGBTQ persons, responding to their criticism of a Vatican document that condemned gender theory and gender-affirming surgeries. He told them he received their critique with an "open heart."

ByChristopher White
Pope Francis speaks to members of the Italian Catholic Action lay association gathered in St. Peter's Square during a meeting at the Vatican April 25, 2024. (CNS/Lola Gomez)
Vatican News

#3
Pope asks lay Catholics to prepare for synod's 'prophetic' stage

The most important outcome of the current Synod of Bishops on synodality is the synodal process itself and not the hot-button topics discussed, Pope Francis said.

ByJustin McLellan, Catholic News Service

#4
'It's a different time': Relations between US sisters, Vatican have changed radically

#5
With the red heifer ceremony, God purifies the people through the earth

#6
Candace Owens converts to Catholicism

Opinion

The rise and fall of 'Father Justin' highlights Catholic sexism

Guest Voices

Bishop Barron's Word on Fire is too thin-skinned for its own good

NCR Voices
Letters to the Editor

Your letters: Bishop Barron, 'Dignitas Infinita,' Gaza coverage

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the editor: NCR readers reply to articles on Bishop Barron and Commonweal, Dignitas Infinita, and LGBTQ+ issues. 

In 'Dignitas Infinita,' the Vatican defends people, not politics

Guest Voices

Pope Francis needs to stop treating Vatican officials like princes

Guest Voices
Members of the New York Catholic Worker community are pictured outside St. Patrick's Cathedral during one of their Sunday witness actions. (Courtesy of Liam Myers)

On Gaza, NY Catholic Worker community echoes Pope Francis: 'Please! Stop the war.'

Guest Voices

Like many others, we in the New York City Catholic Worker community do not know what to do in the midst of our heartbreak and deep sorrow for all lives lost in Israel and Palestine.

Vatican

Francis, the comic strip: Francis saw some art at a women's prison in Venice. To him, art is prophetic!
Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip: Francis saw some art at a women's prison in Venice. To him, art is prophetic!

Frame filled with aerial view of enormous crowd
Vatican News

Fear is the great nemesis of faith, pope says at general audience

"Here, then, is the great enemy of faith: it is not intelligence, it is not reason, as, alas, some continue obsessively to repeat," Francis said. The enemy is "simply fear."

ByCarol Glatz, Catholic News Service
Loretto Sister Jeannine Gramick, seen in this 2001 file photo, and Pope Francis, are seen in this composite photo. (CNS composite; photos by Nancy Wiechec and Paul Haring)
Vatican News

After Vatican text, pope tells Jeannine Gramick: Trans people 'must be accepted'

Loretto Sr. Jeannine Gramick recently wrote to Pope Francis to express disappointment with a new Vatican document that condemned "gender ideology." Francis told Gramick: "Transgender people must be accepted and integrated into society."

ByJeannine Gramick
Members of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops start a working session in the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall Oct. 18.
Vatican News

Pope's study groups reflect evolving nature of synod process, theologians say

 Pope Francis has now established 10 working groups to study some of the most controversial issues that have emerged in the Synod of Bishops. Theologians say it is difficult to assess what their impact might be.

ByChristopher White

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

Pope responds with 'open heart' to Vatican document criticism from parents of LGBTQ children

Vatican News

Global group of pastors looks at parishes, synodality and mission

Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip

Sr. Susan Francois speaks April 22 in New York at a hearing held by environmental leaders to examine Citigroup's record on environmental racism.
Justice

Catholic sisters urge Citigroup to assess climate, human rights policies

A shareholder's resolution led by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace calls for Citigroup to examine its efforts to respect the human rights of Indigenous people in the projects it finances and invests in. 

Roberta Zolkoski welcomes visitors to the Earth Day Community Resources Fair at St. Teresa of Kolkata parish, St. Catherine of Siena church, in Pittsburgh.
Faith

Pittsburgh parish creation care group hosts Earth Day fair

St. Teresa of Kolkata Parish houses the Diocese of Pittsburgh's only care for creation group. Its resources fair April 27 explored ways people can live more in line with Laudato Si'. 

