World News

The Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life recognized Worldwide Marriage Encounter as an international association of the faithful, in a ceremony at the dicastery’s headquarters. Pope Leo also received members of the organization in a March 12 audience. The organization “took its first steps in Spain in the 1950s but was officially founded ... read more

Addressing participants in a conference on “generative accompaniment,” Pope Leo XIV said that presence and care “help to illuminate the Christian meaning of welcome.” The conference was organized by Fraterna Domus, an association of Christian volunteers. Pope Leo said: Being present in the lives of others means sharing time, experiences and meanings, offering ... read more

The secretary of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches lamented the plight of his native Lebanon. Archbishop Michel Jalakh, O.A.M., issued an appeal “not to close our eyes to the suffering” of Lebanon and “not to think that it is far removed from us: we must always continue, at the very least, to speak ... read more

Lent remembers and mirrors Jesus fasting and praying in the desert for 40 days, when one of the most dramatic moments in the Gospel takes place: Christ’s temptation by the devil. Christ was not the only one to be tempted with these offerings of miracle, mystery, and authority. They have been Satan’s calling cards for ... read more

The Vatican newspaper lamented the Iran war’s child casualties and decried the humanitarian effects of the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon. ... read more

Archbishop Habib Hormiz Jajou Al Nawfali of Basra, Iraq, has become the administrator of the Chaldean Catholic Church until the election of a new Patriarch. Archbishop Jajou is the senior member (by date of episcopal ordination) of the Permanent Synod of the Chaldean Catholic Church. The prelate’s appointment, the Chaldean Patriarchate stated, was made ... read more

With the help of grants from the St. Louis Archdiocese, Catholics have taken steps to lessen the waste associated with serving hundreds, and in some cases, 1,000 meals in a single night during Lenten fish fries. ... read more

Letters to the editor: NCR readers respond to coverage of the origins of Vatican II, "Marty Supreme" and the bishops' opposition to Trump.  ... read more

Catholic Mobilizing Network Executive Director Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy calls on him to protect inmates from future policy that could reverse his moratorium on capital punishment. ... read more

I have a theory: God gave us cats to show us the stupid ways we act toward him, and God gave us dogs to demonstrate how he really wants us to treat him.   My whole life long, I have been a cat person. I was heavily influenced by my cat-person mother in this. She ... read more

Thus says the LORD:Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;you have collapsed through your guilt.Take with you words,and return to the LORD;Say to him, "Forgive all iniquity,and receive what is good, that we may renderas offerings the bullocks from our stalls.Assyria will not save us,nor shall we have horses to mount;We shall say no ... read more

The way to overcome the devil when he excites feelings of hatred for those who injure us is immediately to pray for their conversion. — St. John Vianney ... read more

Good Friday is three weeks away. The conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders of his time continues to intensify as the Third Week of Lent draws to an end. In today's gospel reading, one of the Temple scribes gives Jesus an orthodoxy check, asking him to name the greatest of the Commandments. The answer ... read more

Alfred Noyes (1880-1958) was an English poet and essayist who was educated at Oxford, gave a series of lectures at Harvard, and taught modern English literature at Princeton before entering the Catholic Church in 1925. He was a master at writing ballads and known as the “twentieth-century Homer” for his epics Drake and The Torch-bearers. ... read more

Alex Wroblewski Flowers are placed outside Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis on Sept. 3, 2025, after the Aug. 27 shooting in which a gunman killed two children and wounded 17 others during a school Mass. Judicial Watch alleges Gov. Tim Walz’s office failed to provide public records on efforts to extend safety programs ... read more