IMG_0040 (1).jpg Washington Cardinal Robert McElroy presides at Mass during the Outreach conference June 20, 2026, in Gaston Hall at Georgetown University. (Courtesy of Outreach and America Media/Kevin Christopher Robles)

Cardinal McElroy: Leo's papacy offers 'great hope' for church's LGBTQ ministry

News

At the Outreach ministry conference, the D.C. archbishop pointed both to Leo's deemphasis on sexual morality and to a Vatican report's recommendation of a more pastoral approach to people with same-sex attractions.

The Latest

Guest Voices

A deeper look at Pope Leo's encyclical: Catholic social teaching's purpose in AI age

Thomas Reese, Religion News Service
The Leo Chronicles

The Leo Chronicles: Forever friends

Pat Marrin

Q&A with a 106-year-old YouTuber nun, from enclosure to digital evangelization

Editors' Choice

An internally displaced Somali family prepares breakfast outside their makeshift shelter in Mogadishu May 7, 2026. Experts say nearly 6.5 million people in Somalia are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity and more than 1.8 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition because of recurrent drought, displacement, prolonged instability and insufficient resources. (OSV News/Reuters/Feisal Omar)

In Focus

Notre Dame study links climate change to stunted child growth in Africa

Researchers say climate change is a "threat multiplier" on social inequalities facing vulnerable communities and poor households unable to buy food elsewhere after a bad harvest, losing sources of nutrition and income.

Support journalism that matters. 

Your donation to NCR keeps independent Vatican news accessible to all. 

Donate Now

Most Read Stories

Close-up of a holy card’s depiction of Mary, the Immaculate Conception, which draws on symbolism from the Book of Revelation. (Courtesy of The Marian Library/University of Dayton)

#1
Why Mary, as the Immaculate Conception, became patron saint of the US in the 1840s

Librarians at the University of Dayton created a digital exhibit with objects pointing to the history of devotion to Mary as the Immaculate Conception in the United States.

ByStephanie Shreffler, Bridget Retzloff, The Conversation
Pope Leo XIV smiles as he greets visitors during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican June 17, 2026. A day earlier, Leo spoke with journalists about the Society of St. Pius X. (CNS/Vatican Media)

#2
Pope says church 'must move forward' if SSPX proceeds with illicit ordinations

Pope Leo XIV said that although he is considering a final appeal to the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, the choice to splinter from the Catholic Church falls on them.

ByJunno Arocho Esteves, OSV News
Pope Leo XIV incenses the relics of St. Augustine as he visits the San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro Basilica in Pavia, northern Italy, June 20, 2026. (AP/Luca Bruno)
Vatican News

#3
Pope Leo prays at relics of St. Augustine, then visits Mother Cabrini's birthplace

The pontiff's day trip marked the midway point of his summer 2026 grand tour of Italy. 

ByNicole Winfield, Brian Hendrie, Associated Press

#4
Spain showed a Leo more at ease with papal office

#5
A viral photo of Pope Leo XIV and a Barcelona boy sparked an emotional search for his family

#6
'On Eagle's Wings' turns 50: The journey behind the song that has consoled the world

Opinion

A deeper look at Pope Leo's encyclical: Catholic social teaching's purpose in AI age

Guest Voices

Podcast: For Palestinian Zoughbi Zougbhi, hope 'is a form of nonviolent struggle'

Guest Voices
Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. bishops' conference, concelebrates Mass as the bishops consecrate the U.S. to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Orlando, Florida, June 11, 2026, during their spring plenary assembly. (OSV News/Bob Roller)

Dear bishops: Devotion to Sacred Heart requires solidarity with LGBTQ community

Guest Voices

"The Sacred Heart of Jesus is not detached from human suffering, but beats within the living body of Christ," a body made up of the poor, the oppressed and the rejected, writes Maxwell Kuzma.

Podcast: 'Even when it's hopeless, we can continue on,' says Mel Duncan of Nonviolent Peaceforce

Guest Voices

Pope Leo reveals his political theology in Spain

Guest Voices
Letters to the Editor

Your letters: Pride Month, LGBTQ inclusion and a Jesuit art show

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the editor: NCR readers respond to stories about Pride Month, the church's conformity to its own teaching and a controversial art show. 

