In a basilica “adorned with beautiful mosaic art,” the “most impressive” mosaic was “the gathering of people from so many different places coming together to stand for life and to be a light in our culture,” Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, said Jan. 23.
The 52nd annual March for Life will take place Jan. 24 in Washington. The theme of the 2025 event is “Life: Why We March.”
As Catholics prayed across the country for President Donald Trump as he was sworn in as the nation’s 47th president Jan. 20, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York was in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington offering an opening prayer during the inauguration ceremony minutes before Trump took the oath of office.
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston and named as his successor Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of Austin, Texas.
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.
The sea of 65,000 people gathered in prayer at the foot of the Indiana War Memorial is among Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens’ most vivid memories from the summer’s National Eucharistic Congress. It was July 20, and the crowd had just processed with the Eucharistic through downtown Indianapolis. The bishop had a unique view from his place on the memorial’s steps, where an altar had been prepared for him to lead Eucharistic adoration.
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.