ByTheresa Doerfler
A woman walks past couches in the Kamuchiri village of Mai Mahiu in central Kenya's Nakuru County April 29, 2024, after heavy flash floods wiped out several homes when a dam burst, following heavy rains. (OSV News photo/Thomas Mukoya, Reuters)
Faith

Kenyan archbishop appeals for humanitarian aid as floods devastate the country

Amid severe floods in Kenya, rescue operations were continuing April 29 as the death toll surpassed 120 people due to excessive rains and floods linked to the continuing El Nino phenomenon in East Africa. Archbishop Anthony Muheria of Nyeri appealed for humanitarian support to aid thousands of displaced people.

ByFredrick Nzwili, OSV News
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, is seen in this screen grab reading Pope Francis' speech for the inauguration of the Faith Pavilion at COP28, the U.N. Climate Change Conference, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Dec. 3.
Viewpoints

The Vatican should do more to influence UN climate action

Paris Agreement pledges alone won't reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Vatican can respond with an initiative based on the work of the Laudato Si' Action Platform and the competencies of Catholic universities. 

ByGriffin Thompson

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Viewpoints

Black Elk, White Buffalo Woman and the mystery of the red heifer ceremony

Viewpoints

With the red heifer ceremony, God purifies the people through the earth

Justice

How clean water and faith go hand in hand

Culture

The Heeler family in the Disney+ show "Bluey" includes parents Bandit and Chilli, and daughters Bluey and Bingo.

What 'Bluey' teaches us about times of spiritual desolation

What St. Ignatius of Loyola insists — and what Bluey's father, Bandit Heeler displays — is that when in a state of spiritual desolation, making a rash decision is never the answer. 

A reader holds folded hands on top of an open Bible that lays on a wooden surface. (Unsplash/Jametlene Reskp)
Book Reviews

'The Hero and the Whore' invites us to consider the lens we bring to the Bible

The Hero and the Whore: Reclaiming Healing and Liberation through the Stories of Sexual Exploitation in the Bible asks readers to shed the patriarchal lens through which most of us have read and studied the Bible.

ByNatalie Alfaro Frazier
Black and white concert photo

Why you might have heard Paul Simon’s ‘The Sound of Silence’ at Spanish Mass

‘The Sound of Silence’ version of the ‘Our Father’ has been widespread throughout Latin America and U.S. Latino communities for the last few decades.

ByAleja Hertzler-McCain, Religion News Service
Pope Francis prays during the Good Friday Liturgy of the Lord's Passion in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican March 29. (CNS/Vatican Media)
Book Reviews

New book takes readers 'On Retreat With Pope Francis'

Book review: In First Belong to God: On Retreat With Pope Francis, Austen Ivereigh offers a retreat based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and delivering a compelling summary of Pope Francis' theology.

ByMaryanne Hannan

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Regina King stands out in uneven biopic about political trailblazer Shirley Chisholm

Book Reviews

'Righting the American Dream' spotlights lingering damage of Reagan presidency

Book Reviews

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

Columns

GSR en español: One year of reaching sisters in Latin America

While we're thrilled with the growth we've established in the first year of GSR en español, we're more excited thinking about all that can still be done to expand our international readership — all with the power of language.

Asrar Jaber, left, and Dominican Sr. Quincy Howard celebrated Christmas at the Mound, the motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, Wisconsin, in 2018.

My Muslim sister provides glimpse into a path to peace

"My Muslim sister gives me a glimpse into a path to peace," writes Sr. Quincy Howard. "There is a way to sit with the pain while praying for love and healing to displace hatred and violence." 

By
Sr. Laure Blanchon is pictured in this photo. Seven women theologians recently published a book in France called Reform or Die, exploring ways for the Catholic Church to build a new future.(Courtesy of Laure Blanchon)

Q&A with Sr. Laure Blanchon, listening to voices of the vulnerable

Sr. Laure Blanchon of the Ursulines of the Roman Union met with GSR in Paris to discuss how the French Catholic church can reform and be faithful to its mission, in the wake of abuse revelations.

ByElisabeth Auvillain
Francesca DiPaola, Claire Halbur, Eseni Ellington, Christie Young and Stacey Jackson are the five young women who visited three religious communities while being filmed for "The Sisterhood" in 2014.

"The Sisterhood: Becoming Nuns" 10 years later

 People on both sides of the reality-TV discernment journey claim significant benefits from the experience, even though none of the young women from the show actually became a nun.

ByTheresa Doerfler

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

10 years of a 'great adventure' at Global Sisters Report

GSR amplifies voices and activities of African sisters beyond the continent

Sr. Teresita Weind, tireless advocate for Black sisters, dies at 81

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