The history of papal elections is filled with politics, strategy and intrigue. However, we would be naive to imagine that the Holy Spirit is absent from the process, too fragile to endure the rough handling of human hands.
Brad Sigmon chose to be the first person executed in the U.S. by firing squad in 15 years because he believed the alternatives — lethal injection and electrocution — are more horrific.
National Catholic Reporter has said that silence in the face of President Trump's cruelty is complicity. In this daunting national moment, will Bishop Robert Barron speak truth to the powerful, or continue his silence?
It is time to name the result of this chaos — unbounded cruelty. Complicit Catholics, in particular, must stop aiding and abetting cruelty by asserting that this administration is in any way pro-life. It is not. Yet we are not helpless in the face of the chaos.
The Catholic vice president managed to insult not only the hierarchy and Pope Francis, but agencies such as Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities; diocesan and parish organizations; and ordinary Catholics.
Episcopal Bishop of Washington Mariann Budde's plea to Trump gave a human face to those who, in the approach of a heartless administration, are a faceless group, shamefully maligned and made into a national scapegoat.
Forty years ago this June, the National Catholic Reporter began publishing stories about U.S. Catholic priests sexually abusing children. This is an NCR editorial that ran with that first coverage in 1985.
We are in a moment of unprecedented division and uncertainty in both the church and society. That's why Pope Francis could not have made a better choice to lead the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.
Given the importance the Catholic electorate has played in the discussion of the outcome of the 2024 national election, the National Catholic Reporter is naming the Catholic voter its Newsmaker of the Year.