Vatican

Pope Leo is worried about Brother Leo.
The Leo Chronicles

The Leo Chronicles: Forever friends

The Leo Chronicles: Pope Leo is worried about Brother Leo.

Pope Leo XIV speaks during a meeting with the employees of the United Nations World Food Program in Rome June 22, 2026. (AP/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV warns wars are 'fed' faster than people as aid money dries up

Addressing the governing body of the U.N. World Food Program in Rome, Leo pressed governments to cut red tape and tear down obstacles that prevent assistance from reaching those in need.

ByGiada Zampano, Associated Press
Ilan Goldfajn, the president of the Inter-American Development Bank, speaks to the Associated Press during an interview in Rome June 18, 2026. A day later Goldfajn met privately with Pope Leo, asserting the potential of rare earth mining. (AP/Domenico Stinellis)

A top banker tried to sway Pope Leo XIV on rare earth mining

The Vatican has long opposed multinational mining corporations, especially in Latin America and in favor of the Indigenous peoples, whose lands and livelihoods are often ravaged by mining projects.

ByNicole Winfield, Associated Press
Pope Leo XIV incenses the relics of St. Augustine as he visits the San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro Basilica in Pavia, northern Italy, June 20, 2026. (AP/Luca Bruno)
Vatican News

Pope Leo prays at relics of St. Augustine, then visits Mother Cabrini's birthplace

The pontiff's day trip marked the midway point of his summer 2026 grand tour of Italy. 

ByNicole Winfield, Brian Hendrie, Associated Press

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

Spain showed a Leo more at ease with papal office

Pope Leo XIV meets Peru's president, discusses possible November visit

Pope says church 'must move forward' if SSPX proceeds with illicit ordinations

EarthBeat

Ilan Goldfajn, the president of the Inter-American Development Bank, speaks to the Associated Press during an interview in Rome June 18, 2026. A day later Goldfajn met privately with Pope Leo, asserting the potential of rare earth mining. (AP/Domenico Stinellis)

A top banker tried to sway Pope Leo XIV on rare earth mining

The Vatican has long opposed multinational mining corporations, especially in Latin America and in favor of the Indigenous peoples, whose lands and livelihoods are often ravaged by mining projects.

An internally displaced Somali family prepares breakfast outside their makeshift shelter in Mogadishu May 7, 2026. Experts say nearly 6.5 million people in Somalia are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity and more than 1.8 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition because of recurrent drought, displacement, prolonged instability and insufficient resources. (OSV News/Reuters/Feisal Omar)

Notre Dame study links climate change to stunted child growth in Africa

Researchers say climate change is a "threat multiplier" on social inequalities facing vulnerable communities and poor households unable to buy food elsewhere after a bad harvest, losing sources of nutrition and income.

ByBrian Roewe
Demonstrators protest outside the Argentine National Congress building in Buenos Aires as lawmakers debate the Javier Milei government's proposal to reform Argentina's glacier protection law April 8, 2026. (AP/Rodrigo Abd)

Argentine Catholics join push to reverse Milei's changes to glacier protection law

A reform to Argentina's 2010 glacier protection law has been met with popular opposition, with opponents arguing that the changes loosen government oversight of mining and oil projects, and put water sources at risk.

ByEduardo Campos Lima
Mary Magdalene Vu Thi Tue (center, in denim jacket) sells fish to customers in Quang Tri, Vietnam, on April 22, 2026. At left is the fishing boat her family recently repaired after years of abandonment following the Formosa disaster. (Reporter in Vietnam)

Vietnamese sisters help survivors of Formosa environmental disaster rebuild lives

Ten years after the environmental disaster that devastated Vietnam's central coast and affected thousands of fishing families, women religious focus on livelihoods, accompaniment and long-term healing.

