Thanks to a 17th-century Italian priest, skis made their way from their origin in Scandinavia to Central Europe.
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In a message to the Archdiocese of Milan, Pope Leo XIV expressed his hope that the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games will be an occasion of solidarity and bridge-building between peoples and cultures.
It was a day of pure joy on Jan. 8 as the community of Nuestra Señora del Pilar Catholic Parish came together in a spirit of gratitude for a special thanksgiving Mass celebrating 25 years of the parish’s history.
The increasing number of people who do not see the Gospel as a fundamental resource for their life should inspire — not discourage — Catholics in rediscovering the joy of evangelization, Pope Leo XIV said.
Consecrated men and women “reveal God’s invitation to love him with one’s whole life” on earth, in hope of doing so eternally in heaven, said Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations.
Mexico’s bishops called on the country to “work together toward peace” after a massacre on a soccer field in west-central Guanajuato state claimed 11 lives and injured a dozen more.
The Word of God is not “fossilized,” but rather develops and grows in tradition, Pope Leo XIV said.
At 8 years old, Maddie Muller received earthshattering news in the form of a cancer diagnosis. It was ovarian dysgerminoma cancer, her pediatrician said, and it would require four rounds of chemotherapy — treatments that would leave the young girl nauseous, dazed, and exhausted. Even as her body weakened under the toll of that treatment, Maddie found that she could still capture something all children need — the joy of play — any time she sat atop her HoverflyKart, a hoverboard with go-kart attachments, and zipped down the street with the neighborhood kids.
Pope Leo XIV warned participants at a European conference on peacebuilding that the “spread of relativism” and reducing truth to a mere opinion undermine the moral foundations needed to build a lasting peace.
St. Luke gives us the angel Gabriel’s annunciation greeting to Mary as “Chaire, kecharitōmenē” (Lk 1:28). There are thrilling grammatical and theological mysteries packed into these two Greek words.