A street parade organized by the Mexican Ministry of Tourism celebrates the 2026 World Cup at Alameda Central in Mexico City. (Wikimedia Commons/ProtoplasmaKid)

Religious leaders warn against World Cup's impact on migrants and the poor

News

As the FIFA World Cup opens on across the U.S., Mexico and Canada, a group of Dominican friars, sisters and lay leaders is calling on Catholics to pay attention to the people who may be left behind by it.

The Latest

This Pride Month, the Sacred Heart of Jesus bleeds for queer Catholics

Tulio Huggins, Black Catholic Messenger

US Catholic bishops are consecrating the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Here's what that means

Peter Smith, Associated Press

Don't let painful past overshadow hopeful future, pope tells Barcelona inmates

Junno Arocho Esteves, 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.

ByOSV News
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)
NCR Voices

#2
Will the church conform to its own teaching?

We are all still digesting Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and wondering what difference it will make. What are the next steps in implementing the vision of Catholic social doctrine?

ByMichael Sean Winters

#3
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.

ByJustin McLellan

#4
Pope Leo picks EWTN News president Maria Montserrat Alvarado to lead Vatican communications

#5
Pope's slavery apology draws praise as Jesuit slaveholding legacy turns to reconciliation

#6
A church at a crossroads: Spain's Catholics look to Pope Leo for encouragement

Opinion

How pope's visit to Sagrada Família resonates in the wake of 'Magnifica Humanitas'

Guest Voices

Podcast: Joyce Rupp talks aging with compassion, acceptance and surrender

Guest Voices
Silhouette of a person sitting on a hill looking at the Milky Way galaxy (Unsplash/Clement Duguerre)

Teilhard de Chardin points to what Pope Leo missed in 'Magnifica Humanitas'

Columns

What does it mean to be human in the age of artificial intelligence? The answer Magnifica Humanitas gives — remain — is too small for the tradition it invokes and for the moment it addresses, says Sr. Ilia Delio.

Bishop Barron and the American founding: A tale of unnecessary confusion

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In 'Magnifica Humanitas,' Pope Leo proposes synodality to the whole world

Guest Voices
Sr. Susan Rose Francois of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace poses next to the sign outside the family and detainee support tent in front of Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey. (Courtesy of Eyes on ICE NJ/Joseph O'Leary)

Magnificent humanity and shared responsibility at Delaney Hall

Columns

For more than a year, a network of community leaders has provided public witness, solidarity and mutual aid in support of detained immigrant neighbors and their families at the ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey.

Vatican

Don't let painful past overshadow hopeful future, pope tells Barcelona inmates

Amid the loneliness and despair of life behind bars, God continues to love and encourage the imprisoned to not let the sorrows of their past deter them from the hope of a better future, Pope Leo XIV told prisoners in Barcelona.

Bad Bunny accepts the award for album of the year for "Debí Tirar Más Fotos" during the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP photo/Chris Pizzello)

Trap meets transcendence as Pope Leo, Bad Bunny meet in Madrid

Pope Leo XIV met privately with Puerto Rican reggaeton sensation Bad Bunny during his final hours in Madrid.

ByJustin McLellan

Pope Leo XIV wades into Spain's culture wars over soccer and the Catalan language in Barcelona

Pope Leo XIV found himself in the midst of Spain's two classic culture wars as he landed in Barcelona on Tuesday during his weeklong visit to the country.

ByJoseph Wilson, Associated Press
Time for the World Cup

The Leo Chronicles: World Cup

The Leo Chronicles: Brother Leo gets ready for the games.

ByPat Marrin

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

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

Vatican News

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

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

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
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

"For a religious sister, living in Cuba today means navigating and taking on a series of structural and economic challenges that require an enormous capacity for adaptation and resilience," Sr. Noemy Ayala said.

ByRhina Guidos
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.

ByBrian Roewe

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

New arrests made in murder of Catholic activist in Honduras

In AI encyclical, Pope Leo warns of tech, data center threats to creation

Facing soaring fuel and fertilizer prices, Catholic farmers lean on faith

Culture

Black Sacred Heart art by And Her Saints

This Pride Month, the Sacred Heart of Jesus bleeds for queer Catholics

Tulio Huggins responds to a podcast episode from Catholic priests on Pride Month, writing that a myopic view of LGBTQ+ people has no place in the church.

Argentina soccer fans watch a match

Why soccer fandom in Latin America feels sacred

In Latin America, the passion of soccer fans is nurtured through a sense of community. The singing of anthems, tears shed after victories or defeats and the embrace of strangers inside a stadium are experiences that can mirror forms of collective devotion.
 


 

ByMaría Teresa Hernández, ElEonore Hughes, Nayara Batschke, Religion News Service
Ingrid Encalada Latorre and her son in sanctuary in Colorado in the documentary "Si Pudiera Quedarme" (PBS/Theo Rigby)

PBS documentary centers undocumented women and probes meaning of sanctuary

The documentary "Si Pudiera Quedarme" ("If I Could Stay") follows two undocumented women and their children for nearly a decade as they live in sanctuary under constant threat of deportation.

ByJose Solís
"Mary Magdalene Proclaims Resurrection" by Laura James, 2024 (Laura James)

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. 

ByJim McDermott

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Book Reviews

Kate Bowler on unexpected joy, even in the midst of pain

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New book makes case for the importance of ritual

Composite image of a doctor with a clock and drawings of internal organs (Dreamstime/Nataliia Mysik)
Columns

Enter the 25th time zone: Medical Time

There are 24 time zones in the world, but spending time in a hospital, nursing home or even a typical appointment adds a different reality: Medical Time.

The Kallidukkil sisters pose with their youngest sister, Pauline Kallidukkil, at her residence in Valillapuzha, Kerala, southwestern India. Pauline Kallidukkil is at center. On her right are Srs. Gracious Kallidukkil, Ancy Kallidukkil and Philo Kallidukkil; on her left are Srs. Jacintha Kallidukkil, Mareena Kallidukkil and Rosetom Kallidukkil. (Courtesy of Philo Kallidukkil)

6 nuns from 1 family credit prayer-filled home for vocations

"We did not realize then that our home was shaping our vocation," said Sr. Philo Kallidukkil, the ninth member of the family and a member of the Sisters of the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

By
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. 

ByValentine Benjamin
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

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

The superfans known as the 'Spurs Nuns' aim to bring divine intervention to the NBA Finals