A small metal enclosure, with 18 square feet of floor space and used in a monitored "calming area," is seen Jan. 21, 2026, during an unannounced inspection of ICE's now-closed immigration detention center Florida Soft-Sided Facility by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General. (OSV News/DHS OIG, handout via Reuters)

DHS watchdog finds inhumane conditions at 'Alligator Alcatraz'

News

Detainees at Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz" were held in outdoor cages about the same size as telephone booths, according to a new report by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General.

The Latest

St. Elizabeth Demo Farm a beacon of sustainability in Kenyan nun's rural hometown

Shadrack Omuka

Bishop Barron of Word on Fire fuels debate on empathy's role in society

Jeromiah Taylor

In Kenya, religious women collaborate to care for aging sisters

Editors' Choice

Bishops from around the United States gather at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore Nov. 10, 2025, for the opening Mass of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' fall plenary assembly. (OSV News/Catholic Review/Kevin J. Parks)

In Focus

Editorial: The church still waits to hear a full confession from the hierarchy

Bankruptcy is not enough to "move beyond" the Catholic Church's sex abuse crisis. The clerical/hierarchical culture has yet to square up with the reality of bishops' betrayal of the community at a sacramental level.

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Most Read Stories

Joseph Kelly and his wife, Alina Rudnicka, pose during a hike in the Polish Tatra mountains this summer. (Courtesy of Joseph Kelly)

#1
Practicing Augustinian spirituality in our marriage has brought unity amid differences

The Rule of St. Augustine makes sense within a monastery or convent. But does it work in marriage? This couple of 40 years says yes.

ByJoseph Kelley
A priest is seen in a file photo pouring wine into the chalice during the offertory of the liturgy of the Eucharist as he celebrates morning Mass. (OSV News/Bob Roller)

#2
Restricting the chalice is not tradition — it's a troubling innovation

As a few U.S. dioceses restrict access to the precious blood, they are promoting a "newer vision of Catholicism in which restriction of the fuller sign of the Eucharist has come to signify holiness," Karen E. Park writes. 

ByKaren E. Park
Dominican Sr. Mary Sean Hodges talks with Sylvia Trevino at the offices of the Partnership for Re-Entry Program June 8, 2026, in Los Angeles. (GSR photo/Rhina Guidos)

#3
LA nun champions second chances for those rebuilding their lives after prison

For 25 years, Dominican Sr. Mary Sean Hodges has helped incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people heal, prepare for reentry and rebuild their lives through a restorative justice ministry rooted in mercy.

ByRhina Guidos

#4
The insatiable spirituality of Andrew Garfield, star of 'The Uprising'

#5
Pope celebrates his 71st birthday but it's Vatican employees who get the gift

#6
Victim 0001: Friends recall Father Mychal Judge's 9/11 loss and legacy

Opinion

New Vatican document's use of 'ecological sin' vital to conversion

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Will Trump's effort to nationalize the midterm elections work or backfire?

NCR Voices
Jesuit Fr. Greg Boyle speaks at an event at Homeboy Industries. (Courtesy of Paul Steinbroner)

'Love is always the next right thing to do,' says Fr. Greg Boyle

Guest Voices

On this week's episode of "The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast," John Dear hosts Jesuit Fr. Greg Boyle, who has spent decades accompanying and working with young people and gang members in Los Angeles. 

25 years after 9/11, I still grieve for my cousin Leah

NCR Voices

To protect elections and migrants, Catholics must pray, recall history

Columns
Demonstrators opposed to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, march through the streets during a protest in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago June 3, 2026, against immigration enforcement operations by federal agents. (OSV News photo/Jim Vondruska, Reuters)

To protect elections and migrants, Catholics must pray, recall history

Columns

Sr. Christine Schenk Catholics explains how a campaign call organized by Catholics in Communion emphasized the importance of prayer, and how the history of Catholic organizing offers lessons for today. 
 

Vatican

Pope Leo XIV waves as he arrives at the Vatican Library on the day of his 71st birthday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP/Andrew Medichini)

Pope celebrates his 71st birthday but it's Vatican employees who get the gift

The Vatican has published a papal decree repealing 2021 salary cuts that Pope Francis had imposed on many Vatican employees as part of the Holy See's COVID-19 cost-saving measures.

The Leo Chronicles: A White Sox pope hat for every U.S. seminarian? Leo suggests sending them something else.

The Leo Chronicles: 'Play ball!'

The Leo Chronicles: A White Sox pope hat for every U.S. seminarian? Leo suggests sending them something else.

ByPat Marrin
Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Sept. 13, 2026. Leo commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in his address. (OSV News/Vatican Media/Matteo Pernaselci)

Pope commemorates 9/11 attacks with prayers for peace and for those who died

Pope Leo XIV, history's first pope from the U.S., called for a renewed commitment to peace on Sunday (Sept. 13) as he marked the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on his home country.

ByNicole Winfield, The Associated Press
Cardinal Michael Czerny, then-prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, speaks at a presentation of Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence,” at the Synod Hall at the Vatican May 25, 2026. (CNS/Lola Gomez)
Vatican News

Villanova names Vatican cardinal first recipient of Pope Leo sustainability award

Pope Leo XIV's alma mater has named the former head of the Vatican's social justice office, Cardinal Michael Czerny, as the inaugural recipient of a sustainability award honoring Leo's advocacy on caring for creation.

