Katie Scott

3 weeks ago | ncronline.org | Katie Scott |Brian Fraga |Heidi Schlumpf |Camillo Barone

Massimiliano Strappetti, the nurse who is Pope Francis' primary medical caregiver at the Vatican, adjusts a microphone for the pope as he greets a crowd of well-wishers at Rome's Gemelli hospital before returning to the Vatican March 23, 2025. (CNS/Pablo Esparza) Pope Francis' final moments were peaceful, and he managed to give one last farewell to his nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, before slipping into a coma early April 21, Vatican News reported.

3 weeks ago | ncronline.org | Katie Scott |James Martin |Bryan Massingale |Jeannine Gramick

Michael Sennett, age 8 and preparing for his first Communion, was told by a priest he must stop pretending to be a boy and that his desire to wear a suit for the sacrament was sinful. In fact, it was a straight shot to hell. Twenty years later, on a fall afternoon in Rome, Pope Francis hugged Sennett in his private residence.

3 weeks ago | ncronline.org | Michael Sean Winters |Katie Scott |Brian Fraga

Linda Ekstrom knelt in the front pew and prayed silently following the April 22 midday Mass at St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in Fall River, Massachusetts. A few feet in front of her, a framed portrait of Pope Francis, surrounded by flowers, stood in front of the cathedral's sanctuary. Ekstrom, a resident of Tiverton, Rhode Island, said she prayed for the church and for Francis, who died at age 88 on April 21, Easter Monday. She said she was shocked to learn of the pope's death.

4 weeks ago | ncronline.org | Katie Scott

Jody Roy remembers hearing how her aunt was removed from the family home as a child and taken to a Jesuit-run residential school years ago. The girl's long hair was cut, Native clothing discarded and Ojibwe language banned. "My mom's older siblings were all taken, and they experienced abuse on different levels; some were sexually abused, for others it was mental abuse," said Roy, a member of the Ojibwe Tribe.

2 months ago | ncronline.org | Camillo Barone |Katie Scott |Michael Sean Winters

When U.S. President Donald Trump was signing a flurry of executive orders, including one asserting there are only two genders, Br. Christian Matson was praying, fasting and performing acts of penance. Matson, the Catholic Church's only known openly transgender brother, had been grappling with a sense of urgency shared by many LGBTQ Catholics as the nation entered a second Trump presidency.