While the numbers of adult converts are trending upward, the reality is that the Catholic Church in the United States is still bleeding members. https://www.ncronline.org/news/church-revival-new-numbers-dont-show-whole-picture-experts-say

In 2024 a Catholic deacon appealed his excommunication after leaving the church in the aftermath of his son's abuse case. He has spent about two years waiting for a ruling from Rome. https://www.ncronline.org/news/louisiana-deacon-awaits-vatican-decision-his-excommunication

Mother Earth is creative, and just as she evolves, every human body and spirit also requires growth — this is part of the very nature of nature. https://www.globalsistersreport.org/columns/environment/nature-teaches-me-celebrate-earth-day-my-birthday

The Vatican has said that some of the themes Leo will raise in Africa are the exploitation of natural and human resources, corruption and authoritarian regimes. https://www.ncronline.org/news/pope-leo-xivs-visit-african-church-linked-slavery-reflects-his-own-complex-heritage

Time magazine has named Pope Leo XIV to its "100 Most Influential People of 2026" list. https://www.ncronline.org/news/pope-leo-named-one-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-2026

The Vatican's influence lies less in direct political power than in its ability to shape moral debate over time, one expert says. https://www.ncronline.org/news/beyond-clash-what-trumps-attacks-leo-reveal-about-history-us-vatican-relations

The disciples' carrying the sorrows of the world was a type of penitential rite — begging to see God's mercy in the midst of tragedy. This begins the liturgy Luke's Emmaus story suggests for us.

ANALYSIS: In his Sunday screed against Pope Leo XIV, President Donald Trump twice portrayed the head of the Catholic Church as soft on the issue of nuclear weapons. https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/pope-leo-upholds-vatican-opposition-nuclear-weapons-despite-trumps-weak-critique

OPINION: "Perhaps, dogs (and other nonhuman animals) are already ahead of us in terms of their relationships with other members of the divine community of creation and with God, too," writes Daniel P. Horan. https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/what-happiness-dogs-can-teach-us-about-human-spirituality

Several prominent American Catholics have launched a petition calling for the end of Russia's religious persecution in occupied areas of Ukraine. https://www.ncronline.org/news/catholic-leaders-appeal-end-russias-religious-persecution-ukraine

Much of Sr. Hedwig Muse's work is focused on training leaders across the Catholic dioceses of Kenya to become children's champions, including in a legal system that often fails them. https://www.globalsistersreport.org/columns/social-justice/lawyer-nun-works-protect-and-uplift-childrens-rights-kenya

In the desert city of Phoenix, a structural shift is underway inside the Catholic Church, one that reflects a broader global initiative while testing its durability at the diocesan level. https://www.ncronline.org/news/phoenix-diocese-brings-vatican-model-synodality-local-level

The vice president responded to a post on the pope’s X account in which he wrote that God is "never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.” https://www.ncronline.org/vance-questions-pope-just-war-theory-hours-after-leo-honored-its-founder

Her flight disrupted by Iran's bombing of Dubai, Sr. Edith Olaguer spent six days not knowing if she might be killed from the missiles that kept falling throughout the city or get home safely. https://www.globalsistersreport.org/qas/qa-sr-edith-olaguer-living-through-six-days-war-dubai

Catholic bishops' authority is moral and doctrinal, grounded in continuity of teaching. To judge that authority by political timing is to substitute immediacy for principle and alignment for independence. https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/us-bishops-cant-be-judged-political-timing

Pope Leo XIV does not want church leaders and Catholics to be partisans; rather, he is inviting Catholics to apply teachings about peace and human dignity in novel and meaningful ways. https://www.ncronline.org/news/trump-blasts-leo-catholic-leaders-call-new-vision-faith-public-square

Michele Murray will be the first lay person to serve as president of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities when she assumes leadership of the organization on June 2. https://www.ncronline.org/news/real-hope-future-jesuit-higher-education

Pope Leo XIV told reporters en route to Algeria that he has "no fear of the Trump administration," hours after President Donald Trump lodged a vicious attack on the pontiff via social media. https://www.ncronline.org/pope-leo-says-he-has-no-fear-trump-administration-after-attack-president

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, Washington, D.C. Cardinal Robert McElroy and Newark, New Jersey, Cardinal Joseph Tobin forcefully echoed Pope Leo XIV's calls for peace. https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/three-cardinals-stand-pope-leo-xiv-unprecedented-interview

President Donald J. Trump published a lengthy attack on Pope Leo XIV on Sunday night, calling the first U.S.-born pope "terrible on Foreign Policy," among other accusations. https://www.ncronline.org/news/trump-attacks-pope-leo-incendiary-social-media-post

Easter proclaims that we, the motley communities of our family, neighborhood, parish, church and world, can live in such a way that others see wonders and signs of what can be.

