Election 2024

The Catholic electorate intrigues, baffles, surprises, bemuses, confounds, and makes news. Because of this, the National Catholic Reporter staff determined that the Catholic voter was the NCR Newsmaker of the Year for 2024.

A majority of Hispanic Catholics voted for Kamala Harris in the November election, but Latinos are part of the story of how a shift in the Catholic vote contributed to Donald Trump's win.

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.

There is no issue in American political life that is not leavened by an encounter with Catholic social teaching. The ability of Catholic thinkers to help the Democrats, however, is even more foundational.

For some Catholic women, the election was the final straw. Others saw it as a wake-up call, alerting them to the prevalence of right-wing ideologues in the U.S. church.

Democrats must acquire a more balanced sense of history, humility about their public policy goals, and a sense of humor about human life if they are serious about winning elections again, Michael Sean Winters writes.

If the Democrats want to reach working-class voters, they need to rework how they invoke science; be mindful of how scientism distorts public discourse; and restrict the listing of academic credentials to academic circles.

What are Democratic Party leaders' deeper habits of thought that need to change? The first deadly habit the left has to forswear is its tendency to heresy-hunt, which ends up alienating people whose votes you need.

Election results indicate shifts among Catholics overall, especially white Catholics, as well as with Latino voters – and point to abortion's growing insignificance as a political issue. 

Instead of immediate blame or praise for the results, here are five takeaways that Fr. Tom Reese believes political scientists and historians will be pondering for years in an attempt to make sense out of this election.

Donald Trump performed better among Catholic voters in his election victory this year than he did four years ago in his loss to Joe Biden, according to the AP VoteCast survey of American voters.

Alessandra Harris says she is "devastated but not at all surprised" by this country electing Donald Trump as president for a second term.

Trump's win was the culmination of a variety of factors, but the most obvious cause was his ability to present himself as the anti-politician in a country that hates politicians. He is a genius at exploiting populism.

While amendments to expand abortion access passed in seven states this election season, the three outlier states where they did not were all places where Catholic groups had funneled millions of dollars to defeat the measures. 

But Trump also won the Christian vote overall: 58% of all Catholics voted for him and 63% of Protestants, according to the early exit polls. If the early exit poll numbers hold steady, that will prove to be a jump in Catholic support for Trump compared with 2020, when 50% of Catholics voted for him. Some of that may have to do with an increase in Trump support among Hispanic voters. 

Asked about Trump's victory Nov. 5 and looking toward his second term as president, Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin said, "I think he has to work above all to be president of the whole country and therefore overcome the polarization that has occurred and is very evident."

In this episode of "The Francis Effect," Heidi, Dan and David welcome their guests, Fr. Bryan Massingale and Social Service Sr. Simone Campbell, to look at the 2024 election and consider: Where do we go from here?

Trump's supporters touted his victory over Harris as a triumph for a nation moving to the right, while opponents expressed fears his return to the White House opens a dark and uncertain period for American democracy.

Donald Trump's re-election gives his repulsive ideas the weight of popular endorsement, writes NCR's Michael Sean Winters. 

NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters is declaring victory in the presidential race for an unusual candidate, his St. Bernard, Damiana, in this parody column.

Politicians running for the University of Nebraska board of regents are the unlikely middlemen in a multimillion-dollar ballot initiative fight in Nebraska.

U.S. Catholic bishops mostly have tempered their remarks about the presidential contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. But some say the bishops' response is inadequate in the face of fears for democracy.

Francis, the comic strip: Brother Leo, Gabby and Francis discuss the importance of a free and fair election. 

This will be the third election in which a few thousand votes in a few states will determine which of two wildly different governing approaches will be given power to enact themselves.

National Catholic Reporter is covering the 2024 U.S. election live coast to coast. Here, you can find regular updates from NCR staff, including Heidi Schlumpf in Wisconsin and Brian Fraga in Pennsylvania.

"Many Republicans have resorted to personal attacks and racist dog whistles to undermine Harris’ credibility as a challenger. Whether they are official party members or average American voters, many of these people are Catholics, and their assaults against Harris have rehashed deeply entrenched White stereotypes and caricatures of Black Americans," writes Efran Menny.

We don't know whom Americans will choose to lead the country in tomorrow's election. Half the U.S. will love the choice; the other half will hate it. How should we, as Catholics, help unite the country when it is done?

A big message of the Trump campaign — promising to deport millions of undocumented immigrants — has the numbers wrong, would separate families, and impact the U.S. economy, advocates warn.

