News & Commentary

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.
Read More →

U.S. bishops focus on Communion, synodality, finances in fall assembly

The U.S. bishops, gathered for the first time in person since 2019, discussed the highly anticipated statement on the Eucharist without the heated discussion it stirred up in their previous meeting.
Read More →

Maryland couple donates spruce as Rockefeller Center’s Christmas tree

The sleepy streets of Cecil County, Maryland, near the University of Delaware and White Clay Creek State Park were buzzing with activity the morning of Nov. 11, as one of the most iconic holiday symbols in the United States began ...
Read More →

Laudato Si’ Action Platform set to integrate encyclical into church life

The Vatican's seven-year plan to widen the reach of Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical on the environment is just what the church needs in a time of global climate change in the mind of Father Emmet Farrell, a retired priest living ...
Read More →

Peace requires global disarmament, pope says

Criticizing the "abused idea" of deterrence through the stockpiling of weapons, Pope Francis called for integral disarmament worldwide in his message sent to the Paris Peace Forum.
Read More →

N.J. priest finished New York City Marathon with personal best time

Father Manuel Duenas, a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark and current vice rector of Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Kearny, New Jersey, was among 33,000 participants in the New York City Marathon Nov. 7.
Read More →

Catholic university allows student group’s Planned Parenthood fundraiser

Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez said Nov. 5 he was "deeply disappointed" by Loyola Marymount University's decision to allow a student group's fundraiser for Planned Parenthood to go forward later the same day despite thousands of protests against the ...
Read More →