World News

The Supreme Court yesterday heard arguments in the case of First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin. Matthew Platkin, New Jersey’s attorney general, issued a subpoena demanding the names of donors to faith-based pregnancy centers, which contend that the subpoena is unconstitutional. ... read more

The prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity said in an interview that “Benedict XVI is above all my favorite theologian and then my favorite pope.” Cardinal Kurt Koch, the dicastery’s prefect since 2010, said that “Pope Benedict was a scholar, he focused on the content of the faith. Pope Francis focused more ... read more

The Vatican’s structural budget deficit fell from 83.5 million euros in 2023 ($97.2M) to less than 44.5 million euros ($51.8M) in 2024, according to recently released financial statements. The Holy See’s budget as a whole had a surplus of 1.6 million euros ($1.9M) because of donations and investments. ... read more

In the darkest minutes and in the long days after a shooter killed two children and injured , prayer, fellowship and the simple presence of one another has comforted families. ... read more

Pope Leo XIV's first foreign trip evidenced profound echoes of his predecessor, Pope Francis. Still, we are also starting to see points of difference emerge as well. Leo is not Francis 2.0. Leo is Leo. ... read more

A 17th-century Japanese depiction of St. Francis Xavier from the Kobe City Museum collection. / Credit: Public domain Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 3, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA). How far would you go to serve God? Would you be willing to travel to the ends of the earth, with nothing but the guarantee ... read more

A sacramentary is seen on the altar during a traditional Tridentine Mass July 18, 2021, at St. Josaphat Church in the Queens borough of New York City. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz) Abandoning Latin – “The Vatican has announced the most far-reaching overhaul of its internal administration in a quarter of a century, ... read more

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, one of the two pro-prefects of the Dicastery for Evangelization, told Asian cardinals, bishops, and lay leaders that “we need more wise people, pilgrims who seek, listen, learn, and worship. We need less Herod, trapped in fear, power, and despair.” Cardinal Tagle was the keynote speaker at the Great ... read more

Father Gabriel Romanelli, the pastor of Gaza’s sole Catholic parish, pleaded for prayers and material support for Gaza as Christmas approaches. The priest told Aid to the Church in Need that “the world should know that there are over two million people here who have nothing and need everything.” The parish continues to house ... read more

The chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace wrote a letter of solidarity to the bishop of Kontagora, Nigeria, following the kidnapping of 315 students and teachers from a Catholic school there. “This Advent, we offer our prayers for our Nigerian brothers and sisters, in Niger state and elsewhere, ... read more

A Vatican diplomat welcomed positive aspects of a new UN document on human trafficking, but expressed reservations about its “problematic language.” Msgr. Marco Formica, counselor at the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, expressed reservations about the document’s references to surrogacy, “sexual and reproductive health-care services,” and gender. The ... read more

The Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe recently hosted a three-day meeting on “Nostra Aetate, 60 Years On: Perspectives on Catholic-Muslim Dialogue.” Cardinal Michael Fitzgerald, M Afr, delivered the keynote address. Themes of the meeting included “Christian-Muslim Relations in Germany” and “Interreligious Dialogue and Youth.” Nostra Aetate, issued in 1965, ... read more

Italian Catholic and Orthodox prelates gathered in Venice yesterday to mark the 60th anniversary of the joint declaration of Pope St. Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople. The declarations lifted the mutual excommunications pronounced by their predecessors at the beginning of the East-West Schism (1054). Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi (president of ... read more

In an editorial written on the Pope’s final day in Lebanon, a leading Vatican spokesman drew attention to the connection between the Pontiff’s initial homily in May and his apostolic journey to Turkey and Lebanon: the theme of disappearing so that Christ may remain. Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for ... read more

St. Francis Xavier Feast date: Dec 03 On Dec. 3, the Roman Catholic Church honors St. Francis Xavier, one of the first Jesuits who went on to evangelize vast portions of Asia. Francis Xavier was born during 1506 in the Kingdom of Navarre, a region now divided between Spain and France. His ... read more