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A sacramentary is seen on the altar during a traditional Tridentine Mass July 18, 2021, at St. Josaphat Church in the Queens borough of New York City.
Editorial

Editorial: Is the US church really taking 'a step back in time'?

Opinion

The future of Catholicism may not rest in the expressions of extreme conservatism afoot today, but the larger point should not be dismissed. Catholicism in the U.S. is in many ways a fractured enterprise. 

The Latest

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

The interior of the Church of St. Francis Xavier in Manhattan, New York (NCR photo/Camillo Barone)

#1
New York's St. Francis Xavier redefines acceptance in the Catholic Church

Explore the social justice and spiritual journey of Church of St. Francis Xavier, where inclusion, compassion and social outreach thrive, from celebrating LGBTQ lives to serving the homeless.

ByCamillo Barone
Word on Fire, a media organization led by Bishop Robert Barron, has sent a second letter to a Commonweal magazine, threatening again to sue the outlet and one of its contributors. Screengrabs of both letters are included in this graphic. (NCR graphic)

#2
Bishop Barron's Word on Fire again threatens Commonweal over article about Trumpism

Word on Fire, a nonprofit founded by Bishop Robert Barron, has again threatened Commonweal magazine over an article that questioned how Barron and his organization have engaged with former President Donald Trump's political movement.

ByBrian Fraga
Pope Francis, seated, smiles while listening to Maeve Heaney speak.
Vatican News

#3
Church needs theologians who grapple with modern world, pope says

"Tradition is living" and not stagnant, Pope Francis wrote, and it must continually shape and take root in every part of the world and in every culture. 

ByCindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

#4
Cleveland priest at center of Vatican II altar damage previously accused of abuse

#5
'Cop cities' are on the rise. Catholics should be concerned.

#6
'A step back in time': America's Catholic Church sees an immense shift toward the old ways

Opinion

'Stay in your lane!' says KC football player far outside his lane

Guest Voices

Editorial: Is the US church really taking 'a step back in time'?

Editorial
Pope Francis prays with members of the International Network of Societies for Catholic Theology in the library of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican May 10, 2024. (CNS/Vatican Media)

Remembering the purpose and goal of academic theology

Guest Voices

Fr. Daniel P. Horan reflects on Pope Francis' recent remarks to the leadership team of the International Network of Societies for Catholic Theology, which includes more than 20 member societies from across five continents.

Polling disparities between Biden and popular Dems highlight opportunity for party

NCR Voices

Excommunication is not the church's equivalent of capital punishment

Guest Voices
Janet Robinson and her memoir, It Looked This Way to Me (Courtesy of Luminare Press; background photo: Wikimedia Commons/Arnaud Fafournoux)

Mrs. Robertson's memoir spotlights the life of an (extra)ordinary person

NCR Voices

NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters' childhood Latin teacher shares the struggles as well as the joys of her life in this compelling and consoling memoir.

Vatican

Cardinal bends over table to sign document, with others in background.
Vatican News

Cardinal Parolin says Vatican will attend Ukraine peace summit

The shooting of Slovakia's prime minister and the intensified Russian attacks on northeastern Ukraine are signs of a generalized increase in violence and a lack of a real commitment to dialogue and peace, said the Vatican secretary of state.

Francis, the comic strip: Will the synod meetings arise to a new Pentecost?
Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip: Will the synod meetings arise to a new Pentecost?

ByPat Marrin
The Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium is pictured in 2012. (Wikimedia Commons/MaelaC)
View from the Vatican

Why does Pope Francis want to go to Belgium?

Pope Francis is planning to visit Belgium this September. The reason for the trip isn't exactly clear, even if it's welcome.

ByChristopher White
For the next four years at least, central Piazza Venezia and its Imperial Forum-flanked boulevard to the Colosseum are scheduled to be congested and blighted by giant, 14-meter high green silos that are needed for theonstruction site of a major underground hub in central Piazza Venezia in Rome May 9. (AP/Alessandra Tarantino)
Vatican News

Vatican and Rome begin dash to 2025 Jubilee with papal bull, construction

In an official edict May 9, Pope Francis described his vision for the 2025 Jubilee as a year of hope. He asked for gestures of solidarity for the poor, prisoners, migrants and Mother Nature.

ByNicole Winfield, The Associated Press

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

Vatican has made progress on listening to women, says Australian diplomat

Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip

Vatican News

Vatican norms for Jubilee indulgence include pilgrimage, penance, service

Valderci Trindade, 24, who lost his house, tries to save useful items May 14, 2024, in an area flooded by heavy rains in the Serraria neighborhood of Porto Alegr in Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state. (OSV News photo/Diego Vara, Reuters)
Faith

Church members help people displaced by Brazil floods, form solidarity networks for assistance

The unprecedented storms devastating vast areas in Brazil since the end of April have displaced more than half a million people. Members of the Catholic Church are calling on government authorities to develop policies to rebuild destroyed communities and family farms.

