James V. Grimaldi

2 weeks ago | ncronline.org | Ncr VoicesNcr |James V. Grimaldi

Many famous writers' bylines have graced the pages of the National Catholic Reporter in the past six decades. In 2003, a blockbuster novel that later became a blockbuster movie, The Da Vinci Code, was reviewed by one of the most famous Catholic writers in the past century. The NCR reviewer was Fr. Andrew Greeley, whom The New York Times described in his 2013 obituary as "priest, scholar, preacher, social critic, storyteller and scold."Greeley was prolific.

1 month ago | ncronline.org | James V. Grimaldi |Heidi Schlumpf |Christopher White |Camillo Barone

By James V. Grimaldi, Heidi Schlumpf, Christopher WhiteMay 08, 2025The challenges for the Catholic Church in Chicago, where Robert Prevost grew up, are a microcosm of the gargantuan challenges facing the worldwide Catholic Church that the new Pope Leo XIV must address. May 08, 2025As the bells of St. Peter's Basilica tolled, signaling the election of a new pope, American Catholics gathered in Rome expressed both surprise and hope for the future of the church.

1 month ago | ncronline.org | Michael Sean Winters |Christopher White |James V. Grimaldi |Soli Salgado

A Chicago-born Augustinian friar has been elected the first American pope in the history of the Roman Catholic church. Cardinal Robert Prevost, 69, who heads the influential Vatican Dicastery for Bishops, walked out onto the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica to the cheers of thousands of faithful gathering for the announcement at 7:15 p.m. Rome time today (April 8).

1 month ago | globalsistersreport.org | Rhina Guidos |James V. Grimaldi

Robert Prevost was born on Sept. 14, 1955, in a hospital founded by the Sisters of Mercy on Chicago's South Side. Four years ago, facing bankruptcy, the nuns sold Mercy Hospital to a technology firm. Growing up, Prevost attended St. Mary of the Assumption Parish. The parish became too expensive for the Chicago Archdiocese to maintain in the early 2010s. The parish buildings were closed and put up for sale, and the parish merged with another in 2011.

1 month ago | ncronline.org | Michael Sean Winters |James V. Grimaldi |Christopher White |Heidi Schlumpf

Newly elected Pope Leo XIV appears at the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican May 8, 2025. (AP/Markus Schreiber) The first American pope! So many people thought holding a U.S. passport was an insuperable barrier to the election of Augustinian Cardinal Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV, but the College of Cardinals thought differently.