ByJustin McLellan

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As Lourdes covers Rupnik mosaics for papal visit, Brazil shrine unveils more

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Pope's visit to France likely to attract 1M people, with Mass and vigil in Paris and Lourdes trip

Peruvian city to unveil world's tallest statue of Pope Leo for trip to South America

EarthBeat

Sand bars develop along the Rio Grande as stretches of the river begin to dry in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on May 14, 2026. (AP photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

In new pastoral, Santa Fe archbishop calls for water protections as rivers dry in Southwest

"We urge our political leaders and decision-makers to act with moral courage," Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester said in a new pastoral letter on the conservation of water, issued Sept. 11.

An irrigation operation runs amid an onion crop on St. Elizabeth Farm in Momoi village in Lower Subukia, Nakuru County, Kenya. (Shadrack Omuka)

St. Elizabeth Demo Farm a beacon of sustainability in Kenyan nun's rural hometown

Sr. Victorina Wanjiru, a Catholic nun born and raised in Momoi village, manages St. Elizabeth Demo Farm, which teaches locals in the area of her hometown sustainable farming and eco-friendly income activities.

ByShadrack Omuka
A drone view shows children picking through washed-up garbage along the polluted Pasig River in Manila, Philippines on June 5, 2025. (OSV News/Reuters/Eloisa Lopez)
NCR Voices

New Vatican document's use of 'ecological sin' vital to conversion

Thanks to the International Theological Commission, Catholics can "name what is happening on an individual, communal and global level in a way that we couldn't before," Daniel P. Horan writes. 

ByDaniel P. Horan
Cardinal Michael Czerny, then-prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, speaks at a presentation of Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence,” at the Synod Hall at the Vatican May 25, 2026. (CNS/Lola Gomez)
Vatican News

Villanova names Vatican cardinal first recipient of Pope Leo sustainability award

Pope Leo XIV's alma mater has named the former head of the Vatican's social justice office, Cardinal Michael Czerny, as the inaugural recipient of a sustainability award honoring Leo's advocacy on caring for creation.

ByJustin McLellan

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Global warming set to surpass key 1.5 C climate limit by 2030, UN report finds

Nazareth sisters promote holistic healing with nature

Nepal floods leave 'nothing' behind as Catholic nuns mobilize aid

Culture

Stephen Root, Matthew Rhys and Kate O'Flynn star in Apple TV's "Widow's Bay." In its first season, the mayor of a small town on a remote New England island hopes to turn his community into a tourist destination. But an ancient curse stands in the way. (Apple TV)

With 19 Emmy nods, 'Widow's Bay' gets the link between terror and togetherness

Apple TV's series is among the most critically acclaimed television shows of the year. Rebecca Bratten Weiss says Catholics could learn a few things from it.

Tom Hollander as Treasurer Hales, Woody Norman as King Richard II and Katherine Waterston as The Countess interact in director Paul Greengrass' "The Uprising," which opens in theaters Sept. 11.(Focus Features/Betina La Plante)

Does 'The Uprising' really want us to rise up?

The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 can inspire us to confront the problem of wealth disparity today. So why does Paul Greengrass' new movie feel more like a warning?

ByRobbie Wessel Kroeschell
Andrew Garfield, shown arriving at the premiere of "The Uprising" on Sept. 2, 2026, has described feeling a "spiritual urgency" when choosing roles and has a reputation for gravitating toward characters with deep religious conviction. (AP/Invision/Jordan Strauss)

The insatiable spirituality of Andrew Garfield, star of 'The Uprising'

The actor finds God in all things — and can't seem to turn down a project that lets him find more. Here he plays Ploughman, the nameless everyman who becomes an unlikely leader of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.

ByShannon Evans O'Brien
Pews with hymnals (Unsplash/Gianna B)

Why Black Catholic musicians should study Gregorian chant

Darrell St. Romain, a scholar and organist, reflects on studying Gregorian chant and its potential to enrich Black Catholic worship.

ByDarrell Anthony St. Romain, Black Catholic Messenger

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Book Reviews

New book illuminates true barrier to women's diaconate

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Dolly Parton's talents were singing and acting, but her legacy will be hope

Illustration shows two figures walking together.

In Kenya, religious women collaborate to care for aging sisters

The Care for Aging Sisters Association focuses on awareness, training, health insurance policy coverage, pension plans and collaboration with education institutions to transform care for aging  sisters.

An irrigation operation runs amid an onion crop on St. Elizabeth Farm in Momoi village in Lower Subukia, Nakuru County, Kenya. (Shadrack Omuka)

St. Elizabeth Demo Farm a beacon of sustainability in Kenyan nun's rural hometown

Sr. Victorina Wanjiru, a Catholic nun born and raised in Momoi village, manages St. Elizabeth Demo Farm, which teaches locals in the area of her hometown sustainable farming and eco-friendly income activities.

ByShadrack Omuka
The heads of women's religious orders leave an audience with Pope Francis in Paul VI hall at the Vatican May 12, 2016. During the session with members of the International Union of Superiors General, sisters asked Francis about the possibility of women deacons returning to the church. (CNS/Paul Haring)

Discerning Deacons plans forums for Catholic sisters on women in the diaconate

Discerning Deacons is planning more than 50 virtual forums to engage Catholics in the discernment about women in the diaconate, two of which are specific to Catholic sisters.

ByDan Stockman
Bishop Adalberto Jiménez, apostolic vicariate of Aguarico, Ecuador, carries a cross on a pilgrimage from Quito to Coca, Ecuador, in honor of Bishop Alejandro Labaka Ugarte and Sr. Inés Arango Velásque. (Courtesy of Sr. Winifred Doherty)
Columns

May the voices of the young brave prophets of the Amazon finally be heard

Many youth joined the pilgrimage from Quito to Coca, Ecuador, in honor of Bishop Alejandro Labaka Ugarte and Sr. Inés Arango Velásquez, two Capuchin missionaries who were killed in the Amazon.

By

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