"Stop! It is time for peace! Sit at the table of dialogue and mediation, not at the table where rearmament is planned and deadly actions are decided!" —Pope Leo XIV https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/pope-leo-issues-fiery-plea-peace-prayer-vigil-enough-war

Pope Leo XIV’s four-nation, 11-day trip to Africa is so dizzying in its complexity it recalls some of the globetrotting odysseys of St. John Paul II in his early years. https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/country-country-glance-pope-leos-trip-africa

Parishes and dioceses throughout the nation are taking up Pope Leo XIV's call to pray for peace, holding April 11 vigils coinciding with the pope's own at St. Peter's Basilica. https://www.ncronline.org/news/dioceses-parishes-take-pope-leos-call-pray-peace-plan-vigils-april-11

Reports say that Pentagon officials lectured Cardinal Christophe Pierre during a January meeting because of the pope's anti-war comments. Pierre was apostolic nuncio to the U.S.: What does that diplomatic role entail? https://www.ncronline.org/news/explainer-what-apostolic-nuncio

The Orsini Care Home, run by the Hospitaller Sisters of Mercy, has successfully treated more than 1,000 substance abuse patients in northeastern India. https://www.globalsistersreport.org/nuns-help-combat-drug-crisis-northeastern-india

"His kingdom has come, but it is not yet here in its fullness," writes NCR's Michael Sean Winters. "This is the essential tension of the Christian life." https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/ncr-voices/not-yet-accompanies-our-easter

"[St.] Augustine was a bridge-builder and Leo sees himself also as a bridge-builder, so going back to Hippo is really him enacting what is important to him in a symbolic gesture." https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/leo-first-augustinian-pope-algeria-trip-marks-spiritual-homecoming

Meta must pay $4.2 million, while YouTube must pay $1.8 million, for a combined total of $6 million. Both companies signaled their intent to appeal the verdict. https://www.ncronline.org/news/will-meta-and-youtubes-youth-harm-verdict-be-tobacco-industry-moment-big-tech

Catholics in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, wear faux ankle monitors to work, to Mass and even to the airport as an act of solidarity with their migrant sisters and brothers. https://www.ncronline.org/news/catholic-workers-wear-homemade-ankle-monitors-solidarity-migrants

On this Easter morn, let us heed the command to start again, to reinterpret everything in our own lives and all of history in the light of Christ's definitive victory over evil.

"We do not gather as 'them' and 'us,' " the prelate said. "It's simply us together, todos, todos, todos, everyone together."

A Catholic sister will take up the leadership of India's largest network of Catholic medical professionals, becoming the first woman to lead the Catholic Health Association of India.

Catholic sisters are growing increasingly worried about colleagues whose whereabouts remain unknown in Sudan.

Church leaders in Jerusalem expressed sorrow over the passage by the Israeli Knesset of a death penalty law — by hanging — for Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks on Israelis, noting that Easter, which celebrates life, represents the opposite.

When Anna Phan Thuy Trang returned to her home after a year working at a garment factory in Hue, Vietnam, she immediately sensed something about her son.

In the days ahead of Holy Week, several Catholic leaders issued messages denouncing antisemitism, stressing Church teaching on the issue as the faithful solemnly commemorate Christ's passion and death.

"We (should) reflect deeply on our individual and collective roles in promoting a culture of death and denying the human rights and intrinsic dignity of those (serving) in our penal institutions," writes Daniel P. Horan.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments April 1 on President Donald Trump's executive order limiting birthright citizenship, with the president in attendance.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments April 1 on President Donald Trump's executive order limiting birthright citizenship, with the president in attendance.

Pope Leo XIV will carry the cross himself through all 14 stations of the Way of the Cross at Rome's Colosseum on the first Good Friday of his pontificate.

"I'm told that President Trump has recently stated that he would like to end the war,'' the U.S.-born pope said. "I hope that he's looking for an off-ramp.''

"This is about protecting children and bringing justice to those who could never ever seek it all these years," said Rhode Island State Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee.

The heads of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious made their annual trip to Rome last week, meeting with dicastery officials at the Vatican and having a private audience with Pope Leo XIV.

Spain's Catholic bishops and the Spanish government took another step Monday toward compensating victims of sexual abuse by clergy members who have died or whose possible crimes are too old to be prosecuted.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against a law banning "conversion therapy" for LGBTQ+ kids in Colorado, one of about two dozen states that ban the discredited practice.

Pope Leo XIV announced a significant reshuffling of top Vatican posts on Monday, March 30, consolidating his leadership over the church and the Roman Curia almost one year into his pontificate.

Georgetown University in Qatar, located in Doha, said in a March 30 statement that its building would "remain closed and inaccessible until further notice."

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said an agreement has been reached with Israeli authorities to allow Holy Week and Easter celebrations to take place at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher after they were initially barred from celebrating Palm Sunday.

"Positive visibility matters because it reminds the broader public that transgender people are not abstractions or political talking points, but neighbors, coworkers, family members and friends," writes Maxwell Kuzma.