Wearing red vestments for the feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, Pope Francis knocked on the door of the church in Rome’s Rebibbia prison complex and walked over its threshold.
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Speaking just hours after his wartime Christmas visit to Gaza City Holy Family Parish, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, delivered a poignant Christmas message during a press conference at the Latin Patriarchate Dec. 23.
To have a true Christian pilgrimage experience along the Camino de Santiago — the popular pilgrimage in northern Spain that leads to the tomb of St. James — pilgrims must cultivate silence, prayer, and charity along their route, Pope Francis said.
As a part of Dallas Kolbe Prison Ministries, volunteers minister to inmates by offering them the opportunity to encounter God and His Church during three-day retreats in prison—transforming these Texas correctional facilities into holy places of worship.
Pope Francis told young people preparing to seek employment not to accept just any kind of work, especially if it is “evil,” and not to compromise their beliefs for any reason, even for money or social status.
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.
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.