Catholic News
- As consistory's first day concludes, Pope tells cardinals that 'the journey is as important as the conclusion' (Vatican News)
The first extraordinary consistory of Pope Leo’s pontificate began yesterday with the Pope’s opening address and a vote by the assembled cardinals to focus on the themes of evangelization and synodality, rather than the Roman Curia and the liturgy. The cardinals also heard a meditation by Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, OP, who said that Lord calls the Church to sail through the “storms” of “sexual abuse and ideological divisions.” “If Peter’s boat were full of disciples who quarrel among themselves, we would be of no use to the Holy Father,” he said. “If instead we live among ourselves in peace and love, even when differences emerge, God will truly be present, even when he seems absent.” Following the first evening of discussions, the Pope listened to summaries prepared by the secretaries of the nine groups of cardinals who govern dioceses (rather than serve in the Curia). The Pope’s closing remarks were not published in full, but were excerpted by Vatican News. Referring to the “experience of collegiality,” the Pope said that “the journey is as important as the conclusion,” adding, “Time is very short,” and, “I feel the need to be able to count on you. You have called this servant to this mission; it is important that we discern together.” - Cardinals, in consistory, vote to focus on evangelization and synodality, rather than on Curia, liturgy (CWN)
Meeting in the first extraordinary consistory of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate, the members of the College of Cardinals voted last evening to discuss evangelization and synodality—thus effectively sidelining detailed discussion of the Roman Curia and the sacred liturgy. - Pope Leo opens extraordinary consistory with call to mutual love and listening (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV opened the first extraordinary consistory of his pontificate yesterday afternoon with a call to mutual love and listening. - Pope begins new series of general audiences about Vatican II and its documents (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV has begun a new series of Wednesday general audiences devoted to the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and its documents. - Vatican announces 'Pray with the Pope' campaign (Holy See Press Office)
At a press conference yesterday (video), Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, and Father Cristóbal Fones, SJ, international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, announced the Pray with the Pope campaign. “This campaign builds on a fruitful initiative launched by Pope Francis ten years ago, known as ‘The Pope Video,’” said Father Fones. “The campaign we are presenting today moves us more decisively towards silence” and “more centered on supporting a spiritual experience, which often becomes difficult in the midst of our daily lives, so hectic and full of noise.” Father Fones said that “this campaign can be followed on our landing page popesprayer.va in several languages, and can also be heard in audio format on Vatican Radio and on platforms associated with Pray with the Pope: Pray as You Go, RezandoVoy and Hallow.” - 26,000 college students, 58 bishops attended SEEK conferences (Vatican News)
Over 26,000 college students and 58 bishops took part in SEEK 2026, three conferences that took place simultaneously from January 1-5 in Ohio, Colorado, and Texas. The conferences were organized by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), an apostolate founded in 1998. “When the image of the Pope appeared on the screen, there was an overwhelming surge of enthusiasm,” Bishop Earl Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio, said of the papal video message to SEEK 2026. “Many SEEK organizers and members of FOCUS later told me that the Pope summarized the meaning of SEEK better than they themselves could have.” “He planted a seed in the hearts of many young people, helping them reflect on their own vocation and respond to the question, ‘What are you seeking?’—the question Jesus asks Andrew and the beloved disciple,” Bishop Fernandes added. - 'Teach us to listen to you each day in the Scriptures,' Pope prays in new video (The Pope Video)
The Vatican yesterday released a video associated with the January papal prayer intention, prayer with the Word of God. “Teach us to listen to you each day in the Scriptures, to let ourselves be challenged by your voice, and to discern our decisions from the closeness to your Heart,” Pope Leo prayed in the video. “May your Word be nourishment in weariness, hope in darkness, and strength in our communities.” “Lord, may your Word never be absent from our lips or from our hearts—the Word that makes us sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, disciples and missionaries of your Kingdom,” the Pope added. The video was the first in the new “Pray with the Pope” campaign and is longer (four minutes) and more meditative than the videos previously associated with the monthly prayer intentions. In this video, the Pope is filmed praying in the Church of San Pellegrino in Vaticano. - Most Greenlanders do not wish to become part of United States, priest says (OSV News)
The pastor of Greenland’s sole Catholic parish said that “most Greenlanders” do not wish to become part of the United States. “People are worried, but they are also very clear: this is our land, our culture, our home,” Father Tomaž Majcen, OFM Conv, said in response to American interest in acquiring the island. The priest told OSV News that “we must stand for human dignity, for the rights of the Inuit people, and for dialogue instead of threats.” Father Majcen invited the faithful to “pray for peace and respect for sovereignty, and to join us in caring for creation, especially our fragile Arctic environment, which is one of God’s most breathtaking but vulnerable masterpieces.” - Papal encouragement for Poland's Three Kings Parades (Vatican News)
Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, sent a message in Pope Leo’s name to the chairman of the Three Kings Parade Foundation, which organizes Epiphany parades in Poland. The Holy Father, said the prelate, has been “informed about the idea of the Three Kings Parade organized since 2009 on the Solemnity of the Epiphany in Poland and in many countries worldwide.” The Pope has united himself “spiritually with all those who, together with the Three Kings, bear witness to Christ on the streets of cities and villages.” - Cameroon bishop: 'We are not politicians' (Vatican News)