Dr. Ronald E. Smith on how to interpret Pope Francis' recent voting guidance for Catholics in the United States.

Mock Catholic media outlets support Republican victories up and down the ballot, reporting only the ways Democratic policies digress from, not how they agree with, church teachings.

Several organizations are joining in a mission to identify low-propensity voters who care about the environment and motivate them simply to head to the polls.

Courage is deeply embedded in the DNA of National Catholic Reporter. So, you might be asking, if we are so fearless, why don't we endorse a candidate? This year, endorsements have become more than an academic question.

Republican candidates Donald Trump and JD Vance have been spreading lies about immigrants in the United States as a cornerstone of their campaign. The shameful silence of our Catholic leaders has been beyond deafening.

Five findings from Public Religion Research Institute surveys illustrate the dire threats to a pluralistic democracy we will continue to face no matter who wins the presidential election, writes PRRI president Robert P. Jones.

Many Catholic organizations have ramped up spending on campaigns against abortion-rights measures this election, with at least $1.9 million in donations so far, according to a joint investigation by NCR and Mother Jones.

It is essential to vote for the common good, writes Daniel P. Horan. And when the ballots are counted and the winner declared, we must continue to work for the common good for failure to do so is to shirk our earthly responsibilities.

Nationally, Catholic voters have been closely divided in recent presidential elections. This year, in the vital state of Pennsylvania, they’ll likely comprise at least a quarter of the electorate — and thus play a pivotal role in deciding the overall outcome.

In NCR's poll published Oct. 14, respondents ranked affordable housing as the fifth most important voter issue behind only the economy, immigration, health care and taxes. 

Trump has made inroads into the Latino community's solid support for Democratic candidates, but remarks made at a rally at Madison Square Garden may cause some to rethink.

Catholic voters must negotiate a balance between what the church teaches and how their other values contribute to their voting decisions. Nowhere is that more evident than around the issue of legalized abortion.

For many Mexican immigrants, the Virgin of Guadalupe is a symbol of collective struggle and resilience. Her image should not be wielded as a crass political tool, but honored for its cultural and spiritual roots.

Faithful Catholics must vote for the ticket most likely to promote a dignified quality of life for all and the works of social justice throughout our society. In such a broadened view, this Catholic, at least, must vote for the Harris-Walz ticket.

A number of U.S. Catholic dioceses and their bishops have issued statements disavowing fake Catholic newspapers that have resurfaced in swing states ahead of the presidential election to target Catholic voters on key issues.

Across the country and on many Zoom meetings, lay people and clergy are envisioning different possible scenarios — a Harris victory, a Trump win, a change in congressional leadership or an unclear outcome — and thinking, praying and determining how to respond to each.

On Thursday, JD Vance published a swing-state op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette arguing that Harris has a long "record of bigotry" towards Catholics. Yet it was just this week that one of Trump’s own operatives falsely maligned a group of progressive nuns for voter fraud. Vance and Trump have also spent much of the past month vilifying and threatening Ohio’s Haitians, one of the most Catholic demographics in Black America.

"We want to be on public record as having called out this fraud so that if the outcome of next month's election is contested in Pennsylvania our integrity will not be called into question," the community said.

In a speech to the ecumenical Kentucky Council of Churches, Catholic Bishop John Stowe of Lexington urged pastors to speak out against Christian nationalism and fight it with love.

Listen: Heidi, Daniel and David talk about the role of U.S. Catholic voters, and look at the concluding weeks of the synod, including an interview with Loyola Chicago's Michael Canaris, just back from Rome.

Whatever Donald Trump says is always said as if doubting it entails great risk, to oneself and to one's country. It is "follow the leader" on a grandiose scale.

From public health to public lands, here are 15 ways the next president could affect the climate and your life.

"Climate and environment policies are one issue that we need to bring to the voting booth — there are lots of others," said Catholic Climate Covenant executive director and founder Dan Misleh. "I would encourage people to understand Catholic social doctrine, and our Gospels — and bring that to the voting booth."

ProPublica has traced these mass-mailed newspapers to a "pink slime" network known for misinformation and its financial ties to right-wing super PACs and billionaires.

My contemplative and dialogical self is challenged in this difficult time. The U.S. election is important, and equally important is how I and we will respond to each other in the coming days, weeks, months and years.

At an Oct. 17 event in Pennsylvania, Chittister praised the former Wyoming Republican representative for her "moral courage" standing up to Donald Trump and other Republicans who opposed a peaceful transfer of power in 2021.

