By Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Dec 18, 2019 / 03:12 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Wednesday called Christmas nativity scenes a “domestic Gospel,” which helps to make the Holy Family present in one’s home. He also encouraged every family to have one in their home at Christmas time. During his last

The Nativity of John the Baptist on June 24 comes three months after the celebration on March 25 of the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel told Mary that her cousin Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy, and six months before the Christmas celebration of the birth of Jesus.

Q: Was Christ born on Dec. 25 in the year A.D. 1? A: We cannot be sure of the day and month, nor the year, of Jesus’ birth. Many scholars date the Nativity to several years before the traditional first year of the Lord (Anno Domini or A.D. 1) This

  By Gail Finke It’s the little clay baby in the manger—or maybe the empty manger, waiting until Christmas morning for the figure to appear. It’s the watchful figures of Mary and Joseph (“Mary always has to go on Jesus’s right, and Joseph always has to hold a lantern or