Pedestrians walk past street signage on the first day of early voting in New York, on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP/Heather Khalifa)

In lead-up to midterms, Catholic prayer vigils and novenas spread across US

News

As the November midterm elections approach, Catholics across the United States are preparing to pray and keep vigil, asking for peaceful polling places, honest vote-counting, and protection for voters.

The Latest

Catholic sisters protest environmental threats near El Salvador's mega-prison

Rhina Guidos

'A lot more fire': Students at Catholic colleges find new energy before midterms

Camillo Barone

Guided by Catholic faith, a high schooler made an AI tutor for citizenship students

Leo Fiascone

Editors' Choice

A child weeps as her father is detained by federal immigration officers at U.S. immigration court in the Manhattan borough of New York City July 25, 2025. (OSV News/Reuters/David 'Dee' Delgado)

In Focus

Catholics must remember our immigrant neighbors at the ballot box

"Will our leaders rebuild our credibility as a nation focused on human flourishing, or continue on the path of cruelty for cruelty's sake? It is our decision to make," Jean Welch Hill writes.

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#1
Priest in Ecuador, 53, struck and killed by falling crucifix during Mass

A priest in Ecuador was struck and killed by a falling crucifix while celebrating Mass, a tragedy captured during a livestream of the service on Oct. 17.

ByDavid Agren, OSV News
Marine One, carrying President Donald Trump, lifts off from the South Lawn at the White House Oct. 22, 2026, in Washington. (AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

#2
White House names 12 bishops who prayed with Trump, defends president's record

The White House identified the 12 Catholic bishops who met and prayed with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office less than two weeks before the midterm elections, while defending his record with Catholic Americans.

ByCamillo Barone
Archbishop Jeffrey Grob concelebrates Mass with the presbyterate during his installation as the 12th archbishop of the Milwaukee Archdiocese Jan. 14, 2025. (OSV News/Catholic Herald/Andy Gilicinski)

#3
Milwaukee archbishop who prayed with Trump apologizes, says bishops were 'manipulated'

Milwaukee Archbishop Jeffrey Grob expressed "sincere regret" for participating in what he said was "a political photo opportunity" orchestrated by the White House.

ByJeromiah Taylor

#4
Ahead of elections, White House shares video of Catholic bishops praying over Trump

#5
Editorial: Bishops' prayer for Trump may have been sincere. For Trump, it was pure politics.

#6
Catholic groups raise alarm about DOJ guidance on institutionalizing persons with disabilities

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My encounter with JD Vance: Can being attentive to a graced moment create change?

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US bishops are at a crossroads as they head into their fall assembly

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Members of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons participate in a procession during a vigil in New York City Aug. 9, 2025, marking the 80th anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. (OSV News/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Podcast: 'Action is the antidote to a sense of helplessness,' says anti-nuclear leader

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On this week's episode of "The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast," John Dear hosts Melissa Parke, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Bishop John Dolan: What it means to be human in the age of AI

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SpaceX's Starship lifts off for its fifth integrated flight test Oct. 13, 2024. (Wikimedia Commons/Steve Jurvetson)

Leo's encyclical is a north star for new space race — and alien encounters, too

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Many today are looking to Pope Leo's Magnifica Humanitas for ethical guidance and hope in a world increasingly saturated with AI. That same document can offer guidance and hope for humanity's new ventures into space. 

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Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Vatican foreign minister, speaks during a news conference at the Vatican, on Jan. 18, 2024. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

Election cycle will influence when pope heads to US, top Vatican diplomat says

The first U.S.-born pope is very much looking forward to eventually visiting his native country even as he prepares to head to Latin America — his seventh papal trip abroad after his election a year and a half ago, the Vatican foreign minister said.

Pope Leo to offer 12 public Masses in November, including in a Rome cemetery

Pope Leo XIV will celebrate 12 public Masses during the month of November, starting with an All Souls' Day Mass at Rome's largest cemetery. The Vatican released the pope's liturgical calendar Oct. 27, one day after doctors confirmed he is fit to undertake his Nov. 6-17 journey to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.

ByCourtney Mares, OSV News

Ahead of Rome tipoff, basketball powerhouse Villanova embraces 'Pope Leo effect'

At Villanova University, all roads — or at least many of them — seem to lead to Rome, thanks to famed alumnus Pope Leo XIV and the school's growing ties to the Vatican. Even its vaunted basketball program is getting in on the act.

ByTiffany Stanley, Associated Press
Vatican News

Pope Leo's doctors confirm his visit to Latin America two weeks after lung surgery

Two weeks after Pope Leo XIV's surgery for lung cancer, his doctor confirmed he can fly to South America according to the previously released schedule, with Uruguay, Argentina and Peru planned as stops for his Nov. 6-17 trip, the longest trip of the pontificate so far.

