Pope cancels traditional visit to Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square (Aleteia)

A Vatican spokesman announced on December 30 that Pope Francis would not visit the Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square the following day, in order to “avoid gatherings and the consequent risk of contagion to Covid-19.” The Pope is still scheduled to celebrate Vespers in St. Peter’s Basilica on New Year’s Eve, as is customary.

Abortion, religious liberty, vaccine mandate cases top busy 2021 for court

WASHINGTON (CNS) — This past year was busy for the nation’s high court, particularly with issues of interest to Catholics regarding abortion, religious liberty, COVID-19 vaccine mandates and the death penalty. This fall, all eyes were particularly on the court with its two cases looking at abortion laws in Texas and Mississippi. After hearing oral […]

Syria: Jesuits supporting young people in Homs to give hope

The Order’s residence in Homs is located in the heart of the Syrian city. The Society of Jesus has paid a high tribute during the war, when Father Frans Van Der Lugt, SJ, was killed by jihadists in 2014. Today it is struggling to give local youth some chance of a better future. Read all […]

Open Letter to Confused Catholics: Chapter 23

“Building Up vs. Pulling Down” It Twenty years have gone by and one would have thought that the reactions raised by the Council reforms would have calmed down, that the Catholic people would have buried the religion in which they had been brought up, that the younger ones, not having known it, would have accepted […]

Colombian nun discusses 4-year captivity in Mali (Aid to the Church in Need)

Sister Gloria Cecilia Narvaez, a Colombian missionary sister in Mali (map), was kidnapped in 2017 and released in October. “They asked me to repeat bits of Muslim prayers, to wear Islamic-style garments, but I always let it be known that I was born in the Catholic faith, that I grew up in that religion, and […]

Christmas Season 2021: Rejoice in Christ’s birth – Archbishop Farrell

The birth of Jesus is the most powerful sign and message of hope in a world darkened by the shadows of fear and uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic. We bring you the voices of religious leaders and heads of Christian charitable organizations as they look to a future in which “No one is saved […]