By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis met with a group of Israelis and their family members who were freed after being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas and other Palestinian militants. The private meeting with 16 people, including two children, took place at the Vatican Nov. 14. A few members held posters […]
The Dutch bishops’ conference and Amsterdam’s St. Nicholas Parish reacted with horror to the violence against Israeli soccer supporters in the city on Nov. 7. Both the bishops and the St. Nicholas parish community stressed that differences of opinion should never lead to violence.
An attack on a convent and adjacent hospital in Haiti “shows how desperate” that nation has become “and will continue to be,” Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami told OSV News.
In a much anticipated moment, for the first time in more than five years, the eight bells of the north tower of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris rang out again on Nov. 8. “It is a beautiful, important and symbolic step,” said Philippe Jost, head of the team overviewing the cathedral’s restoration, cited in French Catholic newspaper “La Croix.”
With the Holy Year 2025 beginning on Christmas Eve, the Vatican’s 2024 Christmas stamps feature the Jubilee message of hope and a prayer for peace.
Pope Francis, the king of Spain, bishops, and politicians decried the devastation and loss of life in southeast Spain amid horrendous floods that left thousands of people homeless and city streets unrecognizable.
This holiday’s roots stretch back to the 4th century when Christians sought to solemnly venerate Roman martyrs some 300 years after the resurrection of Christ. In that period, persecution against Christians
came in “waves,” said Father Michael Bruno, dean of seminarians and professor of church history at St. Joseph Seminary and College at Dunwoodie, Yonkers.
A Holy Year, or jubilee, is a “great religious event” in the Catholic tradition, according to the Vatican. The Holy See describes it as one of “forgiveness of sins and also punishment due to sin … reconciliation between adversaries, of conversion and receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and consequently of solidarity, hope, justice, commitment to serve God with joy and in peace with our brothers and sisters.”
A report on the persecution of Christians globally has found increases in violations in nearly two thirds of countries examined.
Two days after opening the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica to inaugurate the Holy Year 2025, Pope Francis will travel to a Rome prison to open a Holy Door as a “tangible sign of the message of hope” for people in prisons around the world, the Vatican announced.
