Catholic News
- Pope Leo, in year-end homily, reflects on the Virgin Mary's role in God's plan (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV presided at Vespers in St. Peter’s Basilica this evening and, in his last homily of the year, reflected on the Blessed Virgin Mary’s role in God’s plan (booklet, video). - Pope, at audience, wraps up Jubilee Year (Vatican News)
At his final public audience of 2025, on December 31, Pope Leo XIV looked across at the Jubilee Year and exhorted the faithful to be thankful to God for past blessings and ask the Lord “to renew, in us and around us, in the coming days, the wonders of his grace and mercy.” The past year, the Pope remarked, has seen memorable days: “Some of them joyful, such as the pilgrimage of so many of the faithful on the occasion of the Holy Year; others painful, such as the passing of the late Pope Francis, and the scenarios of war that continue to convulse the planet.” Reminding his audience of the traditional singing of the Te Deum on December 31 in thanks for the year’s blessings, the Pope said that the year’s end also is a time for examination of conscience, asking God’s forgiveness for “all the times we have failed to treasure his inspirations and invest the talents he has entrusted to us in the best possible way.” Reflecting on the pilgrimages that so many Catholics made during the Jubilee Year, the Pope said: “Our whole life is a journey whose final destination transcends space and time.” That journey finds its end “in the encounter with God and in full and eternal communion with Him.” With that hopeful attitude, the Holy Father encouraged the faithful to join in the thankful praise that marks the year’s end, saying: God is Love! God loves me! God awaited me, and I have found him! God is mercy! God is forgiveness! God is salvation! God, yes, God is life! - Nearly 3.2 million attended papal events at the Vatican in 2025, highest figure since 2016 (Vatican News)
The Prefecture of the Papal Household announced that 3,176,620 people attended papal Masses, audiences, and other events at the Vatican in 2025: 262,820 during the last months of Pope Francis’s papacy, and 2,913,800 during the beginning of Pope Leo’s. In 2024, 1,682,100 people attended papal events at the Vatican, according to ZENIT News’s compilation of data from the Prefecture. The last time the attendance figure surpassed 3 million was in 2016. - Vatican official calls on Muslims to denounce violence, decries Nigerian government's ineffectiveness (Fides)
The secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization strongly criticized the Nigerian government for its inability to protect Christians and called on Muslims to “denounce and reject the use of their religion to commit acts of violence.” In an interview with the Fides News Agency, Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, a native of Nigeria, said that “numerous indications suggest that there are groups determined to systematically attack Christian communities”—a far different assessment from that of Nigerian Archbishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, who recently dismissed claims of persecution there. Archbishop Nwachukwu also suggested that the recent US strikes in Nigeria might be justified. Asked to comment on whether the strikes were “appropriate and viable,” he said: A country can find itself unable to cope with its own crises and divisions without external help. I see many Muslim friends who do not know how to react to what is happening, and the government’s inaction is evident. In this situation, external intervention, even indirect, to support the state and the government against extremist groups and help the country eliminate the causes of widespread violence, might not be entirely unjustified or out of place. - Ukrainian bishop criticizes Trump administration's position on war (OSV News)
A Latin-rite bishop in Ukraine criticized the Trump administration’s position on the Russo-Ukrainian war. “I remember how we listened to the Voice of America radio station when I was a child under Soviet rule, and always knew it presented the truth, standing up for human rights and suffering people,” Bishop Stanislav Szyrokoradiuk, OFM, of Odesa-Simferopol said in an interview with OSV News. “To hear this same voice today defending the evildoer and demanding we reward him for his crimes is deeply shocking and hurtful. Yet we know this isn’t the true voice of Americans.” Bishop Szyrokoradiuk said that those “who’ve taken power” in the US aren’t “interested in truth and justice.” “Wickedness should be punished—to ensure its perpetrators no longer steal and kill,” the prelate added. “How can we trust people to defend us and uphold our rights when they’re clearly pursuing quite different interests of their own and are ready to do business with criminals? In the end, we can only pray for their conversion.” - 46 Catholic churches in Germany deconsecrated in 2025 (Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung)
