News & Commentary

Pope Leo XIV leads the recitation of the Angelus prayer with visitors gathered in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Aug. 24, 2025.

Pope marks Ukraine’s Independence Day with prayers for peace

Marking Ukraine's Independence Day, Pope Leo XIV pledged his prayers for the Ukrainian people in a message to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and encouraged Catholics to respond to Ukrainian religious leaders' request for prayers for peace Aug. 24.
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A child looks on at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip April 17, 2025, on a tent camp sheltering displaced people. (OSV News photo/Hatem Khaled, Reuters)

Jerusalem patriarch, back in Holy Land, reflects on conclave, Gaza situation

The importance of continuity and diversity as well as the issues of war and peace were a main topic of conversation for the 133 cardinals as they gathered to vote in the conclave May 7-8, said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin ...
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Pope Leo XIV waves to the crowd from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican as he leads, for the first time, the midday recitation of the "Regina Coeli" prayer May 11, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Quietly, without flashiness, Pope Leo strives toward unity

Following the April 21 death of Pope Francis, a great curiosity hovered across the world as the College of Cardinals entered into mourning and prepared to elect a new pope.
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A pro-life advocate holds a rosary and sign in this file photo from Nov. 3, 2019. Planned Parenthood released its new annual report for 2023-2024, their first covering a period of time after the Dobbs decision. (OSV News photo/Sam Lucero, The Compass)

Planned Parenthood report shows abortions, public funding up after Dobbs

Planned Parenthood's latest annual report shows an increase in abortions from the previous year's report, while also showing a $100 million increase in government funding amid an overall decrease in cancer screenings and prevention services.
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Pope Leo XIV waves to the crowd from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican as he leads, for the first time, the midday recitation of the "Regina Coeli" prayer May 11, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Besides Leo XIII, 12 other popes have shared that name with new pontiff

When Catholics heard on May 8 the new pope had chosen the name Leo XIV, the thoughts of many turned immediately to Leo XIII, the last pope to bear the name.
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Students from Everest Academy in Lemont, Ill., cheer May 8, 2025, after it was announced that Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected as the next pope. He chose the papal name Leo XIV. (OSV News photo/Vincent Alban, Reuters)

Chicago abuzz with ‘unbelievable’ joy the first American Pope is a hometown son

Catholics and non-Catholics alike were abuzz with excitement in Chicago May 8, after one of the city's native sons became pope. Taking the name Leo XIV, the new pontiff has made many firsts.
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Pope Leo XIV celebrates his first Mass as pope.

New pope calls for Christian witness in world that finds faith ‘absurd’

Where Christians are "mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied" is where the Catholic Church's "missionary outreach is most desperately needed," Pope Leo XIV said in his first homily as leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.
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