Marking the feast of Mary, Mother of God, and the start of the new year, Pope Francis renewed his appeal for a “firm commitment” to respect all human life worldwide.
Pope Francis
Offering his condolences, Pope Francis praised former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s Christian faith and his lifelong mission to advance peace.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Prayer has the power to transform today’s Catholics into modern-day apostles who can respond to what the world truly needs, said the new acting international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.