If Trump wins, these Senate contests will be critical to the preservation of democracy. But the Democrats simply are defending too many seats in too many places where Trump won in either 2016 or 2020.

 As the 2024 election season winds down, Catholic votes from Pennsylvania, the largest of the battleground states, remain a tossup.

Describing himself as "a longtime supporter" of the Catholic Church, former President Donald Trump cast himself as a champion of religion in a short interview with Raymond Arroyo of EWTN.

 Former President Donald Trump delivered barbed remarks, Vice President Kamala Harris called for unity and honesty in a prerecorded video, and $10 million was raised for Catholic charities.

According to The Daily Caller, Mary Erdoes, board vice chair of the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation, explained that the organization had tried to secure Harris' attendance, but scheduling conflicts related to her campaign prevented her from being present.

"Those who are running for public office probably will not satisfy each and every issue that lies before you," so Catholics must decide which issues are most important to them and then "rank them, learn about them, pray about them, make a conscientious decision," Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington said.

In NCR's poll of Catholic voters in swing states, what was most striking to columnist Michael Sean Winters was what it revealed about issues that entail cultural and ecclesial ideas as well as political ones.

At Siena College Research Institute and Marist College's Institute for Public Opinion, polling is first and foremost an educational program for the students.

Most Catholics don't want politics to divide their parishes, but the wise pastor will prepare for the worst. What can pastors do to keep their parishes from turning into partisan war zones? Fr. Tom Reese has some tips.

The poll also finds that Black and Hispanic Catholics are more likely to identify racial justice and equality as important issues, to support abortion rights and describe themselves as allies of the LGBTQ movement.

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance has made comments that reek of the dark history of natalism, a sociopolitical framework promoting reproduction and exalting the role of the parent. His views are troubling — but growing,

In the first poll focused exclusively on Catholics in swing states, NCR found that voters saw the economy as the most important issue and, somewhat surprisingly, supported their candidate, Trump or Harris, for reasons that contradicted church teaching on immigration or abortion.

Through the past decade of synods, the Holy Spirit has been guiding the church in a more holistic direction, writes Yunuen Trujillo, one in which the stories of women and LGBTQ+ people are heard. How might this synodal posture transfer to the decision of how to vote?

The upcoming U.S. election is "very much about the future of democracy," Gerard Powers of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies told an Indiana parish in his talk about voting from a Catholic perspective.

Harris' campaign has used identity-based groups to raise money and enthusiasm in a way no other candidate has, and that has included Catholic outreach. Here are some notable Catholic-connected groups supporting her.

Is today's Republican Party capable of exercising any check on Donald Trump? Which senator would have the courage to say no to a reelected Trump?

The candidate who called himself the "best [president] in the history of the Catholic Church" during the 2020 campaign once again has the support of several Catholic-associated groups. Here are some of the most notable.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan said he was "doubly disappointed" by the rejection from Kamala Harris of his invitation to the annual Al Smith dinner. But we are triply disappointed that Dolan did not have the courage to stand up to Donald Trump.

"Campaign coverage this year has certainly been light on attention to the religious lives of the candidates and their running mates," writes Mark Silk, Professor of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College. "The journalistic posture has pretty much been: 'If you don’t tell, we won’t ask.'"

In a vice presidential debate marked by civility and focused on policy, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and U.S. Sen. JD Vance tussled on questions pertaining to immigration, abortion rights, foreign policy and the economy. 

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance took the stage at Christian nationalist preacher Lance Wallnau‘s election-season revival tour on Saturday (Sept. 28), using the setting to make a theological defense of the GOP campaign’s controversial immigration policies and to appeal to Wallnau’s  conservative Christian crowd in a hotly contested swing state.

Trump's speeches for years have hewed to divisive "us" versus "them" messaging, but tying those themes to specific religious Americans who oppose him is out of line and even dangerous, according to rhetoric experts, religious leaders and academics.

Vice President Kamala Harris understands, and is getting better at communicating, the core Catholic teaching about economics: The economy is made for man, not man for the economy.

Whatever the outcome of America's Nov. 5 presidential election, migrant and refugee advocates are predicting a challenging environment, said participants in a Sept. 24 video conference tackling the topic of how election results may impact Central America and those who are migrating through the region or coming from there to reach the U.S.-Mexico border.

How do you respect the bounds of normalcy and decency when your opponent not only fails to recognize such boundaries, but has actually made his ability to blow through such boundaries part of his essential schtick?