ByReporter in Vietnam

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Nuns in Cuba struggle to sustain ministries as fuel shortages deepen humanitarian crisis

Pope's AI encyclical lends church support to calls to slow rapid expansion of data centers

New arrests made in murder of Catholic activist in Honduras

Culture

Iran's Alireza Jahanbakhsh (7) participates in a training session ahead of his team's World Cup Group G soccer match against Belgium Tuesday, June 16, 2026, in Tijuana, Mexico. (AP photo/Gregory Bull)

World Cup: Superstars are fun to watch, but underdogs make the sport great

The world's most-watched sporting event is famous for athletes like Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal, but the grit of lesser-known players representing small but scrappy countries is where the real inspiration lies.

From left: Sr. Helen Prejean, Dead Man Walking author; Catherine Anyango Grünewald, illustrator for the new graphic edition; actress Susan Sarandon, who portrayed Prejean in the 1996 film; and Rose Vines, who adapted the text for the graphic novel, pose Nov. 6, 2025, at the book launch in Manhattan. (Fordham University/Leo Sorel)
Book Reviews

Graphic novel of 'Dead Man Walking' retains memoir's moral core

The new graphic novel based on Sr. Helen Prejean's bestselling memoir about ministering on Louisiana's death row will attract new readers and satisfy longtime fans of the original book.

ByChris Herlinger
People at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit hold candles April 16, 2022, during the start of the Easter Vigil with then Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron as presider. (CNS/Detroit Catholic/Rosa Maria Zamarron)

New podcast explores Black Catholic resistance to Detroit's parish closures

In researching and creating "The City and the Cross," writer/narrator Aaron Robertson "was wondering, frankly, why Black Americans would even be Catholic."

ByTom Deignan
Emily Blunt portrays Margaret Fairchild, a TV meteorologist, in Steven Spielberg's science fiction thriller "Disclosure Day." (Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment )

Faith, fear and the wisdom of nuns in Spielberg's 'Disclosure Day'

Steven Spielberg anchors his new sci-fi thriller in a moving portrait of faith.

ByZachary Lee

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

'Hazbin Hotel,' the best Catholic show on TV, is queer as hell

This Pride Month, the Sacred Heart of Jesus bleeds for the queer

Why soccer fandom in Latin America feels sacred

Sister Anna Maria of the Sacred Heart celebrated her 106th birthday March 14, 2026. (Courtesy of Perpetual Adorers of the Most Blessed Sacrament)

Q&A with a 106-year-old YouTuber nun, from enclosure to digital evangelization

Sister Anna Maria of the Sacred Heart celebrated her 106th birthday on March 14. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she learned to use digital media as a means of evangelization.

Servant of God Mother Mary Teresa Tallon is pictured in this undated colorized photo taken around 1920, when she founded the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate. (OSV News/Courtesy Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate)

Sainthood cause advances for Mother Mary Teresa Tallon, foundress of Parish Visitors in NYC

The nun grew up on a farm outside Waterville, New York, a destination for hops picking for making beer. She founded the Parish Visitors in New York City in 1920. On June 18, Pope Leo XIV declared her venerable.

ByKatie Yoder, OSV News
Holy Spirit Sr. Frederika Tanggu Hana speaks with female survivors of violence at St. Theresa Shelter in Labuan Bajo, eastern Indonesia. Accompaniment and trauma-informed care are central to daily ministry at the shelter, founded in 2018. (Ryan Dagur)

Nun walks with abuse survivors in the shadows of Indonesia's tourism boom

Holy Spirit Sr. Frederika Tanggu Hana runs the only shelter for women and children who are survivors of violence in Labuan Bajo, a quickly growing port town at the western tip of Flores, a predominantly Catholic island in Indonesia. 

By
Child Rights Watch Club members and community participants join a campaign march Oct. 29, 2025, in Grafton Community, Freetown, Sierra Leone, to raise awareness on teenage pregnancy, early marriage, gender-based violence and drug abuse. (Courtesy of Misean Cara Ireland/NLW Germany)
Columns

Children are learning to protect their rights and each other in Sierra Leone

In 2012, Sierra Leone was slowly emerging from conflict, but for children, the war never truly ended. A program of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary works to restore dignity and hope for kids.

By

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

As Venezuela remains divided, nuns urge dialogue, justice for national healing

Nuns take Father's Day to the border, visiting dads separated from their children

Benedictine sisters' respite center helps heal people who are homeless