Christian News

Our conscience speaks up to us in the Second Sunday of Advent, Year A, telling us to repent and be ready for the clear-cutting operation God is preparing to make way for a new kingdom. Here are five takeaways for this Sunday drawn from Sunday Readings columns at this site and the Extraordinary Story podcast.

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday said his apostolic journey to Turkey and Lebanon showed that “peace is possible,” pointing to renewed steps toward Christian unity and powerful encounters with the Lebanese people still seeking justice after the 2020 Beirut port explosion.

The new General and Staff Regulations of the Roman Curia, published on Nov. 23, marked the conclusion of the Curial reform initiated by Pope Francis. Almost simultaneously, Bishop Marco Mellino — named secretary of the Interdicasterial Commission for the Revision of the Regulations of the Roman Curia under Pope Francis’ pontificate...

On his visit to Turkey to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, Pope Leo XIV took up two themes dear to his predecessors, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope St. John Paul II. He offered a difference in emphasis from the former, and an echo of the latter in the context of Arianism, the heresy that Nicaea was called to confront.

Several U.S. dioceses and scores of other Catholic employers have hard choices to make amid an $800 million shortfall in a pension fund, managed by a Catholic financial services firm, for thousands of their employees and retirees. The firm, Christian Brothers Services, a nonprofit company sponsored by the De La Salle Christian Brothers...

From Adrian Lawson of Sips with Serra...

Pope Leo XIV has suppressed a Vatican donations commission less than 10 months after it was established by his predecessor Pope Francis. The Vatican released Dec. 4 a chirograph, signed Sept. 29 by Pope Leo XIV, suppressing the Commissio de donationibus pro Sancta Sede, or Commission of Donations for the Holy See, which sought to raise much-needed funds for the Vatican.

Among the many remarkable literary gifts the great Doctor of Catholic education, St. John Henry Newman, has left us, one resonates as we prepare to recall the nativity of our Lord during this Advent season. In his meditation on the effects of sin, he describes with great detail what sin does to man. His description of the effects of sin...

We all want to be seen and approved. Indeed, if we are not seen and approved by someone then we will not only feel but actually be quite alone. It is understandable, then, that a proverbial human temptation is to seek approval or glory for its own sake. We might think here of how this temptation is fanned today by various common practices of parading what we do before the eyes of others.

Let me propose a way to instantly improve the liturgy at your parish. Fear not, beleaguered pastors: it won’t require developing a new skill, arguing with a choir director, or getting in trouble with your bishop. Probably no one will complain, though if someone does, it’ll be a micro-opportunity to practice the virtue of fortitude...

Months after purchasing the childhood home of Pope Leo XIV, the village of Dolton has designated it as an official historic landmark. The Dolton Village Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Monday to approve an ordinance declaring the home at 212 E. 141st Pl. as an official historic landmark and site of special historical significance. The vote will allow the village to seek state funding to preserve and develop the site.

Aboard the papal plane returning to Rome from Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV speaks to journalists about the role of the Holy See, which works “behind-the-scenes” in peace negotiations, so that all parties may lay down arms. Regarding Ukraine, the Pope underlines Europe’s involvement and the important role Italy could play...