Christian News

The Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity, which begins Jan. 18, takes place each year in the days leading up to the celebration of the Conversion of St. Paul on Jan. 25, when the Pope travels to the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome to pray with other Christian leaders for what Jesus prayed during the Last Supper: that we might be truly one.

The wind howled and the snow began to fall more heavily as nightfall gathered itself around the young priest. Though he had been riding since early afternoon, there were several miles yet to go before he would reach his destination. He kept to the path as best he could, but the drifting snow made it difficult for the horse to go much faster than a walk.

The archbishop of the U.S. military services said Sunday that he does not believe military action to take control of Greenland could be justified – and that U.S. troops in good conscience could refuse orders to do so. Speaking to the BBC on Jan. 18. Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services said he “cannot see any circumstances” in which an American military operation to take control of Greenland...

In his letter to the Colossians, St. Paul provides a blueprint for assenting to a new life wholly dedicated to Christ. He prefaces his proposal by telling us that if we have been raised by Christ, then we must seek the things from above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. He confirms his position by reminding us to set our minds on things that are above, not in things that are on earth...

As the nation erupts in civil unrest, the Church gives us St. Sebastian’s feast day on Jan. 20, celebrating the young man who stood up to the wicked emperor Diocletian, and praying that we will each be more like him: “O Lord, grant us the spirit of fortitude, so that guided by the example of the martyr St. Sebastian, we may learn to bear witness to the Christian faith.” We need a model like St. Sebastian to show us the right kind of witness right now...

The philosopher Dr. Sebastian Ostritsch was scheduled to give a lecture entitled “Is God’s Existence a Matter of Rational Understanding? Thomas Aquinas vs. Immanuel Kant” at the Jesuits’ Munich School of Philosophy on November 27, 2025. But after protesting students took to social media, university officials canceled his lecture. The students had threatened to disrupt the lecture, reminded everyone about what happened to Charlie Kirk...

Eight centuries before Christ, that part of the kingdom where the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali lived was attacked by the Assyrians, and the tribes were hauled off into captivity. It marked the beginning of the kingdom’s end. The Davidic empire finally crumbled in the sixth century BC, when Jerusalem was seized by Babylon and the remaining tribes were driven into exile...

Hans Egede was born in January 1686, and baptized a Lutheran, possibly at a medieval stone church at Trondenes, Norway, or in another nearby local parish church. Don’t hold it against him that Hans was baptized a Lutheran — he was only an infant, you see, plus, his grandfather was a Lutheran cleric and his uncle was too...

Pope Leo XIV will hold the first consistory of his pontificate on Jan. 7-8, in what is expected to be the first major programmatic event of his pontificate. The extraordinary consistory follows a papacy in which Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, mostly refrained from holding large meetings with cardinals, something that many reportedly complained about during the pre-conclave meetings last year...

The idea that marriage is simply a kind of equal partnership between a man and woman is a model that Western culture purchased a long time ago and at a high price. Such a pattern isn’t a model for integrating a family together into an organic unit but is a road map for divorce with divisions from the start. Separate responsibilities, career goals, and bank accounts make it a challenge to truly weave a couple together...

Yesterday I experienced once again the astounding Byzantine liturgy of Epiphany. Among other things, there was the special blessing of water, wherein the entire natural world is invoked as a chorus of witnesses to its Creator. This gives occasion to ask whether we really see the natural world for what it is, or has our perception been dulled by a pervasive bad science, or our lack of attention, or some other cause.

You might have read in recent days that the flu is surging across the U.S., thanks to a new flu strain that’s causing a lot of problems. Well, our family loves jumping into a good trend, so we spent most of the Christmas octave down with that very flu ourselves, including spending most of Christmas day in the ER with an acutely sick kid.