Sister Stang was sent on mission to the Brazilian Amazon in 1966 and worked closely with the Brazilian bishops’ Pastoral Land Commission in favor of land rights for the poor and for sustainable development in the region.
World
Three Kings Parades across Poland Jan. 6 broke records in the Jubilee Year as 2 million people marched down the streets of 905 cities and towns in an initiative that spread abroad from the European country with vibrant popular faith.
The boom in the number of pilgrims on Spain’s famous El Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St. James, hit a new record of almost half a million last year. Among them were 38,000 Americans.
Bishops worldwide celebrated the opening of the 2025 Holy Year Dec. 29 with Masses in their cathedrals and co-cathedrals to mark the jubilee, which is themed “Pilgrims of Hope.”
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.
Bishops in the U.S. and Canada are exhorting the faithful to embrace the virtue of hope during the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year 2025, which Pope Francis will commence by opening the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome Dec. 24.
Signs around the Eternal City declare “Roma si trasforma” — “Rome is transformed” as an explanation for the ubiquitous infrastructure projects underway, including the restoration of iconic sculptures and monuments, ahead of Jubilee 2025, a Holy Year that begins Christmas Eve.
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.
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.”