At least 46 Catholic churches in Germany were deconsecrated in 2025, a German newspaper reported. Citing data from the bishops’ conference, the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung also reported that at least 66 Catholic churches in Germany were deconsecrated the previous year. Twenty-three churches of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the nation’s leading Protestant body, were relegated to profane use in 2022, the most recent year for which EKD data are available. - Portuguese episcopal commission denounces rise in military spending (Comissão Nacional Justiça e Paz)
The National Commission for Justice and Peace, a lay body within the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, lamented the domestic, regional, and international rise in military spending. “An unprecedented increase is expected for our country and for the other members of the European Union,” the commission stated on December 29. “This union of states born as an alternative to a past of continuous wars seems to prepare for the inevitability of war. And it does so through deterrence.” “There are alternatives that serve to build this authentic peace, which certainly does not rest on surrender to injustice,” the commission continued. “This authentic peace is built by the implementation of international law, cooperation between states, the development of peoples, [and] regime changes by peaceful means (changes that recent history also records).” - 2 priests attacked in Nigeria (Vanguard)
Armed bandits broke into a Nigerian parish residence at 2:30 AM yesterday and attacked two priests, the Lagos-based Vanguard reported. One of the priests, Father Chris Pever, underwent surgery after suffering an arm fracture. The attack took place in Mararaba, a town in Nasarawa State. - Vatican marks anniversary of Pope Benedict's death with 2 Masses (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
The Vatican is commemorating the third anniversary of the death of Pope Benedict XVI with two memorial Masses. Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2012 to 2017, was the principal celebrant at the memorial Mass last evening at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica (video). Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, celebrates Mass today at the late Pontiff’s tomb. - Rome's mayor expresses satisfaction with jubilee (Vatican News)
The mayor of Rome expressed a “very positive” assessment of the jubilee year, which draws to a close on January 6. The jubilee “has been—and continues to be—an extraordinary jubilee in terms of the level of participation and in terms of the spirit of genuine, tangible hope we have seen in the millions of pilgrims who have come, and who continue to come, to Rome,” Roberto Gualtieri said in an interview with Vatican News. “Rome gave the jubilee great commitment and many volunteers, but we must not forget that the city received an enormous amount from this jubilee, thanks to which the face of the city has improved.” In his 2023 year-end homily, Pope Francis criticized the city of Rome for its deficient functionality. In his 2024 year-end homily, Pope Francis thanked the city’s mayor for “moving the city forward” through construction projects. - Missouri-based anti-Catholic newspaper had more than 1 million subscribers (Ozarks First )
Ozarks First, the digital news platform of two television stations in Springfield, Missouri, examined the history of The Menace, a Missouri-based anti-Catholic weekly newspaper founded in 1911. “By September 1913, circulation surpassed 1 million,” Kathryn Skopec wrote in her article, published yesterday. “In comparison, the New York World reported 383,000, the Chicago American 363,000 and the New York Times 250,000.” Skopec reported that “from 1917 to 1919, internal disputes and America’s entry into World War I deepened the Menace’s decline.” The newspaper’s offices, based in the town of Aurora, were destroyed in a 1919 fire. - Vatican newspaper, in year-end editorial, warns that AI's military use threatens peace (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
In an unsigned, front-page editorial in its December 30 edition, the Vatican newspaper said that this image by illustrator Filippo Sassoli “perfectly summarizes the meaning of a year that is about to end.” “The dove of peace invites us to look upwards, towards that star that leads to Life and Truth,” according to L’Osservatore Romano. “But the man-machine, instead, stubbornly turns its gaze downwards, closed in on itself and its own selfishness.” The editorial continued: It is a machine with human features, increasingly human, with ever greater potential, almost without limits. And it looks (with astonishment?) at the being it holds in its hands: the dove of peace. Peace is in its hands. It can suffocate it or release it to realize its dream of hope. Citing Pope Leo’s Message for the World Day of Peace, the Vatican newspaper added that while AI has had promising results in health care, there have also been “disturbing signs: let us think of its use in the military field.” - Pope pays tribute to St. Thomas of Villanova (Dicastery for Communication)