A prelate in Cameroon emphasized that bishops “are not politicians,” but “speak as shepherds and prophets.” “No bishop will tell you who to vote for,” said Bishop Agapitus Nfon of Kumba. “During election periods, we provide criteria and guidance to help people choose the right leader.” “We call attention to consciences so that citizens can make the right choice,” he added. “Therefore, we cannot afford to be partisan, because as shepherds, we have faithful who belong to different political parties. We are here to guide them all.” The central African nation of 32 million (map) is 58% Christian (28% Catholic), 22% Muslim, and 19% ethnic religionist. The nation’s president, Paul Biya, is 92 and the oldest head of state in the world. - Latin American bishops issue 'message of closeness and hope' to Church, people of Venezuela (CWN)
Neither praising nor condemning the recent US military action in Venezuela, the leaders of the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council (CELAM) issued a “message of closeness and hope“ to the Church and people of Venezuela. They concluded with the words, “Happy 2026!” - Extraordinary consistory of College of Cardinals begins today (Vatican News)
The first extraordinary consistory of the College of Cardinals convoked by Pope Leo XIV begins this afternoon at 4:00 and is scheduled to conclude tomorrow evening at 7:00. “The cardinals especially assist the supreme pastor of the Church through collegial action in consistories in which they are gathered by order of the Roman Pontiff who presides,” the Code of Canon Law explains. “For an extraordinary consistory, which is celebrated when particular needs of the Church or the treatment of more grave affairs suggests it, all the cardinals are called together” (Canon 353). The topics on the agenda include Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), Pope Francis’s 2013 apostolic exhortation on the proclamation of the Gospel in today’s world Praedicate Evangelium (Preach the Gospel), Pope Francis’s 2022 apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia, and the role of the Curia and its relationship with the particular Churches (dioceses) synodality the liturgy - Pontiff closes holy door of St. Peter's Basilica, ending jubilee year (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV closed the holy door of St. Peter’s Basilica this morning, ending the ordinary jubilee year of 2025 (booklet, pp. 3-13; video, 7:12-24:17, especially 20:25). - Ukrainian Catholic leader condemns online marriages (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church)
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church lamented the legalization of online marriages and divorces in Ukraine. In 2025, “Ukrainians gained the ability to get married and divorced online,” Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk said in a recent interview devoted to family life in Ukraine. “You can get married without the person you want to build a family with actually being present, and you can just as easily break it all up.” “This trivializes the institution of the family, and the seriousness of the act and the formation of marital consent, in the canonical sense of the term, are not even considered here,” he added. - Jesus is the Epiphany of God and true humanity, Pope tells pilgrims (CWN)
Jesus is the Epiphany, or manifestation, of God and true humanity, Pope Leo XIV told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his holy day Angelus address (video). - Last jubilee pilgrims: 5,000 volunteers (Vatican News)
Some 5,000 volunteers who had assisted pilgrims during the 2025 jubilee year made the last official pilgrimage through the holy door of St. Peter’s Basilica. The volunteers made their pilgrimage on the evening of January 5. The Pontiff closed the holy door the following morning, ending the jubilee year. - 31 Charlotte priests query Vatican about legitimacy of bishop's liturgical directives (Pillar)
A group of 31 priests in a North Carolina diocese have submitted to the Dicastery for Legislative Texts a series of dubia about liturgical directives enacted or considered by their bishop, The Pillar reported. Two-thirds of the 31 priests of the Diocese of Charlotte who are questioning the legitimacy of directives of Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv, are current pastors, according to the report. The diocese has 75 parishes, 107 priests in active ministry in the diocese, and 141 total diocesan priests, according to the 2025 edition of The Official Catholic Directory. In a pastoral letter released last month, Bishop Martin called for the routine distribution of Holy Communion by extraordinary ministers and banned the use of “altar rails, kneelers, and prie-dieus” during the distribution of Holy Communion. The prelate also wrote that the distribution of Holy Communion by intinction “should not be considered an option in the Diocese of Charlotte,” even though a 2004 Vatican document forbids bishops from restricting intinction (n. 103). - Pope Leo at Epiphany Mass: 'God reveals himself, and nothing remains unchanged' (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (booklet, video) and preached on the disparate reactions of the Magi and Herod to the star of Bethlehem. - Report: Kyiv's Roman Catholics permitted to use historic church for 50 years (LIGA.net)
The Ukrainian government has permitted Kyiv’s Roman Catholic community to use St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church for the next 50 years, an online Ukrainian news site reported. The historic church, consecrated in 1909, was closed by the Soviet Union in 1938. The church will remain state property, even as it is used by the faithful of the Latin-rite Diocese of Kyiv-Zhytomyr. “St. Nicholas Church is a cultural heritage site of national importance,” said Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko. “It survived a fire during the Second World War, the difficult decades of the Soviet period, and withstood Russian missile strike very close by in 2024 ... Despite all the trials, the church has survived and continues to be a symbol of the spiritual resilience of the capital and the entire country.” - Vatican, Italian officials take stock of jubilee year; 33.4 million pilgrims came from 185 nations (CWN)
Archbishop Rino Fisichella, one of the two pro-prefects of the Dicastery for Evangelization, said at a Vatican press conference yesterday that at least 33.4 pilgrims from 185 countries came to Rome for the 2025 jubilee year (video). - More...