Leaders and writers from mainline Christian denominations, the Catholic and Greek Orthodox church, as well as Black Protestant and evangelical Christianity, signed the letter, which describes democracy as a "moral affirmation" and urges Christians to repudiate "anti-democratic sentiment" — namely, ideologies such as Christian nationalism and racism. 

Harris and the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, were expected to share a multi-tiered dais with New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the event's host, and other church, political, business and social luminaries at the 79th Dinner of the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation. Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, reportedly plans to spend the time campaigning.

A series of ads running in swing states claim a vote for Kamala Harris is "a vote for medical experiments on kids." The campaign by the right-wing nonprofit CatholicVote has been criticized by LGBTQ advocacy groups.

As a Sept. 18 virtual call highlighted overlap between Catholic values and the policies promoted by Vice President Kamala Harris and VP nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, nearly every speaker mentioned Pope Francis.

Letters to the editor: NCR readers respond to coverage and commentary on Pope Francis' recent input on U.S. presidential race.

The outrageousness of Donald Trump's comments about Springfield, Ohio, did not prevent a refocusing of his supporters' attention on the issue of migration, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Francis, the comic strip: Francis couldn't resist talking about the U.S. election.

Many trend pieces about Latino voters claim that there has been a significant spike in the Latino evangelical population. However, that narrative doesn’t bear out in the polling. Instead, religious disaffiliation is chipping away at the Catholic base, as religiously unaffiliated Latinos are seeing the largest growth of any faith category among Latinos.

The next time former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris face off before a huge audience, New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan likely will sit between them as host and Catholic comic Jim Gaffigan will serve as master of ceremonies. The four are expected to share a multi-tiered dais with political, business, social and church luminaries at the 79th Dinner of the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation. 

The pope is known for his spicy way of saying things. And he speaks his mind. There are times, however, when it is better to say nothing than to throw out statements that sound designed to make headlines. 

Referencing the evening's theme, "Faith over Fear" taken from Mark 5:36, Bishop John P. Dolan of Phoenix told OSV News that during such a politically tense year, Christians — and Catholics in particular — can't forget that God is bigger than political outcomes. Instead, we should recall Christ's words that "fear is useless," the bishop said.

Comments by former President Donald Trump about immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, have generated hatred in the city, and insulted Haitian immigrants and longtime Springfield residents, say Catholic officials.

Amid an unprecedented U.S. presidential election cycle, Catholic voters should reflect on fostering key principles of Catholic social teaching — such as respect for human life, solidarity and the common good — through dialogue and civic engagement, panelists said at a discussion event Sept. 11 hosted by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University.

Polls show voters are concerned with other issues, such as inflation and immigration. But the environment continues to be a top concern for many voters, especially younger ones, and the issue crosses lines of faith and politics in ways that others don’t.

A group of evangelical Christians hoping to reclaim their tradition from the culture wars put out a call Monday (Sept. 9) for a broader understanding of evangelicalism urging a rejection of "political idolatry and its messengers" as well as the "false idols of power, wealth, and strength rather than the true God."

No matter who wins the U.S. presidential election, writes Steven P. Millies, when the Biden administration ends, a post-Catholic era of American life opens.

Less than two months before Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump sparred over the economy, abortion and immigration in their first presidential debate Sept. 10.

Among Catholic voters, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has a slight advantage over Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, according to a poll conducted by RealClear Opinion Research and EWTN.

The Catholic Church must bear witness to its values in the political square, with more focus on its social justice teaching and not only abortion, according to Catholic voters who gathered online to discuss the U.S. presidential election.

What I found was disturbingly out of step with the teachings I hold dear, and since all the commentaries on Project 2025 I've seen lack the perspective of nuns, I thought I'd offer a few observations.

The feel-good vibes coming out of the Democratic convention are running into the strong headwinds of culturally conservative working-class voters. 

Here are some takeaways from the AP's reporting on Vance's Catholicism and the Catholic thinkers in his circle of influence.

The professors and media personalities in this network don’t all agree on everything — even on what to call themselves —  but most go by “postliberal.” They share some longstanding Catholic conservative views, such as opposition to abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. But where Catholic conservatives of the past have seen big government as a problem rather than a solution, the postliberals want a muscular government — one that they control.

Undecided voters are difficult to figure out: In this highly polarized political environment, who could be undecided?

Network Advocates for Catholic Social Justice have issued an 18-page resource in response to Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's policy document for a future Republican presidential administration.

