Nation & World

Sandra Day O'Connor is sworn in as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice by Chief Justice Warren Burger as her husband, John O'Connor, looks on in Washington Sept. 25, 1981. The first woman on the Supreme Court, she retired in 2006. O'Connor died Dec. 1, 2023, the high court said. She was 93. (OSV News photo/U.S. National Archives handout via Reuters)
Sandra Day O'Connor, first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, dies at 93
Wish film
'Wish' Review
Alhaja Bola Usman, a Muslim woman who is a retired Nigerian Customs officer, and Sister Agatha Chikelue, a member of the Congregation of Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy, pictured in an undated photo, are building a movement of women of faith to stand up against violence and search for peaceful coexistence in Nigeria. (OSV News photo/Sister Agatha Chikelue)
Women break stereotypes to encourage interreligious dialogue in violence-torn Nigeria
Miss Nicaragua Sheynnis Palacios points her finger upward after being crowned Miss Universe during the 72nd Miss Universe pageant in San Salvador, El Salvador, Nov. 18, 2023. (OSV News photo/Jose Cabezas, Reuters)
Nicaraguan Catholic Miss Universe wins hearts of fellow countrymen oppressed by the regime 
Clergymen into the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kiev, Ukraine, June 5, 2017. The cathedral and its curia buildings sustained damage during a massive Nov. 25, 2023, drone attack by Russian forces on Kyiv. (OSV News photo/Valentyn Ogirenko, Reuters)
Russian drone damages Kyiv Catholic cathedral
Pope Francis, who is recovering from pulmonary inflammation, shakes hands with Paraguay's President Santiago Peña Palacios at the end of their meeting in the Domus Sanctae Marthae at the Vatican Nov. 27, 2023. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Pope's health improving; he keeps some appointments
Hadas, second from left, and Ofer Kalderon, second from right, pose in an undated family photo in Kibbutz Nir Oz, Israel, with their four children, from left, Sahar, now 16; Rotem, 19; Erez, 12; and Gaia, 21. Sahar and Erez along with their father were taken hostage by Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, and Hadar has received no word of their fate. They were not in any of the three groups released by Hamas Nov. 24-26. Her mother and niece have been reported murdered in Gaza. (OSV News photo/courtesy Hadas Kalderon) Editor
For most families with loved ones still held by Hamas, the painful wait continues
God, Mary, cherubs and a Carmelite saint seem to do a cosmic dance in this 17th-century Genoese painting. It's part of the "Faith, Beauty and Devotion" exhibit of 30 paintings from Italian and Flemish masters on display at the Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Miami until Dec. 10, 2023. (OSV News photo/courtesy Belen Jesuit Preparatory School)
Exhibit of masterworks at Catholic school's art gallery shows how 'beauty is part of faith'
Pope Francis meets relatives of hostages taken by Hamas militants from Israel Oct. 7 in his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae, at the Vatican Nov. 22, 2023. Members of the delegation carried posters of their loved ones. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Pope holds separate meetings with Israelis, Palestinians at Vatican
A woman stands in the sun with arms open, in a joyful expression of trust and surrender. (OSV News photo/Alfonso Cerezo)
7 ways to say 'thanks' to God
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, left, along with his wife Roslyn Carter, center, and John Hardman, executive director of The Carter Center in Atlanta, listen to participants speak at the center during a "Finding Democracy in the Americas" summit March 17, 2003. Mrs. Carter died Nov. 19, 2023, at age 96. (OSV news photo/Tami Chappell, Reuters)
Former first lady Rosalynn Carter is remembered for life of service guided by faith
Iskali founder Vicente Del Real, left, wearing a long sleeve jacket, smiles next to members of Iskali in this undated photo. Iskali is a Chicago-based Catholic organization that supports young Latinos in their faith formation. (OSV News photo/courtesy of Iskali)
Latino group forms young adult Catholics in faith, creates community, promotes education
Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, poses for a photograph with a Buddhist dignitary at the Temple of the Reclining Buddha in Bangkok, Thailand, Nov. 16, 2023. The dicastery helped organize the seventh Buddhist-Christian Colloquium in Bangkok Nov. 13-16 to discuss the importance of dialogue for healing humanity and the earth. (CNS photo/courtesy of Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue)
Buddhist-Christian dialogue calls for shared action to spread hope
