VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christmas carols in every language and culture are expressions of how music can convey “feelings and emotions, even the deepest movements of the soul,” Pope Leo XIV said after listening, clapping and singing along at the Vatican Christmas concert with the poor. “As the melodies touched our hearts, we felt the inestimable value of music: not a luxury for the […]

One year after the reopening of Notre Dame de Paris, Marseille’s Basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde is preparing to celebrate, on Dec. 7, the completion of restoration work on the iconic gilded copper statue of the Virgin Mary that crowns it.

Pope Leo XIV asked Canadian singer Michael Bublé and other artists to do their very best when performing a Christmas concert for the poor.

As the clang of passing light-rail trains filled the air, Erin Meye concentrated on touching up a large mural she had completed a few weeks earlier outside Options@328, a pro-life pregnancy resource center in Baltimore that shares a wall with Planned Parenthood. 

Whether on stage or screen, however — papal endorsement notwithstanding — this recounting of the early years of the Trapp Family singing group gives short shrift to their Catholic faith.

Celebrity Chef Lidia Bastianich knows what it’s like to be in a strange land, without a home. OSV News recently spoke with the Italian-American — who has become famous as a television host, author and restaurateur — about her own experiences as an Italian immigrant fleeing communism in the former Yugoslavia, and her current work as a board member for Jesuit Refugee Services/USA.

Church choirs help everyone at Mass experience harmony while expressing love for God through the beauty of music, Pope Leo XIV said.

New York artist Patricia Brintle created an icon of St. Kateri Tekakwitha for St. James Cathedral in Seattle.

Shortly after being crowned Miss Universe, the victorious Mexican contestant Fatima Bosch Fernández stood alone on stage, clutching an enormous bouquet of flowers, shedding tears of joy and basking in the applause of an international audience.

Meeting an international cast of film directors and actors, Pope Leo XIV spoke about the power of cinema to help people “contemplate and understand life, to recount its greatness and fragility and to portray the longing for infinity.”