By Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Dec 24, 2024 / 14:10 pm Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica before Mass on Christmas Eve, officially launching the Jubilee Year 2025. “O Christ, bright star of the morning, incarnation of infinite love, long awaited salvation, sole hope of the world, …

By Rudolf Gehrig Salzburg, Austria, Dec 24, 2024 / 08:00 am As the Advent evening turns cold and dark, a young couple lingers atop a dike dividing two nations, their mulled wine steaming in the chill. One holds a phone, the other a cup, capturing a final selfie before heading to …

By Francesca Pollio Fenton CNA Staff, Dec 24, 2023 / 08:00 am The Diocese of Lansing in Michigan has released a Christmas video featuring the story of a beloved Christmas carol, a high school student choir, and the beauty of Eucharistic adoration. Created and produced by Matt Riedl, multimedia journalist for …

By Jonah McKeown CNA Staff, Dec 25, 2023 / 07:00 am There are at least 18 cities and towns in the United States named Bethlehem, but one of the first and perhaps the most famous is Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a town of 75,000 in the eastern state’s Lehigh Valley, a short drive …

By Kate Quiñones CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2024 / 14:25 pm The U.S. bishops on Tuesday designated the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., as a special pilgrimage site for the 2025 Jubilee Year. A jubilee is a special holy year of grace and pilgrimage that happens …

By Jonah McKeown CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2024 / 10:55 am An online presentation Tuesday sponsored by the National Eucharistic Revival explored the question of how Catholics can use technology for good, inspired by the life of soon-to-be-saint Carlo Acutis. Acutis, a young Italian who died in 2006, is due to be canonized …

By Francesca Pollio Fenton CNA Staff, Dec 7, 2024 / 07:00 am This year, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, which is a holy day of obligation, falls on the Second Sunday of Advent. So, are Catholics obligated to go to Mass twice? The answer is yes. The solemnity of the …

By Kate Quiñones CNA Staff, Nov 1, 2024 / 09:45 am The Vatican has clarified that Catholics in the United States must still attend Mass on holy days of obligation even when they are transferred to Mondays or Saturdays, correcting a long-standing practice in the U.S. Church. In its complementary norms, the …

By Madalaine Elhabbal Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 2, 2024 / 16:15 pm As the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris prepares to reopen on Dec. 7, U.S. bishops are calling on local American churches to show their solidarity with the Church’s “eldest daughter.” Five years ago, a devastating fire broke out across …