Bishop Paolo Martinelli, apostolic vicar of Southern Arabia, greets children during a pastoral visit in February 2026. (Courtesy of Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia)

'No alternative to dialogue': Southern Arabia bishop on war and fear in the Gulf

News

Archbishop Paolo Martinelli, based in Abu Dhabi, finds himself guiding a church that must navigate pastoral life amid geopolitical shock waves. The church itself has had to adapt, he told NCR in a recent interview.

The Latest

Q&A with Sr. Lucky Gomes, promoting healthy motherhood in rural Bangladesh

Sumon Corraya

DC cardinal says US decision to go to war with Iran was not morally legitimate

Brian Fraga

Lebanese Maronite Catholic priest killed by Israeli tank fire in southern Lebanon

Dale Gavlak, OSV News

Editors' Choice

Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer from the window of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican, March 1, 2026. (OSV News/Reuters/Guglielmo Mangiapane)

In Focus

Did the pope call out Trump on Iran?

Amid escalating U.S. military action in Iran, Pope Leo XIV issued a forceful call for peace in the Middle East. The internet made it about Trump.

Support journalism that matters. 

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

Donate Now

Most Read Stories

Bishop Emanuel Shaleta of the Chaldean Catholic Diocese of St. Peter the Apostle in San Diego was "contacted and detained" March 5 at that city's international airport while "attempting to leave the country," according to a statement issued that same day by the San Diego County Sheriff's Office. He is pictured in an undated photo. (OSV News/Chaldean Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle of San Diego)

#1
Chaldean Catholic bishop in California jailed for alleged financial crimes

A Chaldean Catholic bishop in California has been arrested and jailed on several financial crimes charges.

ByGina Christian, OSV News

#2
Vatican theological commission warns of replacing God with 'a world governed by machines'

The Vatican's International Theological Commission has warned that if humanity places total trust in technology in a "world ruled by machines," it risks replacing the "living God" with a counterfeit "virtual God."

ByCourtney Mares, OSV News
Sr. Marie Nguyen Thi Minh Hoa checks the reishi mushrooms in the growing house she and Sr. Agathe Tran Thi Mong Huyen operate at their St. Paul de Chartres convent in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This mushroom variety needs six months to grow before harvest. (Courtesy of Marie Nguyen Thi Minh Hoa)

#3
Vietnamese sisters grow organic mushrooms to serve community and fund scholarships

They use no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Waste is reused. Damaged mushrooms are dried and ground into seasoning powder.

ByJoachim Pham

#4
Amid escalating attacks, Catholic groups visiting Holy Land are stranded

#5
Pope warns of 'tragedy of enormous proportions' after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran

#6
Pope Leo speaks about Vatican II teachings, and all Catholics should listen

Opinion

In wartime, Catholics must stand at the foot of the cross

Guest Voices

The extraordinary legacy left by Cardinal Christophe Pierre

NCR Voices
Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer from the window of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican, March 1, 2026. (OSV News/Reuters/Guglielmo Mangiapane)

Did the pope call out Trump on Iran?

NCR Voices

Amid escalating U.S. military action in Iran, Pope Leo XIV issued a forceful call for peace in the Middle East. The internet made it about Trump.

In these hopeless times, hope is a gift and a choice

Guest Voices

Catholic parishes: Please preach about organ donation this Lent

Guest Voices
Pope Leo XIV elevates the Book of the Gospels during Mass marking the Jubilee of the Holy See in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican June 9, 2025. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

Pope Leo is right: Preaching cannot be automated

Guest Voices

"Preaching cannot be automated because preaching is not the mere transmission of information. It is a personal act of mediation between the Word of God and the people of God," writes Fr. Enzo Del Brocco.

Vatican

Pope urges peace, warns about wider Middle East conflict

Pope Leo XIV called for an end to the war in Iran and warned that the conflict could drag more countries in the Middle East into instability.

Vatican theological commission warns of replacing God with 'a world governed by machines'

The Vatican's International Theological Commission has warned that if humanity places total trust in technology in a "world ruled by machines," it risks replacing the "living God" with a counterfeit "virtual God."

ByCourtney Mares, OSV News
2 Elisabetta Piqué and Gerard O'Connell give a Spanish-language edition of their book, The Election of Pope Leo XIV: The Last Surprise of Pope Francis, to Leo during a flight from Rome to Ankara Nov. 27, 2025. (Courtesy of Gerard O'Connell and Elisabetta Piqué)
Vatican News

What a new book tells us about the conclave that elected Pope Leo

A new book suggests that Cardinal Robert Prevost's path to the papacy was shaped by fragile alliances and small human moments that influenced perceptions inside the Sistine Chapel and produced the first U.S.-born pope.

ByJustin McLellan
Smoke billows March 3 after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran. (OSV News/Reuters//Mohamed Azakir)
Vatican News

Vatican's top diplomat says preventive wars risk setting world 'ablaze'

 "The force of law has been replaced by the law of force, with the conviction that peace can arise only after the enemy has been annihilated," said Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

ByJustin McLellan

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican synod study group proposes creation of pontifical commission for new technologies

Vatican News

Climate change, crowds prompt maintenance on Michelangelo's 'Last Judgment'

Pope warns of 'tragedy of enormous proportions' after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran

EarthBeat

The ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, May 15, 2021 (OSV News/Reuters/Kathleen Flynn)

Young Catholic is lead plaintiff in suit challenging EPA's endangerment finding reversal

"It would be nice, I think," Elena Venner said, "for our government to at least acknowledge that we are in this climate crisis and to start by not repealing what we already have."

