Catholic News

Papal aide Monsignor Paolo Braida reads Pope Francis' prepared remarks for the Sunday Angelus on Dec. 3, 2023, from the chapel at the papal residence at Casa Santa Marta. / Vatican Media Vatican City, Dec 3, 2023 / 08:32 am (CNA). Pope Francis, for the second consecutive Sunday, was assisted by an aide in praying the Angelus, as he continues to recover from an acute bronchial infection.

Advent wreath. / Credit: Shutterstock CNA Staff, Dec 3, 2023 / 07:00 am (CNA). During the holidays, Nativity scenes and Christmas trees decorate most Catholic homes, but what about Advent wreaths? Advent wreaths are traditionally made from evergreen branches and have four candles. The four candles represent the four weeks of Advent — three candles are purple, and one is a rose color. The purple represents prayer, penance, and preparation for the coming of Christ. Historically, Advent was known as a “little Lent,” which is why the penitential color of purple is used. During Lent, we prepare for the resurrection of Christ on Easter. Similarly, during Advent, we prepare for the coming […]

Advent candles. / Romolo Tavini/Shutterstock CNA Newsroom, Dec 3, 2023 / 06:00 am (CNA). Advent begins this year on Sunday, Dec. 3. Most Catholics, even those who don’t often go to Mass, know that Advent involves a wreath with candles, possibly a “calendar” of hidden chocolates, and untangling strings of Christmas lights. But Advent is much more than that. Here is an explainer of what Advent is really about.What is Advent?The people of Israel waited for generations for the promised Messiah to arrive. Their poetry, their songs and stories, and their religious worship focused on an awaited savior who would come to them to set them free from captivity and to lead them to the fulfillment […]

A 17th-century Japanese depiction of St. Francis Xavier from the Kobe City Museum collection. / Public Domain. Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 3, 2023 / 04:00 am (CNA). How far would you go to serve God? Would you be willing to travel to the ends of the earth, with nothing but the guarantee of hardship, deprivation, and persecution? While today, Dec. 3, is the first Sunday of Advent, it is also the feast of St. Francis Xavier, the patron saint of missionaries and missions who led an unlikely life of adventure and heroism, full of unexpected twists and turns, taking the faith to the ends of the earth. Born in 1506 to a noble Navarrese-Basque family, Francis grew up in a land wracked with […]

For Advent 2023, Blessed Is She created a devotional for women called "Found." / Credit: Blessed Is She CNA Staff, Dec 2, 2023 / 08:00 am (CNA). As we begin Advent and prepare for the birth of Christ in all the practical ways — gift buying, tree trimming, decorating, meal planning, and more — it’s important to prepare to welcome Jesus into our hearts at Christmas. With the hustle and bustle of holiday festivities, it is easy to lose track of what truly makes this time of year so special.Here are five resources to help you grow in your faith and dig deeper into the meaning of Advent.Abiding TogetherAbiding Together is a weekly podcast hosted by Sister Miriam James Heidland, SOLT; […]

Pope Francis at his general audience on Nov. 22, 2023. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA Rome Newsroom, Dec 2, 2023 / 06:45 am (CNA). Pope Francis canceled his scheduled trip to Dubai days before the climate summit at the request of his doctors.

A religious sister from the Monastery of Bethlehem in Livingston Manor, New York, hand-paints a pitcher. / Credit: Monastery of Bethlehem Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 2, 2023 / 06:00 am (CNA). For unique Christmas gifts that celebrate your Catholic faith there are many monasteries and religious communities that offer handmade gifts for sale online. Buying presents from religious brothers and sisters has the added advantage of lending support to these communities, many of whom depend on a successful Christmas shopping season to continue their lives of prayer and service.Here’s a guide to some of CNA staff members’ favorite gifts to give and receive.Hand-painted chinaThe contemplative […]

Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa, Nicaragua. / Credit: Alliance Defending Freedom International Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 1, 2023 / 18:20 pm (CNA). At a congressional hearing on Thursday, members of Congress and human rights activists urged Nicaragua dictator Daniel Ortega to immediately release imprisoned Catholic Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who they said is being mistreated and possibly tortured.The hearing, which was held by the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations and chaired by New Jersey Republican Rep. Chris Smith, was titled “An Urgent Appeal to Let Bishop Álvarez Go.”Among the witnesses testifying […]

Marijuana leaves. / Credit: Armando Olivo Martín del Campo CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 1, 2023 / 18:00 pm (CNA). In a Nov. 28  interview with “What We Need Now,” the Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver explained what motivated him to write a pastoral letter on the dangers of using recreational marijuana and drugs and proposed some principles to deal with this reality, which he himself has witnessed since the legalization of cannabis in Colorado in 2012.In the interview posted on Substack, the archbishop warned that the legalization and cultural acceptance of drugs has been “devastating” for society and explained why he decided to write his Nov. 10 pastoral letter, […]

President Ronald Reagan and his Supreme Court justice nominee Sandra Day O'Connor on July 15, 1981. / Public Domain CNA Newsroom, Dec 1, 2023 / 17:40 pm (CNA). Former U.S. Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor, a swing vote who became a key part of the court’s longtime abortion-supporting majority, died Friday. She was 93 and had been suffering from dementia for several years. Born Sandra Day in El Paso, Texas, in 1930, she grew up on a ranch in eastern Arizona. She was baptized an Episcopalian and later attended Episcopal churches as an adult. She went to Stanford and Stanford Law School at a time when few women did either. As an undergraduate, she dated future Supreme Court […]

Read Msgr. Joseph Prior’s reflection on the readings of the Holy Mass for the First Sunday of Advent.

Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Haason Reddick recently paid a surprise visit to a local Catholic school on GivingTuesday.

Pope Francis meets with Father Federico Lombardi, president of the Ratzinger Foundation and Vatican spokesman during Pope Benedict XVI’s pontificate (left), and the 2023 Ratzinger Prize recipients Father Pablo Blanco Sarto (center) and Professor Francesc Torralba (right) at the Vatican on Nov. 30, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Dec 1, 2023 / 15:20 pm (CNA). The Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation awarded its annual Ratzinger Prize this week to two Spaniards.

Local legislators including State Senator Judy Ward and State Representative Anthony Bellmon visited the Catholic Social Services' site for a Maternal and Infant Health Caucus.

Credit: Mark Van Scyoc/Shutterstock / null Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 1, 2023 / 13:45 pm (CNA). The U.S. bishops are urging the public to petition the Biden administration to revise a proposal that the bishops say would “unfairly cut off” federal assistance money from going to pregnancy resource centers. In a statement published Thursday, the bishops called on Catholics to join them in urging the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to refrain from restricting Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding available to pregnancy centers.In a rule change posted to the federal register in October, the Biden administration argued that some states have been […]

Heather Huot will be the first woman to hold this post in the history of the Archdiocese.

null / L'Osservatore Romano. CNA Staff, Dec 1, 2023 / 12:41 pm (CNA). A defining theme of Pope Francis’ papacy has been his urging of humanity to better care for the natural environment, which he has done most prominently in his landmark 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ and numerous subsequent writings and speeches.The pope’s emphasis on this topic — especially his foray into climate science via his recent encyclical Laudate Deum — has variously drawn both praise and consternation from Catholics in the United States, about half of whom do not share Pope Francis’ views on climate change, according to surveys.In Laudate Deum, which was released in October as a continuation to […]

Baby Indi Gregory was baptized on Sept. 22, 2023. Despite not being religious, Dean Gregory, her father, expressed that his time in court fighting for his daughter’s life felt like he had been “dragged to hell.” The experience moved him to decide to have his daughter baptized. / Credit: Christian Concern CNA Staff, Dec 1, 2023 / 11:35 am (CNA). The pope “sends condolences and the assurance of his spiritual closeness to her parents, Dean and Claire, and to all who mourn the loss of this precious child of God.”

