Joshua J. McElwee

Listen: In a special episode of "The Vatican Briefing," Joshua McElwee and Christopher White have an exclusive conversation with Loretto Sr. Jeannine Gramick about her Oct. 17 meeting with Pope Francis. Gramick says the pope "is trying to get us to move forward."

Pope Francis on Oct. 17 held a meeting with Loretto Sr. Jeannine Gramick, a longtime advocate for LGBTQ Catholics who had previously been reprimanded by the Vatican and U.S. bishops. 

In an exclusive NCR interview, Australian Bishop Shane Mackinlay, one of the 13 members of the committee drafting the final document from the ongoing synod, expressed an openness to ordaining women as deacons.

As Pope Francis' high-stakes summit on the future of the Catholic Church entered its second week on Oct. 9, the some 460 participating bishops and lay members considered how the church might provide greater welcome to all of its members. They also were given news of four COVID infections among their ranks.

Officially opening the monthlong Synod of Bishops on Oct. 4, Pope Francis encouraged the participants, bishops and laypeople alike, to reject the temptations of doctrinal rigidity and to embrace a vision of the church that is open and welcoming to all.

As part of NCR's new podcast, The Vatican Briefing, one of the voting members of the Synod of Bishops has indicated an openness to restoring the early Catholic Church's tradition of ordaining women as deacons.

Pope Francis has expressed openness to Catholic blessings for same-sex couples, under the condition they are not confused with marriage ceremonies for men and women, in what could be a watershed moment for the church.

Members of the Synod of Bishops are taking part in a retreat led by Dominican Fr. Timothy Radcliffe. Themes include clericalism; better inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics; the role of women in the church; and clergy sexual abuse.

Sweden's Catholic cardinal came to Washington, D.C., in August for an ecumenical dialogue with a Lutheran bishop. In NCR interviews, the two prelates spoke about their hopes for Pope Francis' upcoming Synod of Bishops.

Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester is undertaking a "Pilgrimage of Peace" to Japan to promote nuclear disarmament. In an NCR interview, Wester called on U.S. Catholics to have an "urgent conversation" about the continued risks posed by nuclear weapons.

Tania Tetlow, Fordham University's president, opened a June 16-18 conference for Catholics involved in LGBTQ ministry across the U.S. with a simple message: "I am here to tell you that you are loved."

Pope Francis has sent a message of support to a conference that will discuss LGBTQ ministry in the Catholic Church, after right-wing online influencers organized a petition to try and stop the event. The pope is publicly backing the Outreach conference, a three-day meeting set to be held this weekend at New York's Fordham University.

National Catholic Reporter, EarthBeat and Global Sisters Report garnered 29 honors in the 2023 Catholic Media Awards, including first- and second-place prizes in investigative news writing and first-place awards in general commentary, culture writing, and political commentary.

Several institutes at Georgetown University hosted a conversation on women's ordination in the Catholic Church April 17, with a panel of theologians and lay leaders discussing the church's answer on the issue as "unfinished."

NCR has an exclusive first look at a new film that offers American theatergoers a unique and up-close view of Pope Francis' travels to countries across the world since 2013. The film releases in the U.S. March 31.

Bishop Paul Tighe told a Feb. 3-6 gathering of American Catholic college leaders that the Vatican's Dicastery for Culture and Education is primarily a "catalyst" for conversations, not a doctrinal supervisor.

In an NCR interview, Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican's lead clergy abuse investigator, speaks about his work under both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

Long before Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI, theologian Tracey Rowland was studying his scholarship — work that she believes should one day lead to Benedict being named a doctor of the church.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who was situated squarely at the centers of power during five decades of epochal change and unprecedented scandal in the global Catholic Church, has died.

Theologians from across the U.S. gathered at Boston College Sept. 23-24 for a conference celebrating the legacy of Richard Gaillardetz, an expert on authority in the Catholic Church, who has pancreatic cancer.