The cardinal electors of the Catholic Church elected an American on Thursday to serve as the new pope. Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost, 69, was elected and accepted his fate as the next Bishop of ...

Black smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney Wednesday evening, indicating that no pope was elected on the conclave’s ...

Following the death of Pope Francis on Monday, April 21, at the age of 88, more than 1 billion Catholics around the world wait with baited breath for the white smoke to emit from the Sistine Chapel, ...

“Habemus Papam.” We Have a Pope. After days of feverish speculation American Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was announced as the 267th leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. The crowd reacts as ...

Millions of people around the world were stunned when Pope Leo XIV was elected earlier this year as the first American-born pontiff, but one Vatican correspondent was not. Christopher White was one of ...

The story that dominated the Catholic news headlines in 2025 was, of course, the death of Pope Francis and the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV. These were NCR's most read — not necessarily the most ...

Foreign leaders and lobbyists thought they would write the next chapter in Catholic history. They failed and Leo is proving ...

Following the death of Pope Francis, the Catholic Church has chosen a date to elect its new leader, in a process virtually unchanged in 800 years. The system is known as the ‘Papal Conclave,’ and is a ...

President Trump and first lady Melania Trump will attend Pope Francis’s funeral, following the death of the 88-year-old pontiff Monday morning. “Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope ...