By Jonah McKeown CNA Staff, Dec 26, 2023 / 04:00 am If “Good King Wenceslas” is one of the Christmas hymns you look forward to each year, you probably know which saint is celebrated today — St. Stephen, the first person to die for the risen Christ. Roman Catholics celebrate his feast on Dec. 26, …

A 15-metre Christmas tree lights up Manger Square in front of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem this year after a two-year pause from all festivities in solidarity with the city’s fellow Palestinians in Gaza. By Linda Bordoni and Jean-Charles Putzolu in Bethlehem Celebrations are resuming across the West …

By Victoria Cardiel Vatican City, Dec 24, 2025 / 06:00 am Pope Leo XIV will celebrate his first Christmas at the Vatican by reviving the tradition of offering Christmas Mass on Dec. 25 in St. Peter’s Basilica, something no pope has done since 1994. The Christmas celebrations — which will be …

By Tessa Gervasini Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 22, 2025 / 13:07 pm Archbishop Paul Coakley said this week he is looking forward to speaking with President Donald Trump in “the near future.” Coakley, who was elected president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in November, said he has “not had …

By Amira Abuzeid CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 18:35 pm Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, arrived in Gaza City on Dec. 19 for a pastoral visit to Holy Family Parish, the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip, just days before Christmas. Accompanied by Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali, the …

By Daniel Payne CNA Staff, Dec 20, 2025 / 09:00 am Multiple Catholic schools in Kansas were targeted by what were apparently hoax bomb threats this week, according to authorities. Law enforcement agencies in the Kansas City area reported investigating threats at numerous Catholic schools on Dec. 19. The Archdiocese of …

By Amira Abuzeid CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 07:00 am Now that the Vatican has announced that Archbishop-designate Ronald Hicks will succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan as archbishop of New York, what comes next for the cardinal? “I’ll always keep working,” Dolan told Father Dave Dwyer, a Paulist priest, executive director of Busted Halo …

By Daniel Payne CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 07:30 am The Holy See said on Dec. 19 that Pope Leo XIV had made two new episcopal appointments in the United States, with the Vatican announcing a new bishop for the Diocese of Palm Beach as well as an auxiliary bishop …

By Daniel Payne CNA Staff, Dec 18, 2025 / 06:00 am The newly announced leader of the Catholic Church in New York expressed “heartfelt gratitude” on Dec. 18 for having been appointed to the post by Pope Leo XIV. Archbishop-elect Ronald Hicks, who will head the Archdiocese of New York after …

By CNA Staff Vatican City, Dec 17, 2025 / 10:18 am Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Ramón Bejarano, currently auxiliary bishop of San Diego, as the next bishop of Monterey in California. The appointment was publicized on Dec. 17 by the Holy See Press Office at the Vatican and by …