Society of the Sacred Heart Sr. Lisa Buscher smiles at another sister after feeding a child at the Cobina Posada del Migrante shelter in Mexicali, Mexico, June 6, 2026. (GSR photo/Rhina Guidos)

Catholic nuns among the last providing migrant aid at California border

As U.S. immigration policies empty shelters and cut aid along the California-Mexico border, Catholic sisters remain among the few groups supporting migrants stranded with dwindling options.

The Latest

Latin America: Bishops express solidarity with Colombia as death toll surpasses 250

Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News

Bishop, doctors and Lutheran nursing home sue to block Illinois assisted suicide law

Simone Orendain, OSV News

African group dedicated to primary healthcare receives 2026 Hilton Prize

Chris Herlinger

Editors' Choice

The South Dakota State Penitentiary is seen in this photo taken Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012. Briley Piper, the only prisoner on South Dakota's death row, began speaking by phone with NCR's Camillo Barone in February 2026. (AP photo/Amber Hunt)

In Focus

Reporter's Notebook: What I learned reporting on death row, one 20-minute call at a time

 National Catholic Reporter's Camillo Barone shares how the story of Briley Piper has occupied a large part of both his reporting and personal life.

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Most Read Stories

Pope Francis greets Albanian Cardinal Ernest Simoni at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican Feb. 14, 2024. (CNS/Vatican Media)
Vatican News

#1
Pope Leo writes to 97-year-old cardinal who spent 18 years in labor camps

On Christmas Eve 1963, Ernest Simoni,, then a young priest, was arrested by the communist regime of Enver Hoxha after offering a Mass for the soul of assassinated U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

ByCourtney Mares, OSV News
A 12th-century painting of St. Francis with Angels by an unknown artist known as the Master of St. Francis is on display at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Assisi, Italy, Feb. 22, 2026. The basilica encompasses the chapel St. Francis helped restore in Assisi called the Porziuncola and where the saint founded the Franciscan order. (OSV News/Courtney Mares)

#2
2 years after leaving religious life: Reflections on grace, marriage and clericalism

After receiving a formal dispensation to leave the Franciscan order and priestly ministry, Daniel P. Horan reflects on his supportive transition into lay life, his recent marriage and his conversations with other former priests and religious.

ByDaniel P. Horan
A file photo shows students at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., receiving Communion during a Mass and rally for the opening of the school year. (OSV News/Tom Tracy)

#3
Florida AG's threat to Catholic schools 'clear violation' of the First Amendment, law scholar says

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sent a letter to the Catholic bishops of Florida demanding that Catholic schools in the Sunshine State adopt religious exemptions to vaccine requirements or risk their ability to participate in the state's school voucher program.

ByKate Scanlon, OSV News

#4
During summer lull, conservative bishops call for more Latin Mass, less synodality

#5
Msgr. Rossetti resumes deliverance ministry after removal as DC exorcist

#6
New leader of US Franciscans: Pope Leo 'trying to hold the church together'

Opinion

Beyond saying no: The church’s answer to assisted suicide

Guest Voices

St. John's University leadership must heed lessons of past

Guest Voices
Pope Leo XIV poses with Montse Alvarado, president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, during a private meeting at the Vatican Sept. 5, 2025. Alvarado takes over as prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication in November. (OSV News/Vatican Media/Catholic Press)

The quiet revolution at the Vatican

NCR Voices

"The Roman Curia for centuries has been all male, all white, all Italian and all clerical," writes NCR's Michael Sean Winters. "Not anymore and not ever again."

Synodality requires engagement with LGBTQ Catholics — and not just the 'right' ones

Guest Voices

Michigan Senate primary: Where is the Democratic party headed?

NCR Voices

An AI data center is being built on my grandma's garden

Guest Voices

When Liam Myers' grandma sold her house last year, she didn't know it was to an AI data center developer. Now, her grandson wrestles with the loss — and what it means to remember.

Vatican

The Leo Chronicles: Leo writes his talks for when he visits the U.S. But he and the president disagree on almost every issue.

The Leo Chronicles: What would Leo and Trump talk about?

The Leo Chronicles: Leo writes his talks for when he visits the U.S. But he and the president disagree on almost every issue.

During summer lull, conservative bishops call for more Latin Mass, less synodality

The news vacuum created during Leo's absence gave conservative voices abundant material to shape the summer's Catholic news cycle.

ByJustin McLellan
Pope Leo XIV delivers a blessing in St. Peter's Basilica, on the occasion of the weekly general audience at the Vatican Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Leo to meet with clergy abuse survivors during upcoming trip to France

Pope Leo XIV will meet with survivors of clergy abuse during a four-day trip to France next month that will include a visit to UNESCO headquarters, a meeting with French bishops in Lourdes and an interreligious meeting in the border city of Metz.

