Joshua J. McElwee

Aleja Hertzler-McCain has been selected as National Catholic Reporter's newest Bertelsen Editorial Fellow, an NCR program that aims to support "the next generation of independent Catholic journalism."

The Catholic Theological Society of America gave its John Courtney Murray Award to Daniel Finn. With its presidential award, the College Theology Society instead honored Network, the Catholic social justice lobby group.

Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, who has been helping minister to the families of those murdered May 24 at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, praised President Biden's visit to the community over the weekend.

A group of about 70 cardinals, bishops and theologians gathered privately for two days in Chicago for conversations focused on how the U.S. Catholic Church can better support the agenda of Pope Francis.

After more than a year of intense debate on a document originally intended to target pro-choice Catholic politicians like President Biden, the U.S. bishops approved a milquetoast text summarizing teaching on Communion.

The White House announced Oct. 8 that President Joe Biden intends to nominate former Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly, a pro-life Democrat, as the new U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See.

New Pew survey finds about 83% of U.S. Catholics have a favorable view of Pope Francis. Of the 35% who had heard at least "a little" about his changes to the Latin Mass, 12% disapproved, 9% approved and 14% declined to give an opinion.

NCR Connections: Perhaps memory doesn't have to be passed on directly. It can be experienced, too, walking on stones that someone who carried your blood may have walked on a century ago.

D.C.'s Holy Trinity Church, which President Biden often visits for Sunday Mass, said in a statement following the contentious U.S. bishops' meeting that it has no plans to deny Communion at liturgical celebrations.

Pope Francis has asked Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich to conduct an investigation of the Vatican office that coordinates the Catholic Church's efforts on peace and justice issues, in the latest in a series of such inquiries of Vatican departments.

Marie Collins, respected former member of Pope Francis' commission on clergy sex abuse, has expressed disappointment in the recent revision of the criminal section of the Catholic Church's canon law.

Pope Francis did not meet U.S. President Joe Biden today, June 15. Despite conservative media reports to the contrary, it does not appear the pope ever planned to do so.

Pope Francis on June 11 named a South Korean bishop who has spent four decades in ministry in that country as the new head of the Vatican office charged with overseeing Catholic priests and deacons around the world.

Pope Francis on June 10 declined to accept the resignation offered by German Cardinal Reinhard Marx over the failures of the Catholic Church's response to clergy sexual abuse but admitted the global institution's handling of abuse over decades had been a "catastrophe."

Bishop Shawn McKnight hopes the prelates discuss Pope Francis' creation of a new official ministry in the church for lay men and women who teach the fundamentals of the faith.

Lexington Bishop John Stowe and fired Catholic educator Margie Winters were among speakers at the June 3-5 College Theology Society meeting, which focused on the theme "The Human in a Dehumanizing World."

German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, one of Pope Francis' closest advisors, has asked the pontiff to allow him to resign as the leader of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising as a sign of responsibility for the "systemic failure" of Catholic Church leaders over decades in responding to clergy sexual abuse.

Pope Francis on May 27 named a relatively low-profile British prelate to replace Cardinal Robert Sarah as the leader of the Vatican office charged with overseeing most of the global Catholic Church's liturgical rites.

Pope Francis significantly widened the scope of the next planned meeting of the world's Catholic bishops, postponing the event by one year to allow for periods of consultation in every local diocese and at the continental level before the opening of the usual Vatican gathering of prelates.

After a Vatican warning to the U.S. bishops to proceed with caution in their plan to issue a document on pro-choice Catholic politicians like President Joe Biden, the prelates appear to have limited options for going forward.