Pope Leo XIV received pilgrims from the Parish of Santo Tomás de Villanueva in Alcalá de Henares, Spain, and spoke to them about the parish’s patron saint. St. Thomas of Villanova (or Villanueva) was an “Augustinian religious who was open to God’s action in his life, and whose readiness led him to do much good for the Church and society of his time,” Pope Leo said during the audience, which took place yesterday in Consistory Hall of the Apostolic Palace. The Pontiff—like St. Thomas of Villanova, a member of the Order of Saint Augustine—spoke about the saint’s continuous prayer, industriousness, and love for the poor. - Anglican prelate announces new breakaway sect (The Living Church)
An Anglican prelate has broken with one conservative splinter group in the US to form another. Bishop Derek Jones, who split from the Anglican Church of North America, has announced the formation of a new Anglican Reformed Catholic Church. The new group claims 14 parishes. The group from which it has seceded, the Anglican Church in North America, was established in 2009 by Anglicans dismayed by the liberal trends in the worldwide Anglican communion. The latest schism has been marked by lawsuits over contested property and legal authority. Bishop Jones says of his new group: We seek to provide a stable church home characterized by clear leadership accountability, uncompromising doctrinal standards, biblical stewardship of resources, and an abiding connection to Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The group has affiliated itself with the Union of Scranton, a coalition of “Old Catholic” churches that broke with the Vatican in the 19th century. - Background: World Day of Peace 2026 (CWN)
On January 1, the Church commemorates the 59th World Day of Peace. Pope Leo’s message for the day, dated December 8 and released on December 18, is entitled “Peace be with you all: Towards an ‘unarmed and disarming’ peace.“ - Cardinal Tagle recounts trips to Muslim nations (Fides)
In a recent homily, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, one of the two pro-prefects of the Dicastery for Evangelization, discussed his trips to three predominantly Muslim nations: Azerbaijan, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates. “It is good to remember that the population of Asia is around 4.8 billion people, of which only 3% is Catholic,” Cardinal Tagle preached on December 23 in the Chapel of the Magi, in the Palace of Propaganda Fide. In Azerbaijan, “around 400 regularly attend the Masses on Sundays, most of them migrants brimming with hope amidst their difficult lives,” he said. “There are catechumens who grew up not practicing any faith, but are now drawn to Jesus and the Gospel, thanks to the friendship and sense of community provided by the Catholics.” In Malaysia, Cardinal Tagle spoke at a gathering organized by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences; in the United Arab Emirates, he celebrated Mass for 30,000 in Dubai (the nation’s largest city) and 18,000 in Abu Dhabi (the nation’s capital). - DDF consultor: Marian title of Co-Redemptrix may be used in popular devotion (CNA)
Msgr. Maurizio Gronchi, a consultor to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, said in an interview with EWTN Noticias that the Marian title “Co-Redemptrix” may be “used in popular devotion, understanding its meaning.” Commenting on the analysis of the title in Mater Populi Fidelis, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s November doctrinal note, Msgr. Gronchi said: It’s not an absolute prohibition, but it will no longer be used in official documents or in the liturgy. But if used in popular devotion, understanding its meaning, no one will be reprimanded for it. Msgr. Gronchi’s remarks echoed comments made earlier by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the dicastery’s prefect. Msgr. Gronchi’s assessment is significant, as he joined Cardinal Fernández at the November 4 press conference at which the document was presented. - 17 Catholic missionaries killed in 2025 (Fides)
Seventeen Catholic missionary workers were killed in 2025, the Fides news service reports in an annual year-end account. Since the start of the 21st century, Fides reports, 626 missionary workers have been killed. That figure includes priests, religious, seminarians, and lay catechists. Nigeria accounted for five of the missionaries slain in 2025. Two were killed in Haiti and two in Burkina Faso. Others died in Kenya, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Mexico, the US, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Poland. Africa saw the largest number of missionary killings, with ten. The Americas—treated by Vatican statistics as a single continent—followed with four. - Vatican newspaper highlights mining pollution in DR Congo (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
With the headline “Tra i veleni degli scarichi tossici” [Among the poisons of toxic waste], L’Osservatore Romano devoted the most prominent article in its December 29 edition to pollution caused by mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Giada Aquilino’s article drew extensively on an earlier AFP report on the subject. - Puerto Rico: new law extends all legal rights to unborn children (Christian Post)
Puerto Rico’s Governor Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon has signed into law a bill that gives unborn children full legal rights. The new law reads: “Every human being is a natural person, including the conceived child at any stage of gestation within the mother’s womb.” - More...