A familiar face among Washington’s faith-based activists, Butler said she brings ‘a broad set of relationships that I think can help, very quickly, pull a broad coalition together’ in a foreshortened Harris campaign.

Political interviews, like the one CNN's Dana Bash conducted with Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz last night, are not usually the stuff of high drama in a campaign, but these are not usual times. 

Meghan J. Clark, an associate professor of moral theology at St. John's University in the Queens borough of New York and the author of "The Vision of Catholic Social Thought: The Virtue of Solidarity and the Praxis of Human Rights," pointed to areas of convergence and divergence with Catholic social teaching in both the records of Vance and Walz on a range of issues.

The 2024 elections will be an intervention into our current divisive way of seeing. It intervenes, and whether it is successful in removing what has been blocking the clarity of our vision is still unknown.

It is an interesting question why The New York Times tends to mostly highlight conservative Catholics in its opinion pages, like the recent op-ed about the influence of conservative converts to Catholicism.

Analysis: There was religious rhetoric at the Democratic convention, but the language of values took center stage. Once the vocabulary of conservative culture warriors, moral language is now the lingua franca of liberals and progressives.

Democracies are not empires, modernity is not antiquity, class structures have changed entirely, but the human heart remains the human heart.

Although the Democrats' Chicago convention was full of genuine joy, "Voters will need more," writes Steven P. Millies. "They will need a good, clear idea about Kamala Harris' vision long before Nov. 5."

The Democrats helped themselves with this week's convention, appearing energized and mostly unified. They projected confidence not just about their chances in November but for the future of the country.

During an Aug. 21 panel sponsored by Catholics Vote Common Good, Catholics at the Democratic National Convention discussed both the party's pro-choice platform and the values that prompt them to vote Democratic.

What is absent from political conventions is often as problematic as what is present. Party conventions have become coronations, a fact that oddly fails to serve the interests of the person being crowned.

While Walz has a number of other appealing — and one might think more important — qualifications, what seems to be most exciting people about him and the Harris/Walz campaign is this notion of the good neighbor. 

Amid concern about violence at protests during the Democratic National Convention, peace motivated people of faith who joined thousands of other protesters at the "March on the DNC" on the opening day of the convention.

When Joe Biden leaves the Oval Office, so, too, will a Catholic commander-in-chief who always carried a rosary in his pocket, and arranged his public schedule to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

"As the Democrats gather in Chicago this week for their convention, pro-life Democrats worry that there may be no room for us anymore in this party to which we are committed," Michael Sean Winters writes.

The Harris/Walz ticket has energized young voters across the country, including young Catholics. They say a candidate's overall values and character are more important than any single issue or their religious faith.

When JD Vance converted to Catholicism, he evidently missed the session on church teaching about human dignity, and the one about church history, and the one on biblical exegesis regarding welcoming the stranger.

 With Donald Trump doubling down on his base by choosing an articulate ideologue like JD Vance, Kamala Harris has the opportunity to reach for the center and win big, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

The election is no longer a referendum on President Joe Biden. That has been replaced by a new narrative about passing the torch to a new generation, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Dan Horan asks: "Can the church rise to the vocational task we have received to reject the interests of the powerful and comfortable and instead advocate for justice and peace?" 

"As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he's delivered for working families like his. It's great to have him on the team," Harris wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Minnesota's governor comes across as a real person, not a polled-out politician, and fits into Harris' desire to unite the party and be mindful of Middle America's working-class voters, says columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Frenzied speculation over who Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris would tap as her vice presidential running mate came to an end Tuesday, with the current vice president choosing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her successor should they win in November.

When you get past the partisan lenses and the ideological lenses and the identity politics lenses, all the things that have become polarized and intransigent, we might find that which is truly human, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Black voters, and especially Black women, long have been the Democrats' most steadfast voting bloc and could be crucial to determining the outcome of this year's presidential election.

No other cultural entity has spent as much money and political capital fueling the war over abortion as the U.S. bishops. But, amid the endless fighting, any serious teaching, any opportunity to persuade, has been lost.

As he explained his decision to end his reelection campaign, President Joe Biden did not mention his Catholic faith. But his Catholicism informs this man's understanding of the moment, of himself, and of our nation.

President Joe Biden's call for unity, his care for the poor, the environment and true peace in our fractured world make him an example of what public service ought to be, writes contributor Msgr. Paul Garrity.

