Pope Leo XIV meets with abuse victims at the Apostolic Nunciature in Madrid June 8, 2026, during his June 6-12 apostolic journey to Spain. During the conversation, which lasted nearly an hour, each of six victims, drawing on their own experiences, offered Leo suggestions on how to make the church's response to such cases more effective. (OSV News/Vatican Media/Simone Risoluti)

Pope Leo meets with victims as Spanish church reckons with sex abuse crisis

Vatican

Pope Leo XIV met with victims of clergy sex abuse Monday in Madrid, engaging with the abuse crisis that has loomed large over the papal visit. But the issue of clergy abuse remains far from settled in Spain.

The Latest

Q&A with Sr. Agnes Onwudiwe on her early calling and work with children in Nigeria

Valentine Benjamin
The Leo Chronicles

The Leo Chronicles: World Cup

Pat Marrin

Indigenous, Church leaders hold 'knowledge-sharing' meeting on 'Doctrine of Discovery'

Cindy Wooden, OSV News

Editors' Choice

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, now president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Bishop James S. Wall of Gallup, New Mexico, share a light moment during a break June 16, 2023, at the bishops' spring plenary assembly in Orlando, Florida. The conference's 2026 spring assembly will be held in Orlando June 10-12, with public sessions scheduled for June 10 and 11. (OSV News/Bob Roller)

In Focus

At US bishops' conference this week, the tea leaves will be in 3 key speeches

U.S. bishops are gathering in Orlando for their annual spring meeting. The agenda has interesting items on it, but a major point of interest will be three speeches at the meeting, writes Michael Sean Winters.

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Most Read Stories

#1
Relics of French nun who experienced visions of Jesus will come to the U.S. in June

The relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the French Visitation sister who experienced visions of Jesus revealing his Sacred Heart, will be present with the U.S. bishops in Orlando, Florida, when they consecrate the United States to Jesus' Sacred Heart June 11.

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Pope Leo XIV greets visitors and pilgrims from the popemobile while riding around St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican before his weekly general audience May 27, 2026. (CNS/Vatican Media)
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#2
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Pope Leo picks EWTN News president Maria Montserrat Alvarado to lead Vatican communications

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Pope Leo XIV meets with abuse victims at the Apostolic Nunciature in Madrid June 8, 2026, during his June 6-12 apostolic journey to Spain. During the conversation, which lasted nearly an hour, each of six victims, drawing on their own experiences, offered Leo suggestions on how to make the church's response to such cases more effective. (OSV News/Vatican Media/Simone Risoluti)

Pope Leo meets with victims as Spanish church reckons with sex abuse crisis

Pope Leo XIV met with victims of clergy sex abuse Monday in Madrid, engaging with the abuse crisis that has loomed large over the papal visit. But the issue of clergy abuse remains far from settled in Spain.

ByJustin McLellan
Pope Leo XIV delivers a speech during a joint session of the Spanish Parliament at the Congress of Deputies in Madrid, June 8, 2026, during his June 6-12 apostolic journey to Spain. (OSV News/Stefano Rellandinii, pool via Reuters)
Vatican News

Pope Leo: War is 'a painful defeat' for diplomacy

Pope Leo XIV warned of a "profound spiritual and cultural crisis" gripping the world, taking aim at war, rearmament and the decay of international cooperation in one of his most politically charged speeches since becoming pope just over a year ago.

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At largest event of pontificate, Pope Leo prods Catholics beyond a 'comfortable, private faith'

Pope Leo XIV brought bustling Madrid to a halt Sunday, drawing 1.2 million people — the largest crowd he has encountered yet in his 13-month pontificate — for his first public Mass in Spain and a Eucharistic procession through the Spanish capital.

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EarthBeat

Demonstrators protest outside the Argentine National Congress building in Buenos Aires as lawmakers debate the Javier Milei government's proposal to reform Argentina's glacier protection law April 8, 2026. (AP/Rodrigo Abd)

Argentine Catholics join push to reverse Milei's changes to glacier protection law

A reform to Argentina's 2010 glacier protection law has been met with popular opposition, with opponents arguing that the changes loosen government oversight of mining and oil projects, and put water sources at risk.

Mary Magdalene Vu Thi Tue (center, in denim jacket) sells fish to customers in Quang Tri, Vietnam, on April 22, 2026. At left is the fishing boat her family recently repaired after years of abandonment following the Formosa disaster. (Reporter in Vietnam)

Vietnamese sisters help survivors of Formosa environmental disaster rebuild lives

Ten years after the environmental disaster that devastated Vietnam's central coast and affected thousands of fishing families, women religious focus on livelihoods, accompaniment and long-term healing.

ByReporter in Vietnam
Earth movers prepare a site for a 2.5 million square foot AI data center March 24, 2026, in Independence, Mo. Globally, data centers rank behind all but 10 countries in electricity use, according to a new U.N. report. (AP/Charlie Riedel, file)

Pope's AI encyclical lends church support to calls to slow rapid expansion of data centers

A typical AI data center uses the same amount of power as 100,000 houses, according to the International Energy Agency.

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Culture

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Mary Magdalene exhibit at Catholic girls school helps students 'see themselves'

New York City is known for its exceptional art shows. Yet an exhibit depicting the Resurrection from Mary Magdalene's point of view is on display not at any of the city's great galleries, but in a Catholic girls school. 

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PBS documentary centers undocumented women and probes meaning of sanctuary

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Kate Bowler new book
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ByYonat Shimron, Religion News Service
Academy Award winner Brendan Fraser as General Dwight D. Eisenhower in "Pressure" (Focus Features)

'Pressure' star Brendan Fraser on leadership, humility and playing Eisenhower

Brendan Fraser talks about his role as General Eisenhower in the new movie "Pressure," which finds him tormented by the decision over whether to deploy troops on D-Day.

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Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus Sr. Agnes Onwudiwe serves as principal of Pacelli School for the Blind and Partially Sighted Children in Lagos, Nigeria. Established in 1962 by the Archdiocese of Lagos, the school opened at the dawn of Nigeria's independence, when educational opportunities for the visually impaired were virtually nonexistent. (Valentine Benjamin)

Q&A with Sr. Agnes Onwudiwe on her early calling and work with children in Nigeria

Onwudiwe, a member of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus, is the principal of Pacelli School for the Blind and Partially Sighted Children in Lagos. 

Mary Magdalene Vu Thi Tue (center, in denim jacket) sells fish to customers in Quang Tri, Vietnam, on April 22, 2026. At left is the fishing boat her family recently repaired after years of abandonment following the Formosa disaster. (Reporter in Vietnam)

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Ten years after the environmental disaster that devastated Vietnam's central coast and affected thousands of fishing families, women religious focus on livelihoods, accompaniment and long-term healing.

ByReporter in Vietnam
People transport containers of water in Havana June 3, 2026. (AP/Ramon Espinosa)

Nuns in Cuba struggle to sustain ministries as fuel shortages deepen humanitarian crisis

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Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ: Not enough bread, and yet enough

Theologians' Corner - On this feast of Corpus Christi, I find myself trusting in this quiet truth: that even in a world where there is not always enough, love shared becomes a different kind of abundance.

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