A man makes the sign of the cross at a makeshift memorial during a vigil in Houston July 11, 2026, in response to the fatal shooting of a Mexican motorist by an Immigration and Customs and Enforcement agent during a vehicle stop. (OSV News/Reuters/Antranik Tavitian)

Catholics offer prayers, express solidarity over 2 ICE shooting deaths in less than a week

News

Catholics and immigrant advocacy groups have expressed solidarity and offered prayers in the aftermath of two fatal shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers within less than a week.

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French bishops decry vote legalizing 'assisted dying' as 'turning point' in nation's history

OSV News

Death toll in Venezuela nears 5,000 as earthquake recovery intensifies

Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News

Have the courage to know where you stand

Editors' Choice

Rachel Accurso uses her fame from her educational YouTube videos to be a passionate advocate for children’s rights. (Instagram/@msrachelforlittles)

In Focus

The unshakable faith of Ms. Rachel

Having achieved worldwide fame for her educational YouTube videos, Rachel Accurso is an advocate for children's rights. Behind it all? An unshakable faith in the love of God and steadfast commitment to children.

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Most Read Stories

Newly consecrated Society of St. Pius X bishops, from left, Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry and Marc Hanappier pray at the end of their consecration ceremony in a tent set up outside the Society of St. Pius X seminary in Écône, Switzerland, July 1, 2026. (AP/Baz Ratner)
NCR Voices

#1
The Society of St. Pius X shows itself out the door

There is room for everybody within the church's embrace. Except those who refuse the embrace. It appears the Vatican has finally lost patience with these antisemitic, post-liberal, cafeteria and now former Catholics.

ByMichael Sean Winters

#2
France's traditionalist Catholics rally behind Pope Leo XIV after SSPX schism

French Catholics attached to the traditional Latin Mass but loyal to Rome are expressing deep sadness after the Society of St. Pius X consecrated four bishops without papal approval, prompting the Vatican to declare the group in schism and excommunicate six SSPX bishops.

ByOSV News
Pope Leo XIV speaks with leaders of the "continental bodies" representing Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, the Middle East and North America, together with the coordinators of the continental synodal teams, during a private meeting at the Vatican June 25, 2026. (CNS/Vatican Media)
NCR Voices

#3
In plans for 'Amoris Laetitia' meeting, Pope Leo continues to show his hand

We learned more about how Pope Leo XIV intends to implement the reforms his predecessor introduced when the Vatican released a "thematic framework" for a meeting to discuss Pope Francis' Amoris Laetitia.

ByMichael Sean Winters

#4
As Pope Leo faces SSPX schism, a Minnesota church merges old customs with fidelity

#5
How a long-closed NYC Catholic hospital still provides lessons for the church

#6
Vance's 'Communion' explores his Catholic conversion — but dodges hard questions

Opinion

AI will make war worse, Pope Leo warns

Guest Voices

Can civil religion make a comeback?

NCR Voices
The New York Times Building in Manhattan, New York City (Wikimedia Commons/Adam Jones)

Editorial: Catholic support for press freedoms must be unwavering

Editorial

Catholics need to speak up for press freedom. As Jesuit Fr. John Courtney Murray put it in 1963: "The freedom of the press to inform is nothing really but the other side of the rights of the people to be informed."

Editorial: Following schism, SSPX leaders must work for unity

Editorial

Podcast: Theologian Ronald Rolheiser talks about a spirituality for our wisdom years

Guest Voices
A human head made of circuits facing circuit pattern (Unsplash/Steve A Johnson)

Key issue of AI is not use of technology as such, but the vision that underlies it

Guest Voices

Fr. Tom Reese continues his analysis of Magnifica Humanitas with Chapter 3, in which Pope Leo XIV applies Catholic social teaching to modern digital technology, arguing that AI should respect human dignity.

Vatican

Four bishops lie on the floor as they are given episcopal consecration during a Mass in a tent set up outside the Society of St. Pius X seminary, in Econe, Switzerland, July 1, 2026. (Cyril Zingaro/Keystone via AP)

Traditionalist Catholics face a difficult choice after Vatican cuts off breakaway group

For traditionalist Catholics who worship at churches affiliated with the breakaway Society of St. Pius X, Sunday Mass now comes with an extraordinary question.

Rates of HIV, AIDS down, but children still vulnerable, says Vatican diplomat to UN

Much has been done to mitigate rates of HIV and AIDS, but more work remains as children are still vulnerable to the virus and the disease it causes, said the Holy See's diplomatic representative to the United Nations in a July 10 address.

ByGina Christian, OSV News
Andrea Tornielli, editorial director at the Dicastery for Communication speaks at a news conference at the Vatican Sept. 19, 2024. (CNS/Justin McLellan)

Did the Vatican take a jab at Trump's ambassador?

After the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See characterized the pope's criticism of the Iran war as the intervention of a head of state "coequal" to the U.S. president, a top Vatican communications official appeared to clap back.

ByJustin McLellan
Pilgrims are seen leaving a packed train July 12, 2026, as they arrive at Castel Gandolfo, Italy, ahead of Pope Leo XIV's Sunday Angelus. (OSV News photo/Jan Guzik)

Pilgrims flock to Castel Gandolfo for Pope Leo's first Angelus of the summer

When the 8:21 a.m. train left Rome's Termini Station to Castel Gandolfo July 12, people were packed in like sardines, off to see Pope Leo XIV's Sunday Angelus prayer — the first this summer at his residence there.

