Refugees from El Salvador help distribute food during a Catholic Charities-hosted party marking World Refugee Day, June 20, 2019, at the agency's immigration services center in Amityville, New York. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sued the second Trump administration Feb. 18 for its abrupt halt to funds for resettling refugees. (OSV News/Gregory A. Shemitz)

US bishops to appeal loss in fight with Trump over refugee funding

News

The bishops' conference is appealing a recent court decision saying federal courts lack the authority to order the government to honor its recently terminated contracts with the bishops for refugee resettlement.

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Focus

The St. John Paul II statue in the main courtyard at Gemelli Hospital in Rome (NCR photo/Camillo Barone)

In Focus

At Gemelli Hospital, workers and visitors unite in prayer for Pope Francis

From the hushed prayers in a hospital chapel to the flickering candles outside Gemelli Hospital, Pope Francis' hospitalization has become a testament to faith and solidarity.

Most Read Stories

Pope Francis and Juan Cruz
Guest Voices

#1
Ignore Cardinal Dolan's disrespect. We need Pope Francis.

I am angry about Cardinal Timothy Dolan's remark that the pontiff was “probably close to death.” What we need is Pope Francis back. The world needs him back.

ByJuan Carlos Cruz Chellew
Parishioners pray at the Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin Mary in Moscow in an undated photo. (Dreamstime/Uladzimir Zuyeu)

#2
At 3 years of war, Russian Catholics reflect on the place of their small community

The Feb. 24 anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine was an opportunity to offer "ever more fervent prayers for peace," but Trump's reset in relations with Putin was also proving difficult to understand.

ByJonathan Luxmoore
People hold a banner with a greeting in Italian for Pope Francis outside Rome's Gemelli Hospital on March 6. The banner says, "Cercola is praying for you. Stay strong, rise and walk." The phrase "rise and walk" is from the Acts of the Apostles, and Cercola is a town near Naples. (CNS/Lola Gomez)
Vatican News

#3
Pope Francis sends first audio message since hospitalization, offering gratitude for prayers

Pope Francis' recovery from double pneumonia is continuing on a positive trajectory, with the pontiff remaining stable for another day. Francis on March 6 released a brief audio message expressing gratitude for the prayers he has received during his three-week hospitalization. 

ByChristopher White, Camillo Barone

#4
Bishop Barron compares Trump's address to Congress to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

#5
Inside an episode some conservatives use to bash Cardinal McElroy, and why they're wrong

#6
Trump's US attorney in DC fires salvo at Georgetown law school. Dean fires back.

Opinion

Your letters: Bishop defends Barron, laywomen criticize

Letters to the Editor

The Francis Effect podcast: Threats to education and Georgetown law school; Christian nationalism

Dancers perform at the 2025 Religious Education Congress' opening ceremony Feb. 21 in Los Angeles. (OSV News/Courtesy of Archdiocese of Los Angeles/Joe Garcia)

A glimpse of the diversity in heaven at the LA Congress

Guest Voices

This year's Los Angeles Religious Education Congress was a timely infusion of Catholic prayer and social teaching, writes Daryl Grigsby.

Ignore Cardinal Dolan's disrespect. We need Pope Francis.

Guest Voices

Ukraine's fight against Russian fossil fuels is everyone's battle

Guest Voices
British Foreign Minister David Lammy David Lammy meets with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Feb. 14 at the Munich Security Conference. (Wikimedia Commons/Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office/Elliot Vick)

A vision worth fighting for: A Canadian response to JD Vance

Guest Voices

For me, God is more important than my country, but my country is still worth fighting for. It's my home, and it's where I continue to learn what love is. 

Vatican

Pope prays alone in empty St. Peter's Square.
Vatican News

Pope Francis marks 12 years of papacy on 28th day in hospital

Pope Francis nears a month in the hospital, where he has battled double pneumonia for the last month in the gravest health crisis of his pontificate. 
 

Francis, the comic strip: Francis, Gabby and Brother Leo discuss the importance of being a light in the world.
Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip: Journalists are an essential light

Francis, the comic strip: Francis, Gabby and Brother Leo discuss the importance of being a light in the world. 

ByPat Marrin
Nuns pray rosary in St. Peter's Square with large video scree.
Vatican News

Pope Francis' latest X-rays confirm improvement

Pope Francis' latest X-rays confirm that his condition is improving while hospitalized for a lung infection and double pneumonia, the Vatican said on March 12. 

ByChristopher White
Eric LeCompte, executive director of the Jubilee USA Network, poses for a photo at the Vatican on June 4, 2024. Jubilee USA Network is an alliance of faith-based development and debt-relief advocacy organizations. (CNS/Lola Gomez)
Vatican News

Despite pope's hospitalization and Trump's USAID cuts, Jubilee Year push for debt relief continues

In recent centuries, the church has celebrated the tradition of jubilee years as a time of debt forgiveness. Despite the pope's hospitalization, the head of Jubilee USA Network said efforts toward debt cancellation continue.

