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Migrants from a nearby encampment can take free clothing through the work of parishioners at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Brooklyn. The clothing site takes place in the parish meeting hall. (Courtesy of St. Thomas Aquinas Church)

Brooklyn parish serves migrants amid city's crisis: 'It's about living the Gospel'

News

St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Brooklyn is located near an encampment with about 2,000 migrants. Amid the ongoing debate on immigration, the parish works to help the migrants and live out its social justice mission.

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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."

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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

#1
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
People receive communion during Catholic Mass at Benedictine College Dec. 3, 2023, in Atchison, Kansas. Many students, many of whom grew up in conservative Catholic families, jokingly call it “the Benedictine bubble.” And it might be a window into the future of the Catholic Church in America. (AP/Charlie Riedel)

#2
'A step back in time': America's Catholic Church sees an immense shift toward the old ways

Generations of Catholics who embraced the modernizing tide sparked in the 1960s by Vatican II are increasingly giving way to religious conservatives who believe the church has been twisted by change, with the promise of eternal salvation replaced by casual indifference to church doctrine.

ByTim Sullivan, Associated Press
Pope Francis speaks during the traditional greetings to the Roman Curia in the Sala Clementina (Clementine Hall) of the Apostolic Palace, at the Vatican, on Dec. 22, 2016. (AP/Gregorio Borgia, Pool)
Guest Voices

#3
Pope Francis needs to stop treating Vatican officials like princes

The only way to kill the papal court is to stop making Vatican officials bishops and cardinals, says Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese.

ByThomas Reese, Religion News Service

#4
Bishop Barron's Word on Fire is too thin-skinned for its own good

#5
Commonweal magazine edits article after legal threat from Bishop Barron's Word on Fire

#6
The rise and fall of 'Father Justin' highlights Catholic sexism

Opinion

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

Guest Voices

Understanding America's overlooked religious middle

Guest Voices
President John F. Kennedy is pictured with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican July 2, 1963. In a 1960 speech, Kennedy, then a presidential candidate, sought to assure voters that Catholic leaders would not influence his policies.

What would JFK think of Catholics and today's US politics?

Guest Voices

"It seems very much as though the U.S. bishops reject the position that won the election for John Kennedy and credibility for Catholics in U.S. politics," writes Steven P. Millies. 

In Ukraine, life during wartime takes a spiritual toll

Guest Voices

Despair in the Holy Land

Guest Voices
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, holds up a copy of the dicastery's declaration, Dignitas Infinita ("Infinite Dignity") on human dignity during a news conference April 8 at the Vatican press office. (CNS/Pablo Esparza)

The problems with criticisms of 'Dignitas Infinita'

NCR Voices

The document clearly and repeatedly affirms the dignity of every human person. These critics seem to suggest it is impossible to affirm the dignity of the person without also accepting the critics' theories.

Vatican

Francis, the comic strip: College students learn about the real world the hard way. But what are they learning?
Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip: College students learn about the real world the hard way. But what are they learning?

Fr. Tomas Halik, second from left, speaks at a meeting of parish priests as part of the ongoing process for the Synod of Bishops April 29 at Sacrofano, outside of Rome. Other speakers at the table, from left, are: Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín, synod undersecretary; Canadian Fr. Gilles Routhier; and María Lía Zervino, sociologist and former president of the World Union of Catholic Women's Organizations. (CNS/Courtesy of the Synod of Bishops)
Vatican News

Catholicism must reject 'heresy of triumphalism,' says noted Czech priest

Noted Czech theologian Fr. Tomas Halik helped lead a Vatican gathering for some 200 parish priests about the ongoing synod process. He told NCR he was encouraged by the open and frank discussions that took place.

ByChristopher White
Enormous image of divine mercy, flanked by smaller canvases of St. Faustina and clerical sponsor, hang above altar while Mass is celebrated.
Vatican News

Vatican to publish updated norms for investigating alleged apparitions

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith will publish its new norms for the discernment of apparitions and other supernatural phenomena May 17, the Vatican press office said.

ByCindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
Everyone loves the pope.
Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip: "See everything, ignore a lot, change a little."