ByPaulina Guzik, OSV News

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EarthBeat

The people who participated in the Sept. 26 walk in San Francisco Angulo, El Salvador, called for the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals, ecology and the environment. (Lissette Lemus)

Catholic sisters protest environmental threats near El Salvador's mega-prison

At event tied to Season of Creation, Catholic sisters and Franciscan friars in El Salvador support a rural community fighting water contamination and a landfill near CECOT, which can hold up to 40,000 inmates. 

At Cadillac Mountain, a missing Wabanaki marker and the fight over what national parks should tell

Some of the signs removed from Acadia were developed over years of partnerships with organizations including Friends of Acadia, the Schoodic Institute and the Native Plant Trust — with consultation from citizens of the Wabanaki Nations.

ByJessie Wardarski, Associated Press
Carolina wren (Wikimedia Commons/Melissa McMasters)
Soul Seeing

In praise of a wild, unfettered God

There is beauty in the fact that we do not serve a God who grants us wishes like a genie, writes Alli Bobzien. Our God is wild and free.

ByAlli Bobzien
The Teton mountains reflect on Oxbow Bend in Grand Teton National Park in Moran, Wyoming, Aug. 22, 2025. (AP photo/Amber Baesler, File)

In midterms, Catholic voters must keep national parks in mind

Attacks on the National Park Service are just tip of the iceberg of ecological sins, and a specifically Catholic issue.

ByStephanie J. Peddicord

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Sustainability award bearing Pope Leo's name spotlights his own environmental record

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Descendants and Jesuits find a path toward healing through 'What We Inherit'

Bringing long-overlooked stories of enslavement to light, the traveling exhibit "What We Inherit: Truth, Repair, and a Promise to the Future" challenges visitors to reckon with history while embracing the possibility of healing, accountability, and a more hopeful future.

Franciscan friar Sidival Fila’s "Senza Titolo 14 serie SINDONI" summons the spirit of his order with its subtle ecological message. The artwork is featured in the "ART CUT: Exercises in Empathy: Accompaniment" exhibition on display at the Burns Library at Boston College through November 15. (Michael Centore)

Catholic Universities Art Triennial exhibit brings imaginative empathy to Boston

The exhibition "ART CUT: Exercises in Empathy: Accompaniment" on display at Boston College through Nov. 15 is part of the international Catholic Universities Art Triennial.

ByMichael Centore
A panel on "Emergency" by Rebecca Solnit hangs on the book shelves of the English and American literature Shakespeare and Co. bookstore, in Paris, France, Nov. 05, 2020. (AP photo/Francois Mori)
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Rebecca Solnit says an old world is dying

Sonit's latest book, The Beginning Comes After the End, probes the scale of change through a trek into moral darkness that ends in a song of hope. 

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Actor Chris Pratt joins Pope Leo in new documentary about St. Peter's long-lost remains

In a new documentary produced in collaboration with the Vatican, actor Chris Pratt and Pope Leo XIV venture into the secret catacombs under St. Peter’s Basilica, exploring how the long-lost remains of the first apostle were found.

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The people who participated in the Sept. 26 walk in San Francisco Angulo, El Salvador, called for the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals, ecology and the environment. (Lissette Lemus)

Catholic sisters protest environmental threats near El Salvador's mega-prison

At event tied to Season of Creation, Catholic sisters and Franciscan friars in El Salvador support a rural community fighting water contamination and a landfill near CECOT, which can hold up to 40,000 inmates. 

Sr. Teresa Barongo, a member of the Assumption Sisters of Eldoret and a nurse at the Dorothea Health Centre, greets a patient in Nairobi, Kenya. (Shadrack Omuka)

Kenyan sister gives street children chance for dignified lives

For years, Sr. Caroline Ngatia, a member of Assumption Sisters of Eldoret, has been transforming the lives of street children as the director of Dorothea Rescue Centre.

ByShadrack Omuka
Sr. Nancy Sylvester, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, asks U.S. Vice President JD Vance a question about immigration during an Oct. 15, 2026, town hall event n Flat Rock, Michigan that aired on CBS Oct. 17. (OSV News screenshot/CBS News YouTube)
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My encounter with JD Vance: Can being attentive to a graced moment create change?

Sometimes you find yourself in a situation that turns into a more significant moment than you ever expected. Sr. Nancy Sylvester recalls her exchange with the vice president at a town hall, and what happened next.

BySr. Nancy Sylvester
Sr. Dr. Margaret Ogunkuade, a Sister of St. Michael the Archangel, distributes nutrients and medications during a community health outreach in Ketu, Nigeria. (Courtesy of Margaret Ogunkuade)

Q&A with Sr. Dr. Margaret Ogunkuade on bringing healthcare to Nigeria's rural communities

Ogunkuade sees both medicine and religious life as parts of a single calling. "Physical healing can become a doorway to spiritual transformation," she said.

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