Dom Geoffroy Kemlin, abbot president of the Benedictines' Solesmes Congregation in France, places a ring on the finger of Benedictine Mother Benedict McLaughlin, abbess of Immaculate Heart of Mary Abbey in Westfield, Vt., during her Nov. 11, 2023, abbatial blessing. (OSV News photo/Cori Fugere Urban, Vermont Catholic magazine)
Head of Benedictine congregation in France gives abbatial blessing to Vermont abbess
Bishops attend Mass Nov. 14, 2022, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore at the start of their 2022 fall plenary assembly. The historic basilica was again the worship site for the opening Mass of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' 2023 fall plenary assembly, which opened Nov. 13 with a morning of prayer, reflection and confession, followed by a Mass for peace at the basilica. (OSV News/CNS file, Bob Roller)
US bishops' meeting shows united front on mission
Pope Francis greets families living at "Hospitality Village," an apartment complex that is part of the parish of St. Mary, Mother of Hospitality, on the eastern outskirts of Rome, Nov. 17, 2023. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
At Rome parish, pope dialogues with priests, meets families in difficulty
Pope Francis greets Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., Oct. 10, 2023, in Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican during the assembly of the world Synod of Bishops. (OSV News photo/Vatican Media/CPP)
Synod at halftime: Bishop Rhoades on synodality and evangelization
The Marvels Movie
'The Marvels' Review
Pope Francis meets with approximately 6,700 children from different parts of the world during the event "Let Us Learn from Boys and Girls" in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican Nov. 6, 2023. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
Share joy of God's love, sow seeds of hope in world, pope tells youths
A bishop holds a program during a Nov. 14, 2022, Mass celebrated at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore at the start of the U.S. bishops' 2022 fall plenary assembly. The historic basilica was again the worship site for the opening Mass of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' 2023 fall plenary assembly, which opened Nov. 13 with a morning of prayer, reflection and confession, followed by a Mass for peace at the basilica. (OSV News/CNS file, Bob Ro
U.S. bishops open fall assembly with prayer, reflection and a Mass for peace
Pope Francis poses for a photo with members of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums during an audience in the Apostolic Palace Nov. 9, 2023. He is seated between Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, president of the commission governing Vatican City State, and Sister Raffaella Petrini, secretary-general of the commission and a member of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Art can touch people's souls and bring them together, pope says
Sister Constance Veit, U.S. communications director for the order, the Little Sisters of the Poor, is pictured in a 2016 file photo. In a NOV. 3, 2023, statement written on behalf of members of her congregation in Nice, France, Sister Veit urged supporters join them in prayer for a sister who sustained serious head injuries when a car went out of control and hit her and another sister walking along a sidewalk Oct. 31. One sister suffered less serious injuries and was released from the hospital. Sister Veit
Little Sisters of the Poor serve neediest with care, prayer: Now one of their own needs prayers
Members of Familia Grande Hogar de Cristo hold up a sign on a banner with the colors of Argentina's flag asking Pope Francis to visit his homeland, saying "Your people await you," as they join the pope for the recitation of the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Nov. 5, 2023. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Priests who minister to poor, other Argentines urge pope to visit his homeland
Father Rifat Bader, director of the Catholic Center for Studies and Media, is pictured in a 2016 file photo with Syrian refugee children during a graduation ceremony at the Latin Patriarchate School in Naour, Jordan. Father Bader told OSV News that a Nov. 5, 2023, decision by Jordan's Council of Churches to cancel Christmas festivities amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war shows "solidarity with the people of Gaza." (OSV News photo/Dale Gavlak)
Jordan's Christians cancel Christmas celebrations in solidarity with suffering Gaza
Paint is seen across the front of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton, Calif., Nov. 5, 2023, in an attack of vandalism that police were investigating as a hate crime. (OSV News photo/courtesy Diocese of Stockton)
Police investigate vandalism at Stockton, Calif., cathedral as possible hate crime
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