Scaffolding covers Michelangelo's "The Last Judgment" during extraordinary maintenance work undertaken by the Vatican Museums. (Courtesy of the Governorate of Vatican City State)
Vatican News

Climate change, crowds prompt maintenance on Michelangelo's 'Last Judgment'

Visitors often reach the Sistine Chapel overheated after walking through non-air-conditioned galleries. Combined with rising temperatures those conditions have led to more sweat in the sacred space.

ByJustin McLellan
Sr. Marie Nguyen Thi Minh Hoa checks the reishi mushrooms in the growing house she and Sr. Agathe Tran Thi Mong Huyen operate at their St. Paul de Chartres convent in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This mushroom variety needs six months to grow before harvest. (Courtesy of Marie Nguyen Thi Minh Hoa)

Vietnamese sisters grow organic mushrooms to serve community and fund scholarships

They use no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Waste is reused. Damaged mushrooms are dried and ground into seasoning powder.

ByJoachim Pham
A community activist holds a sign referencing Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si' during a rally Oct. 4, 2017 outside the chancery of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Residents and allies of the University Park neighborhood were urging the archdiocese to end its lease with AllenCo Energy at the oil drilling site linked to health issues in their community. (Courtesy of STAND-LA)

Oil wells on LA Archdiocese land permanently sealed after years of community pressure

After more than a decade of community activism, a notorious oil drilling facility operating on land leased from the Los Angeles Archdiocese has been shuttered for good.

ByBrian Roewe

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Caring for creation this Lent

Delight in the simple, abundant gifts all around you

In Lenten reflection, US bishops call Catholics to ecological conversion and action

Culture

Mosaic artist Sister Samuelle in her workshop in France. Samuelle, who accused disgraced priest artist Marko Rupnik of abuse, is now a hermit and the creative lead on "Rebirth," a monumental mosaic dedicated to the victims of spiritual and sexual abuse in the church. (Courtesy of "Rebirth: The Tesserae Symphony")

'Rebirth' art project offers counternarrative for Rupnik accusers, abuse survivors

A monumental mosaic designed by French artist Sister Samuelle aims to help survivors "piece the fragments back together and give them a new face: the face of a new life, or at least a life that can still be lived."

Timothée Chalamet stars in a scene from the movie "Marty Supreme." The movie has been nominated for nine Oscars, including three for Chalamet. (OSV News/A24)

Ambition and redemption star in 'Marty Supreme'

Amid Timothée Chalamet's character Marty's lies, hustles, infidelities and callow performativity is the core of Catholic teaching: Redemption is not reserved for the pious nor perfect.

ByJean P. Kelly
Stefania Gadda, Joshua Liam Herderson, Richard 'Bigui' Bellamy and Sergi López appear in a scene in the Oscar-nominated film "Sirāt." López plays a father who goes to search for his missing daughter at a rave in the Moroccan desert. (Madman Entertainment)

In Oscar-nominated 'Sirāt,' the journey is literal, spiritual and existential

Director Óliver Laxe spoke with NCR about art that kills the ego, disruption in the creative process and facing our shadows.

ByZachary Lee
A pile of books, an open book, a cup of coffee or tea, and a plant sit on a table near a window.
Book Reviews

NCR Members read: Nonfiction

NCR Forward members share their best book recommendations.

ByShannon Evans

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Comedian channels Mary: 'What if it's breech? What if it's sick? What if it's God?'

Book Reviews

NCR members read: Fiction and memoir

'Midwinter Break' portrays the complicated beauty in the sacrament of marriage

Sumaiya Akhtar, a recent patient of the Aloka Health Centre, described her traditional delivery with Sr. Lucky Gomes as "feeling like home," praising the sister's sincerity and the center's affordability. (Sumon Corraya)

Q&A with Sr. Lucky Gomes, promoting healthy motherhood in rural Bangladesh

"Our mission has always been simple: to provide primary care to people without a hospital nearby, especially pregnant mothers from villages," Sr. Lucky Gomes told Global Sisters Report.

Ukrainian youth participate on Feb. 8 in a national dance during a vechornytsi social gathering in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. (Courtesy of Anhelina Yaroshenko)
Columns

Sisters in Ukraine's war zone support those around them with presence and prayers

"The consecrated sons and daughters in Ukraine have not abandoned her in these difficult times," writes Sr. Yeremiya Steblyna. "Their presence is proof of God's faithfulness."

By
People walk past damaged buildings in Tehran, Iran, March 4, 2026, following a strike on a police station, amid the U.S. and Israel-Iran war. (OSV News/WANA via Reuters/Majid Asgaripour)

Monday Starter: US-based sister congregations condemn war against Iran

Plus, Missionaries of Jesus Sr. Norma Pimentel, a longtime champion of migrants, is named a Time magazine woman of the year.

ByChris Herlinger
Mosaic artist Sister Samuelle in her workshop in France. Samuelle, who accused disgraced priest artist Marko Rupnik of abuse, is now a hermit and the creative lead on "Rebirth," a monumental mosaic dedicated to the victims of spiritual and sexual abuse in the church. (Courtesy of "Rebirth: The Tesserae Symphony")

'Rebirth' art project offers counternarrative for Rupnik accusers, abuse survivors

A monumental mosaic designed by French artist Sister Samuelle aims to help survivors "piece the fragments back together and give them a new face: the face of a new life, or at least a life that can still be lived."

BySarah Mac Donald

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Third Sunday of Lent: Physical and spiritual thirst

In Cambodia, ethnic Vietnamese nun serves God, the poor and a call to reconciliation

We keep the light alive in Ukraine's long and difficult winter