Florida governor and Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis (left) and California Gov. Gavin Newsom appear on screen from the press room during a debate held by Fox News in Alpharetta, Georgia, on Nov. 30, 2023. / Credit: CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA/AFP via Getty Images CNA Staff, Dec 1, 2023 / 11:10 am (CNA). Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday sparred at a unique political debate in Georgia, with the 2024 GOP primary candidate and the Democratic governor trading jabs and criticizing each other’s records over the course of 90 minutes.The event, held in Alpharetta and billed as “The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate,” was broadcast on Fox News and […]

Cardinal Pietro Parolin. / Claude Truong-Ngoc via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Rome Newsroom, Dec 1, 2023 / 09:00 am (CNA). The pope was advised by his doctors earlier this week not to travel to Dubai due to a bronchial infection.

YDisciple is a streaming project aimed at providing training resources for adults and teaching materials for youth. It announced in November 2023 it is partnering with the Juan Diego Network to adapt the YDisciple project to the Spanish language and the needs of Latino culture. / Credit: Screenshot of YDisciple ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 30, 2023 / 18:00 pm (CNA). In an effort to better serve young people, NET Ministries is collaborating with the Juan Diego Network through its founder, José Manuel De Urquidi, to adapt the YDisciple project to the Spanish language and the needs of Latino culture.Based in Minnesota and with a national outreach, NET’s mission and vision is “to challenge young […]

St. Agnes Cathedral, Diocese of Rockville Centre / Italianfreak00|Wikipedia|CC0 1.0 DEED Rockville Centre, N.Y., Nov 30, 2023 / 16:55 pm (CNA). In what it called its “best and final” offer to survivors of abuse, the Diocese of Rockville Centre in New York on Monday proposed a plan that offers $200 million to approximately 600 survivors of abuse, the largest-ever settlement offer made in diocesan bankruptcy history.The new plan includes an immediate cash payout of a minimum of $100,000 to claimants with a lawsuit and a $50,000 minimum to claimants without a qualifying lawsuit.In a statement released Monday, the Long Island diocese called the plan “the best, most efficient, and most […]

Bishop Stefan Oster. / Credit: Diocese of Passau Vatican City, Nov 30, 2023 / 16:25 pm (CNA). Bishop Stefan Oster did not shy away from identifying profound theological disagreements as the source of division within the Church in Germany.

All Catholic Music Festivals is an Archdiocese of Philadelphia music program featuring high school students from the five-county region.

null / Studio4dich/Shutterstock Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 30, 2023 / 15:15 pm (CNA). Deaths by suicide grew to “the highest number ever recorded in U.S. history,” reaching nearly 50,000 in 2022, according to new data released by the CDC this month.The CDC study, which shows the provisional data for 2022, reported that there were 49,449 deaths by suicide last year. Though the sheer number of deaths by suicide was 3% higher than in 2021, the CDC said that the final data for 2022 is expected to show an even higher number.According to the data, which was “based on more than 99% of all 2022 death records” processed by the National Center for Health Statistics as of August, the […]

The Mother Boniface Spirituality Center invites you to attend their Advent Preparation retreat “Prepare Your Heart - Advent’s Greatest Invitation” on Saturday, Dec. 2 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Catholic Housing and Community Services’ senior center in North Philadelphia is marking a milestone anniversary in which almost 100 mostly Latino women and men enjoy a hot meal, dancing, games, and friendship every day.

Pope Francis meets with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I at the Vatican on Oct. 4, 2021. / Credit: Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Nov 30, 2023 / 11:13 am (CNA). On the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, Pope Francis sent a message to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople.

The Dec. 5 presentation will provide parents and caregivers with the tools they need for fruitful interaction with teens and pre-teens.

Pope Francis meets participants in the Ethics of Healthcare Management seminar on Nov. 30, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media Vatican City, Nov 30, 2023 / 08:15 am (CNA). “As you can see, I am alive,” Pope Francis quipped as he met participants in a health care ethics seminar on Thursday morning.