ByPaulina Guzik, OSV News

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

Pope Leo shares meal with vulnerable guests at Castel Gandolfo

View from the Vatican

Reporter's Notebook: Witnessing the SSPX schism in the Swiss Alps

Vatican News

Vatican unveils agenda for global family summit marking 'Amoris Laetitia' anniversary

EarthBeat

A priest celebrates a funeral Mass in La Guaira, Venezuela, July 15, 2026, for 2-year-old Kalani Martinez and her mother, Ashley Martinez, 29, victims of the earthquakes. Two catastrophic earthquakes hit Venezuela in quick succession June 24, leaving at least 5,000 dead with thousands still missing. (OSV News/Reuters/Pablo Sanhueza)

Death toll in Venezuela nears 5,000 as earthquake recovery intensifies

Twin earthquakes in Venezuela have left nearly 5,000 people dead, according to government officials, triggering a massive mobilization of humanitarian aid organizations.

The mining facility in La Oroya, Peru, is photographed in 2014. (Wikimedia Commons/Heiner Amado Cadillo)

Peruvians exposed to lead as children reach $150M settlement, with Catholic help

Lawyers for Peruvian plaintiffs reached a $150 million settlement with Doe Run and the Renco Group, bringing an end to a 19-year lawsuit that was supported along the way by the Catholic Church in Peru and the U.S.

ByBrian Roewe

Las Cruces Diocese demands jury trial, just compensation in feds' effort to seize pilgrimage site

The Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico, is demanding a jury trial as it fends off the Trump administration's move to seize a long-revered pilgrimage site for a border wall as part of Trump's hardline crackdown on immigration.

ByGina Christian, OSV News

'Keep Venezuelans in your hearts' after earthquakes, says Catholic relief worker

Damage from two back-to-back earthquakes that struck Venezuela June 24 is "a lot worse than expected," said a Catholic Relief Services disaster response worker, who asked people to "keep Venezuelans in their hearts."

ByGina Christian, OSV News

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Soul Seeing

Could Henry David Thoreau be a synodal conversation partner?

Columns

After 2 earthquakes, nuns do their part in Venezuelans' compassionate response

Catholic leaders, aid workers respond to Venezuela earthquakes

Culture

Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shoubir (23) saves a penalty kick by Argentina's Lionel Messi (10) during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Argentina and Egypt in Atlanta, July 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Spiritual lessons from World Cup penalty kicks

The 2022 final between France and Argentina, widely considered one of the greatest World Cup games ever played, was decided by a penalty kick shootout. So if it happens again this year, spare a prayer for the pressure these players are under — and ask yourself how you would respond, whatever the outcome.

Rachel Accurso uses her fame from her educational YouTube videos to be a passionate advocate for children’s rights. (Instagram/@msrachelforlittles)

The unshakable faith of Ms. Rachel

Having achieved worldwide fame for her educational YouTube videos, Rachel Accurso is an advocate for children's rights. Behind it all? An unshakable faith in the love of God and steadfast commitment to children.

ByJohn Grosso
composite photo church fathers

The early church fathers are showing their swag on TikTok

Videos imitating 'church fathers,' bishops and theologians who helped shape early Christianity, have been popping up across social media since late 2025. Several have drawn hundreds of thousands of views.

ByDenva Gallant, Religion News Service
hands clasped and holding small cross/rosary
Book Reviews

Antonio Pagliarulo's 'Queer Saints' explores expanded understanding of sainthood

A new book argues that many historical figures who challenged cultural expectations can serve as spiritual models regardless of whether they were formally recognized by the Catholic Church. 

ByCamillo Barone

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Book Reviews

Vance's 'Communion' explores his Catholic conversion — but dodges hard questions

The complicated embrace of US patriotism at the World Cup

How a long-closed NYC Catholic hospital still provides lessons for the church

A statue representing one of the Stations of the Cross at the Basilica of the Holy Rosary, Bandel, West Bengal. More than 90% of pilgrims visiting the shrine are Hindus. (Thomas Scaria)

Indian lay group slams mob intimidation of nuns in West Bengal

The harassment of Catholic nuns in West Bengal reflects a growing climate of hostility toward Christians since a pro-Hindu party came to power in the state in May, a prominent lay Catholic group has said.

Stained glass windows of Magnificat Chapel at the motherhouse of the Sisters of the Humility of Mary in Villa Maria, Pennsylvania. (Eilis McCulloh)
Columns

Have the courage to know where you stand

It's about calling attention to what is happening around us. It's about celebrating together and mourning together. It's about bearing witness together.

By
Sr. Catherine Lucia Phoebe Addington of the Daughters of St. Paul in Alexandria, Virginia, is pictured kneeling in prayer during her profession of vows in Boston Feb. 14, 2026. (OSV News/Courtesy of Daughters of St. Paul)

Meet 4 religious sisters dedicating their lives to God in 2026

Four religious sisters professing vows in 2026 spoke with OSV News about their vocation stories and what led them to dedicate their lives to God.

ByKatie Yoder, OSV News
Performers are seen at Estadio Azteca, renamed Mexico City Stadium for the FIFA World Cup, during the opening ceremony June 11, 2026, before the match between Mexico and South Africa. (OSV News/Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach)

Nuns hope international spotlight from World Cup shines on Mexico's disappeared

As Mexicans show their zeal for soccer everywhere during FIFA's World Cup 2026, families of Mexico's more than 130,000 disappeared want the country to have that same obsession for those who are missing.

ByRhina Guidos

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Indian congregation attracts vocations among Indigenous communities

Signs of our times: Catholic sisters walk with migrants

Q&A with Sr. Mary Brendan Ezigbo, ministering to Nigerian inmates