ByChristopher White

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

At Gemelli Hospital, workers and visitors unite in prayer for Pope Francis

Vatican News

Italian prisoners pray for Pope Francis, a longstanding advocate for the incarcerated

Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip: Symbol in the chaos

(Unsplash/Steve Wrzeszczynski)
Viewpoints

NCR recipes for Lent: Vegan Irish lentil Guinness stew

NCR executive editor James V. Grimaldi came up with a Guinness lentil stew made with the famous Irish stout. He thinks that seems right for the weekend. And if you're in the D.C. area, he has a March 15 party invite for you.

Viewpoints

No, Elon, we should not go to Mars

 It makes more sense to spend money saving the Earth from climate change, ecological destruction and international conflicts than it does going to Mars.

ByThomas Reese, Religion News Service
Missionary Sister of the Queen of Apostles Ajita Mathew Vettikuzhakunnel celebrates India's Independence Day with members of her women's group in Uttar Pradesh in northern India. (Courtesy of Ajita Mathew Vettikuzhakunnel)
Justice

Q&A with Sr. Ajita Mathew Vettikuzhakunnel, champion of women farmers in India

Missionary Sister of the Queen of Apostles Ajita Mathew Vettikuzhakunnela started a farming company in September 2023, owned and governed by rural women in northern India. 

ByThomas Scaria
Catholic University of America students take measurements of the pastoral center for the Newark Archdiocese as part of a pilot course providing energy and sustainability recommendations to Catholic dioceses. (Patricia Andrasik)
Faith

Laudato Si' 101: Catholic University students boost energy efficiency at Newark Archdiocese

A new architecture course at Catholic University of America combines energy ethics and technical skills for hands-on sustainability projects that can aid U.S. dioceses in improving energy use and reducing emissions.

ByBrian Roewe

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Justice

'Yes to life, no to mining': Sisters in El Salvador join church's protest

Resumed UN nature summit provides faith groups pathway to log conservation progress

Viewpoints

NCR recipes for Lent: High-protein broccoli cheddar soup

Culture

Victor Bento performs as S. Adriano (countertenor) in "Sweet Chains" on Oct. 19, 2024, at St. Vincent Ferrer Church in New York City. (Courtesy of David Thompson Fairchild)

Academy of Sacred Drama brings lost Baroque oratorios back to life after 300 years

Hidden gems of these lost sacred dramas are returning to the stage, thanks to the Academy of Sacred Drama. In a unique blend of music, storytelling and history, the ensemble is bringing works back to life after centuries of silence.

'Hip-Hop Mass' brings African American Catholic flair in Atlanta

The new composition premiered this month in Georgia at the Lyke House Catholic Center, with a planned expansion due in the coming months.

BySamantha Smith, Black Catholic Messenger
Image from the Netflix documentary, 'Don't Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever'

'Don't Die,' Ballerina Farm and the theology of self-optimization

Bryan Johnson, the focus of the Netflix documentary "Don't Die," and Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farm have something in common: a theology of pleasure-denial now to yield ultimate reward later. 

ByAnna Rollins
Christ on the Road to Emmaus
Book Reviews

'The Road to Wisdom' requires trust in both science and faith

The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust by Francis S. Collins, a medical doctor and head of the team of scientists uncovering the human genome project, offers a timely message of truth and understanding as a possible antidote to today’s political turmoil and social unrest.

By

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Oscars recap: 'Conclave' ripples well beyond its one win

Best Actress Oscar favorite Demi Moore's 'The Substance' is disturbing, disgusting – and liberating

The father of 'Wicked' is a gay Catholic

Columns

Mary, companion of my new 'yes' in Argentina

Sr. Elsa Porcario finds in the Virgin Mary a steadfast spiritual presence in her consecrated life. After serving as a missionary and formator in the Congregation of Our Lady of the Rosary in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she embarked on a new path as a Servant of the Poor. In Mary, she discovers the strength to navigate uncertainty, fear and solitude, learning to trust, hope and love without knowing what lies ahead.

Catholic religious in India have undertaken several steps to improve the formation of nuns. The Conference of Religious Women India now includes sex education, responsible use of social media and psychosocial well-being in its training programs. (GSR graphic/Olivia Bardo; Photo courtesy of Molly Mathew)

Catholic religious in India revise formation to address sex abuse, suicide cases

"The women religious in India have faced gender discrimination and sexual abuses that have caused mental health challenges for many, driving some to suicide," said Sr. Molly Mathew, who coordinates the program to revise formation curricula.

ByThomas Scaria
Miriam Marston, a consecrated virgin of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon, is consecrated in 2020, by Archbishop Alexander Sample. (Courtesy of Miriam Marston)

Growing number of women choose vocation of consecrated virginity

"I hope that in my joyful witness of what a relationship with God can look like, I can perhaps inspire others to look at a relationship with God in their own life," says Miriam Marston, a consecrated virgin of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon.

By
Cropped photo of Jesus Christ on a crucfix with out-of-focus stained glass in the background at at Holy Sacrament Church in Itajai, Brazil.
Columns

Religious vocation: A perpetual commitment to Christ

I had to wait for eight years to make my perpetual vows. These vows committed me to Christ forever. In the words of St. Paul, I was ready to lose everything to gain Christ.

By

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Q&A with Sr. Ajita Mathew Vettikuzhakunnel, champion of women farmers in India

Monday Starter: CSW meetings to focus on 30 years since Beijing Declaration

'Yes to life, no to mining': Sisters in El Salvador join church's protest

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