ByColleen Barry, Associated Press
Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi, Italy, which houses the Porziuncola, the small chapel closely associated with the life and early vocation of St. Francis, Aug. 6, 2026. (NCR photo/Camillo Barone)
Vatican News

Pope urges young people in Assisi gathering to reject power and choose peace

Pope Leo XIV returned to Assisi on Aug. 6 for the second time in his pontificate, addressing more than 2,000 young people gathered in the birthplace of St. Francis of Assisi, calling on them to become peacemakers.

ByCamillo Barone

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV's visit to South America in November to include cities in Peru

Vatican News

Latin Mass debate erupts as Pope Leo returns from summer break

Vatican News

Pope Leo writes to 97-year-old cardinal who spent 18 years in labor camps

EarthBeat

Latin America: Bishops express solidarity with Colombia as death toll surpasses 250

Messages of solidarity from bishops' conferences across Latin America poured in as rescue workers race against time to save victims still trapped beneath the rubble in multiple cities across Colombia.

Pope Leo XIV offers prayers, condolences as bishops urge solidarity following Colombia earthquake

Pope Leo XIV said he was deeply saddened by the loss of life and destruction following a powerful earthquake that struck Colombia, leaving more than 100 dead and dozens of collapsed buildings.

ByJunno Arocho Esteves, OSV News

Young African Catholics say faith inspires their fight against climate change

Across East Africa, young Catholics are transforming Pope Francis' call to care for creation into climate education and advocacy, arguing that protecting the environment is as much a religious obligation as attending church.

ByFrederick Nzwili, Religion News Service

Catholics sees outpouring of grace after EF-3 tornado; Wisconsin storm miraculously took no lives

The tornado, with winds of 146 mph, traveled on the ground for 20 minutes, cutting a swath of 12.5 miles, over three cities and one village. Menasha, population 18,000, was hardest hit.

ByPatricia Kasten, OSV News

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Lawsuit seeks fossil fuel-free 401(k) plan on religious grounds

Spokane bishop calls for prayers, outreach as wildfires ravage area

In Kenya, nuns lead in providing water, sanitation and hygiene for vulnerable children

Culture

Sr. Sandra Smithson, a School Sister of St. Francis (School Sisters of St. Francis)
Book Reviews

New book explores life of Sr. Sandra Smithson, pioneering Black Catholic nun in Tennessee

The new text from journalist Theresa Laurence covers a woman who battled racism and educational neglect in Nashville for more than four decades.

'Listen': The Gospel according to Spielberg

From childhood, Steven Spielberg was taught that the most important spiritual act he could do is listen. His filmography upholds it.

ByMichael Leach

4 teens take justice into vigilante hands in 'The Altar Boys'

A group of altar boys, frustrated by the indifference of the adults in their Catholic parish, decide to wire the confessional so they can right social wrongs on their own.

ByJose Solís
In 1972, a man took a hammer to Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica, breaking the Renaissance sculpture into at least 100 pieces. A team repaired the sculpture, which is now protected by bulletproof and shatterproof glass. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

Violence against the virgin: The long history of Marian art defacement

 "For centuries," writes Vanessa R. Corcoran, "attacks on female religious imagery have continued (outpacing vandalism against images of Jesus), and have typically been orchestrated by men."

ByVanessa R. Corcoran

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Book Reviews

New book by feminist theologian takes on clericalism, racism and the work of repair

Pop culture’s 'reverent irreverence': Irony, sincerity and religion

Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' demands we consider the cost of war

In Liberia, nearly 30% of the population lives more than 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the nearest health facility. Since 2007, Last Mile Health has partnered with the Ministry of Health to build a workforce of community health workers who cross footbridges and canoe rivers to bring life-saving care to remote communities. The group now serves every county nationwide. (©Last Mile Health)

African group dedicated to primary healthcare receives 2026 Hilton Prize

Last Mile Health supports more than 20,000 professional health workers in Ethiopia, Liberia, Malawi and Sierra Leone, providing primary healthcare to more than 32 million people. 

Society of the Sacred Heart Sr. Lisa Buscher smiles at another sister after feeding a child at the Cobina Posada del Migrante shelter in Mexicali, Mexico, June 6, 2026. (GSR photo/Rhina Guidos)

Catholic nuns among the last providing migrant aid at California border

As U.S. immigration policies empty shelters and cut aid along the California-Mexico border, Catholic sisters remain among the few groups supporting migrants stranded with dwindling options.

ByRhina Guidos
The Indian flag is backlit by the sun, with a blue sky in the background, in a close-up, outdoor photograph. (Unsplash/Aniyora J)
Columns

What India can teach us amid an energy crisis

The resourcefulness of ordinary people has much to teach us. How could we apply it to consecrated life in today's India? How do we live through the energy crisis in the spirit of the Gospel?

By

Monday Starter: Benedictine nuns in Pennsylvania honored with civic engagement award

Plus, Dominican sisters recount flooding in Pakistan; Birkenstock scores a hit with animated nun in ad; and climate investment fund backed by sisters helps more than a million in Africa.

ByRhina Guidos

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Slowly, I have matured in faith

Meet Sr. Debra Sciano, new president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time: The silent presence of God