"The campaign for president is long and loud. Campaigning for pope only lasts a few weeks," Thomas Reese writes. "Despite all this, the Democratic National Convention this year is shaping up to be more like a conclave."

Environmental activists, including Catholic and other faith-based leaders, applauded President Joe Biden's "monumental" impact on climate policy and environmental protections, though some noted ways he fell short.

With Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race, abortion and immigration could become pivotal issues. But not all Republicans are happy with the GOP's positions and rhetoric, NCR's Heidi Schlumpf reports.

In the next few days — not weeks but days — Vice President Kamala Harris must introduce herself to the American people. The GOP will be trying to do the same thing, albeit with different points of emphasis.

Every past U.S. president has identified as Christian, and that will not change if Harris is elected in November. But as she runs for president, her religious biography will be not only history-making but will connect her to how many Americans practice and encounter faith.

A look at Kamala Harris' record on clean energy, climate diplomacy, and environmental justice in California, the Senate and the White House.

One candidate decided he was not physically fit and will be replaced by someone who may not be politically fit. The other is not morally fit. Anyone who tells you they know how this will play out is deluded.

The president's announcement brings to an end several weeks of speculation about his political future, including both his viability in the November election and his ability to serve another four years in the White House.

There had been reports that, in light of the failed assassination attempt on his life, former President Donald Trump would dial back the vitriol at the RNC and make an appeal to national unity. And Trump tried, but he couldn't help himself.

Faiths United to Save Democracy, a nonpartisan multiracial group with roots in Black church voter mobilization efforts, is expanding its outreach so participants include clergy and lay people of a variety of religions as well as people with no faith affiliation and members of secular organizations.

The Republican National Convention has been replete with religious symbolism and talk about God, but an organized Catholic presence has been lacking, reports senior correspondent Heidi Schlumpf.

NCR's Michael Sean Winters was unimpressed with GOP vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance's speech to the GOP convention.
 

Will there be an issue or a moment in which Vance's newly found Catholicism leads him to challenge his party or his running mate? NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters is skeptical.

Catholic reaction to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was split — with Catholic prelates calling for peace and unity, while partisan groups blamed Democratic rhetoric for the shooting.

Donald Trump's selection of J.D. Vance as his running mate was greeted with enthusiasm at the Republican National Convention, although many delegates did not know he converted to Catholicism as an adult. 

Former President Donald Trump on July 15 named Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, a Catholic, as his running mate on the Republican ticket in November.

Although the GOP's platform will not include support for a nationwide limit on abortion, "No one should expect the pro-life movement to abandon the GOP," writes NCR's Michael Sean Winters.

The Vatican on July 14 expressed "concern" over the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and said the attack "wounds people and democracy, causing suffering and death." 

Bishop David A. Zubik of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, which includes Butler, said in a statement, "Let us join together in prayer for the health and safety of all, for healing and peace, and for an end to this climate of violence in our world."

The alignment of certain U.S. bishops with Christian nationalist political figures whose actions are at odds with Catholic values is contributing to the growing divide within the church.

A number of high-profile Catholics have ties to, and influence on, Donald Trump. Here is a brief overview of some key Catholic advisers and supporters who are expected at the GOP convention in Milwaukee next week.

Religion and politics frequently overlap in Reading, an old industrial city in one of the most pivotal swing states of this year’s presidential election.

Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, a Catholic and potential running mate for Trump, called for the deportation of "every single person who invaded our country illegally" in a campaign fundraising message.

It's not about fatigue or danger or age and endurance, writes Sr. Joan Chittister. It's about doing what we each need to do to help one another profit the whole country, the whole globe.

One used television to remind us that age brings wisdom. The other reminded us of the benefits of political bosses.

Thousands of clergy, union members and activists rallied on behalf of the poor near the U.S. Capitol on Saturday (June 29), with faith leaders calling for lawmakers to embrace a slate of policies and for low-wealth Americans to make their voices heard in November as the nation’s "largest potential swing vote."

MAGA evangelicals grab all the headlines. But it's swing state faith voters — Catholics, mainliners and Black Protestants — who will likely decide the election.

It is one of the saddest things about our democracy that the election will be decided by low-information voters who probably did not watch the entire debate last night, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Catholic numbers in battleground states make them a good weathervane, and indeed they tend to vote for the winner in presidential elections. If you win Catholics, you probably win the country.

Catholics who support Trump say that to vote Democratic would be anathema to their faith and their conservative principles. With a majority of Catholics now trending toward Trump, will the Catholic vote still matter?