Morning Briefing

Election 2016: Rubio won the Republican debate by putting Trump on the defensive

As President Barack Obama again seeks to close the Guantánamo Bay Detention Facility, it's worth asking: What's happened to the former detainees who are now living elsewhere?

Commentary: Why we can now declare the end of ‘Christian America’ Though voters may speak piously and rather vaguely about Christian values and ideals, polls and election results communicate clearly that this is a nation consumed by fear, anger and suspicion, none of which are Christian virtues.

USA Today Editorial: Spotlight's unfinished business: Catholic Church drags its feet on accountability for sexual abuse scandal.

The trouble with Francis (or as Fr. Tom Reese says to complaining conservative Catholics, "Welcome to the cafeteria.") Papal in-flight press conferences are counter-productive and unnecessary "The overcentralisation of discourse – the idea that only one voice counts and that is the Pope’s – is a recipe for disaster." (No that is not a quote from an old NCR editorial -- but it could have been.)

At 11:01 p.m. Pacific Standard Time Thursday, an unarmed Minuteman 3 nuclear missile roared out of its underground bunker on the California coastline and soared over the Pacific. It arced toward its test range in the waters of the Kwajalein Atoll, an island chain about 2,500 miles southwest of Honolulu. The missile test, dubbed "Glory Trip 218," was the second this month and the latest in a series designed to confirm the reliability of the Cold War-era missile and all its components.

ICYMI: NCR Editorial: Stop the nuclear spending spree

Catholic Charities project helps refugees plant roots in Kansas City

Six years ago, the Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary were set to dissolve. The historically black congregation based in Harlem in New York City had a mean age of 81 and no new vocations. But then, in 2010, they had what the community's congregation minister, Sr. Gertrude Lilly Ihenacho, calls a "wake-up call."

Rome -- After months of public debate and protests, the Italian Senate passed a controversial bill that grants legal recognition to nonmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples.

Ottawa -- A Canadian archbishop has warned Catholics that they will be barred from receiving the last rites of the Church if they seek to end their lives by euthanasia or assisted suicide under their country’s new law.

The Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need has said that persecution in China is increasing. Nearly 2,000 crosses have been removed from churches across China since the end of 2013.

Australian survivors of Catholic clergy abuse head to Rome Cardinal George Pell to testify before Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Renew yourself this Lent with daily scripture reflections. Join NCR's sister publication, Celebration, for Daily Bread, a series of short reflections written by four authors who meet regularly to share the readings.

Or reflect on Pencil Preaching by Pat Marrin. Every morning Pat Marrin breaks open the Word with a pencil sketch and a short meditation.