Pope, seated, smiles amid discussion with standing mayor.
Politics

Pope urges global leaders, U.S. governors to take urgent climate action

Pope Francis urged three U.S. governors and a group of mayors from around the world to work with international partners in developing a "holistic" approach to climate action that reduces emissions and combats inequality.

ByJustin McLellan, Catholic News Service
View of tall trees from below (Unsplash/Voicu Apostol)
Viewpoints

How contemplation is making me a better climate activist

Where do we find the wherewithal to persevere in long-term work that requires dramatic change in us and in the systems around us? Could my relationship with God be instrumental in supporting my climate activism?

ByTom Volkert
Governor seated in rowed seating before screen, mid-speech.
Politics

At Vatican conference, Massachusetts governor announces Climate Careers Fund

Faith leaders must collaborate with public and private partners to set an example on combating climate change for the communities they serve, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said while standing in the Vatican Gardens.

ByJustin McLellan, Catholic News Service

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Science

Climate change is affecting mental health literally everywhere

Faith

Kenya's Catholic bishops call on government for urgent response to floods

Viewpoints

3 female saints teach that Earth is our common mother and home

Culture

A bust at China's Nihewan Museum celebrating Jesuit Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin overlooks the vast valley still under excavation.

New Teilhard de Chardin film produces thoughtful, inspiring biography

"Teilhard: Visionary Scientist," which debuts on Maryland PBS May 19, creates "the portrait of a man who was at once prophet, priest, Jesuit, scientist and mystic," writes Sr. Rose Pacatte. 

The Gordon B. Lankton Gallery located in the upper level of the Icon Museum and Study Center in Clinton, Massachusetts, the only museum in the United States devoted to icons and Eastern Christian art. (Michael Centore)

Icon Museum and Study Center fosters spiritual and aesthetic contemplation

The Icon Museum and Study Center is a U.S. museum devoted to icons and Eastern Christian art. Walking through the galleries spread over three levels was as much a prayerful experience as an aesthetic one.

ByMichael Centore
"The Artist's Daughter, Julie, with her Nanny" (circa 1884) by the French Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) (Artvee)
Book Reviews

New book celebrates 'revolution of tenderness' mother artists create

Catherine Ricketts' The Mother Artist: Portraits of Ambition, Limitation, and Creativity is an excavation of the many questions, frustrations and, ultimately, gifts of a culture that welcomes mothers who make art. 

ByElizabeth Hamilton
A still from the first chapter of “Hermanas de Corazón” (Sisters of the Heart), a Spanish-language documentary on Venerable Mary Lange and her Oblate Sisters of Providence's work in Cuba

Film on Oblate Sisters of Providence's Cuban ministry now streaming

The founder of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, Venerable Mary Lange, was raised in Cuba before coming to America. A 2021 film explores the Oblates' work there after Lange's death. 

ByNate Tinner-Williams, Black Catholic Messenger

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

New film 'Irena's Vow' highlights the bravery of a historical Catholic figure

Jedi heresy on Star Wars Day: Wrong, Yoda was

What 'Bluey' teaches us about times of spiritual desolation

outline of a woman's head and shoulders, surrounded by red flames

What do you do when you know you are fire?

"There are angels in our backyard," writes Sr. Joan Sauro. "They hover in the silence of the large maple tree, with now and then, a slight stir, just to say, we're here. Angels in our backyard tree." 

Sr. Lourdes Mary Rozario teaches and supervises a class in the Mohammadpur area of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Congregation of Our Lady of the Missions Sisters started the Green Herald Evening Charity School program for Bihari children in 1982. (Photo by Stephan Uttom Rozario)

Sisters play a vital role in educating Muslim Bihari refugees in Bangladesh

Biharis, the majority of which are Urdu-speaking Muslims, have challenges when it comes to education and understanding the Bengali language. Highly educated Biharis make up less than 2% of the refugee camp population in Dhaka. 

By
Detail of a 16th-century Portuguese painting of Pentecost by an unknown artist (Wikimedia Commons/Jose Goncalves)

What would change in a church united through the Holy Spirit? Everything!

At the first Pentecost, the desire of God "that all may be one" came about through the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us ponder another area in which this prophecy could be and should be fulfilled: the Catholic Church.

By
Columns

Angels on the road

Through her encounters with migrants fleeing violence and extortion, and crossing the border between the U.S. and Mexico, Sr. Clara Malo Castrillón found parallels with the Book of Tobit, written 2,000 years ago.

By

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Listen to the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit

Hope and resilience among sisters in Tanzania

Sisters provide crucial support for Haitians in the midst of crisis

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