ByPat Marrin

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

Pope urges reparation to the Sacred Heart, including for abuse crisis

Vatican News

Pope calls pastors to be 'missionaries of synodality'

Vatican News

Jordan's king promises pope Christian holy sites will be protected

Pope Francis stands among conference attendees in large hall.
Faith

Despite economic interests, society must embrace social justice, pope says

While the forces of a market economy may obstruct people from advancing social justice, society cannot remain mute in the face of unjust labor practices and exploitative economic structures, Pope Francis said.

A man displays a sign that reads, "Climate education now," on Nov. 17, 2022, at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. (AP/Peter Dejong)
Viewpoints

Holy See should champion Action for Climate Empowerment fund at COP29

The ACE work stream and the Vatican's ecological education framework share the goal of empowering society to implement climate solutions, and both address intergenerational justice through capacity-building of youth.

ByJohn Leo Algo
Conflagration rages up hillside.
Faith

How ‘apocalypse’ became a secular as well as religious idea

By tracing what events the media describe as “apocalyptic,” we can gain insight into our changing fears about potential catastrophes. 

ByErik Bleich, Christopher Star, Religion News Service
Cows are pictured in a file photo grazing on a farm just outside Postville, Iowa. For the past 100 years, Catholic Rural Life, based in St. Paul, Minn., has ministered to Catholics who live and work in a rural setting. (OSV News photo/CNS file, Bob Roller)
Faith

Catholic Rural Life marks a century and plans to sow seeds for another 100 years

For the past 100 years, Catholic Rural Life has ministered to Catholics who live and work in a rural setting. The St. Paul-based national organization receives support from 80 dioceses. It now has members in 45 states.

ByOSV News

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Faith

Inspired by Laudato Si', Catholics in Bangladesh work to protect environment

Justice

Catholic sisters urge Citigroup to assess climate, human rights policies

Faith

Pittsburgh parish creation care group hosts Earth Day fair

Culture

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. 

Sophie Nélisse, left, as Irena Gut in a scene from "Irena's Vow" (Courtesy of Quiver Distribution)

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

Louise Archambault's film "Irena's Vow" tells the true story of Irena Gut, a devout Polish Catholic who risked her life by hiding 12 Jews in the basement of a Nazi major's residence where she was a housekeeper. 

ByClare McCallan
Jedi Master Yoda listens in a scene from the movie "Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones." (CNS/Lucasfilm)

Jedi heresy on Star Wars Day: Wrong, Yoda was

"Do or do not," Yoda said in "The Empire Strikes Back." "There is no 'try.' " But what does the Gospel have to say?

ByMark Piper
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. 

ByEric Clayton

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Book Reviews

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

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

Book Reviews

New book takes readers 'On Retreat With Pope Francis'

Zoom training session

Pandemic challenges open door to new training format

The COVID-19 pandemic limited traveling. But through online sessions, many more sisters can now benefit from educational programs than the few who were chosen to travel in the past.

Sr. Nijole Sadunaite, photographed in April 2023

'I will remain faithful': The love of Sr. Nijole Sadunaite

n an interview a year before her death, Sr. Nijole Sadunaite recounted her time in a Soviet prison camp, seeming to dismiss years of persecution as nothing too out of the ordinary. 

By
Sr. Cordelia Anekwem sits in the chapel of the Tertiary Sisters of St. Francis in Gboko, Nigeria, Jan. 31. (GSR photo/Valentine Benjamin)

Q&A with Sr. Cordelia Anikwem, who cares for elders in Nigeria

ByValentine Benjamin
Visitation Sr. Marie Louise Kirkland holds the pigskin with Washington Redskins player Gus Frerotte on her 97th birthday in 1996. Others are (from left) Sr. Mada-anne Gell, Sr. Philomena Tisinger, Sr. Mary Berchmans Hannan and Sr. Anne Marie Di Menno.

Why notable Catholic sisters need Wikipedia pages, and how to create them

Carole Sargent "wanted to see sisters' lives in places where everyone might find them." So she puts Catholic sisters' biographies on Wikipedia and invites sisters and friends of sisters to join the effort. 

ByCarole Sargent

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

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

Understanding the Easter mysteries we just celebrated

Q&A with Sr. Anne Marie Lamoureux, on inviting marginalized people on retreat

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