Pope Francis, who was to celebrate his 88th birthday Dec. 17, mostly uses a wheelchair instead of walking and presides over rather than concelebrates most public liturgies. Still, he had a 2024 full of important engagements, the longest trip of his papacy, and major preparations for the Holy Year 2025, which he is set to open Dec. 24.
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When computer issues at work forced Mariana Foster to contact the IT department at Texas A&M University-Commerce, she was not expecting the fix to be the beginning of a new chapter in her life. Calling IT for help, she struck up a conversation with Justin Foster, the tech-savvy voice on the other end. What started as small talk to fill an awkward silence quickly turned into a shared discovery—they were both Catholic.
It was the proverbial labor of love for the Farmers Branch resident who has dressed the part to recognize the feast day of St. Nicholas for 13 years.
From Nigeria to Mozambique, Sudan and Congo to Burkina Faso, Christians across Africa were victims of horrific persecution in 2024, mainly because of their faith.
Pope Francis has called on all nations to eliminate the death penalty, to divert a fixed percentage of arms spending to a global fund to fight hunger and climate change, and to cancel the international debt of developing nations as concrete ways to usher in a new era of hope.
Mexico’s Catholic clergy have called for a truce on Dec. 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and on Christmas Day as criminal violence wracks swaths of the country and clergy working in conflictive regions come under threat.
Jesuit Father Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, the dean of the Jesuit School of Theology of California-based Santa Clara University, has been awarded “The Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation” by the archbishop of Canterbury for his “outstanding contribution to ecumenical work,” honoring “his leadership of a 2019 retreat for politicians on opposing sides in South Sudan’s civil war.”
“With tears in our eyes, let us raise our prayer for peace,” Pope Francis said as he thanked the people of Bethlehem and Palestinian authorities for a Nativity scene to decorate the Vatican audience hall.
The list of miracles that have taken place at the French Marian shrine in Lourdes now includes, for the first time, an English-speaking soldier-patient.
Michael Fernandes has walked 68 miles through jungles across hills and crossed a river in the blazing sun to honor St. Francis Xavier on his solemn feast day Mass in Old Goa, the former Portuguese capital in western India.