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Community attendees wave flags during a community forum at Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in the Archdiocese of Baltimore April 30.

Baltimore Catholic parishioners call closure plan a 'punch in the stomach'

News

The Archdiocese of Baltimore's plan to close about two-thirds of parishes in the city of Baltimore drew blistering criticism at a recent public forum.

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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

Excommunication is not the church's equivalent of capital punishment

Guest Voices

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

NCR Voices
(Pixabay/Gerd Altmann)

Brave new transhuman world? Ethical questions to consider amid AI advances

Guest Voices

Advances in technology and AI raise fundamental questions: When do assistive technologies cross a line and become something else? What does this imply about human nature, human dignity and being created in God's image?

Your letters: Bishop Gumbleton, Word on Fire, women's ordination

Letters to the Editor

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

Guest Voices
Religious artwork and vintage photographs adorn a wall behind a voter as he completes his ballot at a polling place inside St. Leo the Great Roman Catholic Church, Nov. 6, 2018, in Baltimore's Little Italy neighborhood. Evangelical support of Trump held strong in 2020 but shifted with nonreligious voters, according to analysts. (AP photo/Patrick Semansky)

Understanding America's overlooked religious middle

Guest Voices

The overlooked religious middle is poised to play an outsized role in the 2024 presidential contest.

Vatican

Pope Francis and Brother Leo arrive at the G7 conference on artifical intelligence.
Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip: There are some blanks in AI knowledge.

Pope Francis and Brother Leo arrive at the G7 conference on artifical intelligence.
Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip: There are some blanks in AI knowledge.

ByPat Marrin
Pope Francis pictured in profile kissing pectoral cross held by aide.
Vatican News

Vatican norms for Jubilee indulgence include pilgrimage, penance, service

Pilgrims passing through the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica during the Holy Year 2025, going to confession, receiving Communion and praying for the intentions of the pope can receive an indulgence, but so can inmates in prison and those who work to defend human life or assist migrants and refugees.

ByCindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
Statues and roof in foreground, and in distance Pope Francis' window with banner.
Vatican News

Pope again calls for full prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine

"I renew my appeal for a general exchange of all the prisoners between Russia and Ukraine, assuring the willingness of the Holy See to favor any effort in this regard, especially for those who are gravely injured and ill," Pope Francis said after praying the "Regina Coeli" in St. Peter's Square May 12.

ByJustin McLellan, Catholic News Service

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

Vatican Museums staff challenge the pope with a legal bid for better terms and treatment

Vatican News

NY mayor hails Pope Francis as global 'influencer' ahead of Vatican meeting

Vatican News

Church needs theologians who grapple with modern world, pope says

Residents wade through flood waters as they recover their belongings in the Mathare Valley settlement of Nairobi, Kenya, April 24, after the Nairobi River burst its bank.
Faith

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

The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops has called for "swift action" and "generous acts of charity" to mitigate effects of flooding that has so far left more than 250 people dead and a trail of property damage.

"Food Program in Guatemala" by Oblate of St. Francis de Sales Br. Mickey McGrath
Viewpoints

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

I have taken a fresh look at our concept of the Earth as humanity's common mother and home. Some of my favorite women saints have inspired me with new levels of awareness and understanding. 

ByMickey McGrath
Priest and parishioners work in sunny garden.
Faith

Prayer garden at Arizona Catholic church nurtures the soul

One year ago St. James the Apostle Church in Coolidge stood in a sea of concrete, asphalt and gravel. Waves of heat streamed off sunbaked surfaces that blinded parishioners as they dashed from their cars to the shelter of the church.

ByCarissa Krautscheid, OSV News
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.

ByJustin McLellan, Catholic News Service

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Viewpoints

Holy See should champion Action for Climate Empowerment fund at COP29

Faith

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

Faith

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

Culture

"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. 

"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
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

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Jedi heresy on Star Wars Day: Wrong, Yoda was

What 'Bluey' teaches us about times of spiritual desolation

Book Reviews

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

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.

woman holds large shell to her ear

Listen to the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit

"We may have an inspiration or insight during prayer or in the course of the day," writes Sr. Lissy Maruthanakuzhy. "Let us not dismiss it … Stop and try to act on it. It might be the Holy Spirit leading us."

ByLissy Maruthanakuzhy
A water tank built by hand at Franciscan Sisters of Charity's compound in the Ifumbo district of Tanzania. (Courtesy of Sr. Senorina Lukwachala)

Hope and resilience among sisters in Tanzania

It was clear to me as I was with them, that the sisters cultivated hope that strengthened their resiliency, a kind of elasticity of spirit, a suppleness to spring back after being knocked down or crushed, not allowing pain to overwhelm and overshadow hope.

ByJoyce Meyer
Sr. Rosario Fumnal, a member of the Religious of Jesus and Mary from Spain, teaches preschool students in Haiti. (Patricia Dillon)

Sisters provide crucial support for Haitians in the midst of crisis

In Haiti's capital city, "they are literally in hell," says Sr. Jaqueline Picard. The effects of rampant gang violence in Port-au-Prince reach the rural communities where she and other Religious of Jesus and Mary serve.

By

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

2 visionary women, much like you and me

Nuns help empower women through handicrafts

Pandemic challenges open door to new training format

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