This Oct. 9, 2012, file photo shows the lethal injection chamber of the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. A bill to repeal the death penalty in the state failed to advance out of a House committee in February 2026. (AP/Amber Hunt)

The pope's words moved a Republican to challenge South Dakota's death penalty. The state is not ready.

News

"In order to be pro-life, as my faith instructs us to be, life needs to be from conception to natural death of everyone," South Dakota state Rep. TimReisch said.

The Latest

Missionary roles reverse as Bangladeshi nun cares for elderly Catholic sisters in Italy

Sumon Corraya

German nun's legacy continues transforming the lives of disabled Indonesians

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

Brian Roewe

Editors' Choice

In Focus

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

"When people's lives expose the limits of our existing frameworks, the appropriate Christian response is not immediate dismissal but deeper discernment," Maxwell Kuzma writes.

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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
Fr. John Ubel, pastor of the Church of Saint Agnes, processes into the sanctuary with altar servers at the start of one of the Catholic parish's Latin Masses in St. Paul, Minn., June 28, 2026. (RNS/AP/Giovanna Dell'Orto)

#2
After SSPX schism, some Catholics urge greater access to the older Latin Mass

Allies of the older Latin Mass community had called for expanded access in the wake of the recent schism brought on by the ordination of four bishops without papal approval by the ultra-traditionalist SSPX. 

ByAleja Hertzler-McCain, Religion News Service
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
Illinois bishop bars family eulogies, same-day vigils under new funeral policies

#5
Pope Leo meets rock icon Patti Smith at the Vatican

#6
Vatican liturgy chief says Pope Leo will not overturn Latin Mass restrictions

Opinion

The quiet revolution at the Vatican

NCR Voices

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

Guest 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.

Podcast: John Dear retells the story of the raising of Lazarus

Guest Voices

How JD Vance and Bishop Barron reduce Catholicism to philosophy — and what they miss

Guest Voices
Letters to the Editor

Your letters: The SSPX and treatment of transgender issues

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the editor: NCR readers respond to stories about the Priestly Society of St. Pius X and transgender issues in public life. 

Vatican

Pope Leo XIV speaks to members of the media aboard the papal plane April 15, 2026, en route to Yaounde, Cameroon. Leo will visit 10 cities in South America during his apostolic journey to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru Nov. 6-17. (OSV News/Pool/Guglielmo Mangiapane)
Vatican News

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

Chiclayo is expected to be one of the most closely watched stops since Leo served as bishop of the diocese from 2015 to 2023.

Fr. John Ubel, pastor of the Church of Saint Agnes, processes into the sanctuary with altar servers at the start of one of the Catholic parish’s Latin Masses in St. Paul, Minn., June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanna Dell’Orto)
Vatican News

Latin Mass debate erupts as Pope Leo returns from summer break

As prominent prelates clash over the traditional Latin Mass, Pope Leo XIV's response may reveal his deepest instincts about authority, unity and tradition.

ByClaire Giangravé, Religion News Service
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

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
Pope Leo XIV greets American singer-songwriter, poet, and artist, Patti Smith during a private audience at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace July 31, 2026. (OSV News/Vatican Media/Simone Risoluti)

Pope Leo meets rock icon Patti Smith at the Vatican

Smith, 79, was in Rome to perform a show in the city's Circus Maximus on July 27. Although she does not consider herself Catholic, the rock legend wore a Franciscan Tau cross during her audience with the pope.

ByJustin McLellan

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vatican liturgy chief says Pope Leo will not overturn Latin Mass restrictions

Pope Leo hints at US trip, reflects on migrant roots in rare interview

Vatican News

Pope Leo appoints conservative San Francisco archbishop to Vatican tribunal

EarthBeat

This April 26, 2007, file photo, shows the exterior of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., in Waltham, Massachusetts. (AP photo/Stephan Savoia, file)

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

A scientist in New York is suing life sciences company Thermo Fisher Scientific over its refusal to provide a retirement plan option that omits investments in fossil fuels, which he holds violate his Christian beliefs.

Tim Hansen carries a statue of an angel retrieved from the debris as his wife, Shelly, and Nancy Fuller survey their destroyed home in Spokane, Wash., Aug. 3, 2026, after a wildfire swept through the neighborhood. (OSV News/Reuters/David Ryder)

Spokane bishop calls for prayers, outreach as wildfires ravage area

A Washington state bishop is calling for prayer as wildfires have torched entire neighborhoods, leading to thousands of evacuations and hundreds of destroyed buildings.

ByGina Christian, OSV News
A group of children drink water at Precious Blood Amani Primary School in Nairobi, Kenya. (Lourine Oluoch)

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

The Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood work with children from around Nairobi, rescuing them from the streets, rehabilitating them, and reintegrating them back to school and into the community. 

ByLourine Oluoch
Approximately two dozen Catholics held a prayer service July 24 outside headquarters for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. The gathering was intended to protest actions taken by the agency under the Trump administration that Catholics say devalue human life and the environment. (Catholic Climate Covenant)

Catholic groups urge EPA to halt actions that devalue human life, God's creation

Catholics also delivered a letter with more than 2,440 signatures, including from one bishop and 506 women religious, outlining EPA actions they viewed as "deeply concerning" and urging the agency to change course.

ByBrian Roewe

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

'A deal with the devil': Religion motivates data center opponents in Texas

Guest Voices

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

Texas lawmaker introduces bill to protect Mount Cristo Rey from border wall construction

Culture

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."

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
Book Reviews

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

The Wounded Church develops what Annie Selak describes as a "feminist ecclesiology of injury," an approach that begins with lived experiences of harm rather than idealized visions of what the church ought to be.

ByGeorge Cassidy Payne
Geese the band

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

The artistic phenomenon of irony collapsing into sincerity is being interpreted by some as a way for younger generations to grapple with ritual, meaning and authenticity, even as participation in organized religion in the United States has dropped dramatically in recent decades.

ByKrysta Fauria, Associated Press, Religion News Service

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

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

'Bible in a Year' podcast announces upcoming 'Family Edition' with Black Catholic priest Josh Johnson

What remains after the World Cup ends

German nun's legacy continues transforming the lives of disabled Indonesians

Founded six decades ago, the St. Damian Rehabilitation Center for Leprosy and Disability has empowered thousands of disabled Indonesians to improve their lives.

Sr. Shila Teresa Gomes of Bangladesh, second from left, and another member of the Catechist Sisters of the Immaculate Conception celebrate with Sisters of St. Francis de Sales in Florence, Italy. (Courtesy of Shila Teresa Gomes)

Missionary roles reverse as Bangladeshi nun cares for elderly Catholic sisters in Italy

As many religious congregations in Europe face declining vocations and aging membership, sisters from countries such as Bangladesh are increasingly helping care for elderly religious women who dedicated their lives to mission work around the world.

BySumon Corraya
"The Transfiguration," an Italian 1565-1608 drawing by Francesco Curia (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Columns

Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord: The humility to listen

As Christ's disciple, the church must continue to listen to him and allow its actions to be shaped by his example.

By

Q&A with Sr. Elite Mattappillil, champion of people with intellectual disabilities

For over five decades, Congregation of the Mother of Carmel Sr. Elite Mattappillil has served people with intellectual disabilities through education, vocational training and caretaking.

ByLissy Maruthanakuzhy

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

After 25 years safeguarding children, digital dangers complicate Philippine nuns' ministry

18th Sunday In Ordinary Time: We bear the good news