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Pope Francis: How to be ‘pilgrims of hope’ during 2025 Jubilee Year

Pope Francis called on Ca-tholics to become “pilgrims of hope” in a BBC podcast on 27 December, emphasizing that “hope and kindness touch the very heart of the Gospel.” Speaking just days after the opening of the 2025 Jubilee Year, the pope emphasized that “kindness is not a diplomatic strategy” nor “a set of rules […]

Cardinal Pizzaballa tells Gaza Christians they are ‘the light’ of the church

“You have become the light of our Church in the entire world,” Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa told Gaza Christians Dec. 22 during a pre-Christmas visit aiming to bring the joy of the season to the suffering Christian community in the Gaza Strip. After passing the Erez crossing at dawn, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem said to […]

2024 ‘one of the worst years in history’ for children

The UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, issued a new review documenting how 2024 is, by every measure, ‘one of the worst years for children’ worldwide on record and how their human rights are being violated in the most damaging and brutal of ways. Having analysed the latest available data and prevailing global trends, UNICEF states that […]

Pope opens Holy Door at a prison for first time ever

In the Rebibbia New Complex Prison in Rome, Pope Francis opened a Holy Door and celebrated Mass for prisoners on 26 December. “I wanted the second Holy Door I open to be here at a prison,” Pope Francis explained. For the 2025 Jubilee of Hope, the first Door to be opened was the Holy Door […]

Newborn babies die of cold in Gaza

The UN children’s agency Unicef says that in addition to Israeli attacks, children are now dying from the cold and lack of adequate shelter. Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said, ‘These preventable deaths reveal the desperate and worsening situation in which families and children in Gaza are living.’ […]

Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine: Light of Christmas stronger than bombardments

“The light of Christmas is so intense and so great that it rises above all difficulties, above any aggression and any bombing.” The Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine, Visvaldas Kulbokas, offered this reflection after the Christmas Eve Mass at the Latin Cathedral in Kharkiv, where he stood alongside the Pope’s almoner, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, who serves […]

330,000 people in need receive Christmas lunch around the world

For 80,000 people in Italy and 250,000 others around the world, Christmas Day lunch was prepared by the Community of Sant’Egidio and the Italian police, the Carabinieri. This year, the police delivered presents for the children and desserts for the meals organized around Rome. On the first full day of the Jubilee Year of Hope, […]

From Shanghai to Filipino prisons the Churches of Asia open the Jubilee

All the dioceses of the world are now experiencing the local opening of the Holy Year 2025, which by the will of Pope Francis has as its theme “Pilgrims of hope”. The celebration is also involving many Churches in Asia with significant gestures. In Shanghai, the opening Mass of the Holy Year was presided over […]