Christopher White

Pope Francis began his second day in Hungary by thanking the country's Catholics for welcoming new arrivals from Ukraine, while reminding them that the Christian commitment of charity must also extend to non-believers.

Pope Francis on April 28 launched his closely watched three-day trip to Hungary by telling the country's staunchly anti-immigrant political leaders that if the country wants to remain true to its Christian roots, it must be willing to accept migrants and refugees.

When Pope Francis arrives in Budapest tomorrow, church and political leaders around the world will be watching his meeting with Hungary's controversial prime minister.

Pope Francis on April 26 dramatically expanded participation in the Vatican's upcoming Synod of Bishops to include lay men and women, for the first time granting them a right to be appointed as full voting members.

In his first visit to his new titular church in Rome, San Diego Cardinal Robert McElroy greeted children and prayed for the community.

Organizers of Pope Francis' ongoing three-year process for the Synod of Bishops said April 20 that the synod should ultimately result in the Vatican giving more deference to local church authorities.

At Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, future church leaders are not just learning about ecumenism but strengthening relationships through a unique course of study, writes Vatican correspondent Christopher White.

The good news of Christ's resurrection, Pope Francis said during his Easter message, should hasten the entire world to work towards peace in Ukraine and Jerusalem, as mounting conflicts threaten to overshadow the message of Jesus' victory over death. 

A Vatican update on Pope Francis' health says he is gradually improving and that his planned hospital treatments will continue. 

The Vatican on March 30 formally repudiated the "Doctrine of Discovery," officially declaring that the historic policy used to justify colonial exploitation is "not part of the teaching of the Catholic Church."

Bishop Robert Barron and Jordan Peterson filming in St. Peter's Square is not the only curious thing Vatican correspondent Christopher White has spotted this week.

German Jesuit Fr. Hans Zollner has resigned from Pope Francis' child protection commission and has launched searing criticisms against the organization's leadership and its alleged lack of transparency.

In an interview with a Croatian publication, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich also said the church's language of describing LGBT persons as "intrinsically disordered" is "dubious."

Pope Francis on March 25 made permanent his 2019 experimental law on clergy sex abuse and expanded the law to include lay leaders who head international associations recognized by the Vatican.

Pope Francis has offered his support for the World Council of Churches' proposal for an in-person, roundtable summit of divided Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox church leaders, the Rev. Jerry Pillay tells NCR.

Pope Francis is a breath of fresh air to many as he urges the church to consider difficult topics through the ongoing synodal process. Yet the spirit of synodality can also trace its origins in the U.S. to much earlier.

Despite the fact that Jesuits have historically shied away from roles of authority in the church, over the last 10 years, Pope Francis has increasingly turned to his Jesuit confreres to take on key positions.

With international trips to places "where there are conflicts and difficulties that are forgotten" and in his major documents, Pope Francis' diplomacy has aimed to influence global conversations in new ways.

Catholicism's global leader is shifting the church from what one archbishop describes as a "hierarchical church to a synodal church" and "from a powerful church to a church that is poor and powerless."