At a Feb. 1 Mass honoring the Basilica of St. Mary’s centennial, local Church leaders spoke about its architectural and liturgical beauty, but even more so about the church’s “living stones” who weren’t present in 1926: its parishioners.

If anything can electrify Italians on a Saturday, it’s certainly a combination of politics and scandal. This time, angels were involved as Romans rushed to the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina, in the proximity of the tourist-bustling Spanish Steps and Via del Corso, to see an angel in a freshly restored chapel with a face identical to that of Giorgia Meloni, Italian prime minister.

Produced by Catholic multimedia network Ascension, “The Bible in a Year” podcast is expected to hit 1 billion downloads in February. Since its release in 2021, the chart-topping production has become the most successful religious podcast in the world with 365 daily episodes that guide listeners through the entire Bible.

Brigitte Bardot made nearly 50 movies between 1952 and 1973, when she announced that she would make no more and turned to the cause of animal rights. Seven of those, all from the 1950s, received the C (Condemned) classification from the National Legion of Decency.

As a cast member in the touring production of “Wicked,” Baltimore native Melissa Victor wears costumes with exaggerated bustles and outlandish hats. She also wore the biggest smile of all during her curtain calls in Baltimore, blowing kisses to loved ones in the audience. 

The models for six new contemporary stained-glass windows planned for Notre Dame Cathedral are now on public display in Paris following months of intense national debate.

After decades of legal disputes, delays and competing claims, Ukraine’s Roman Catholic community has received the right to use Kyiv’s historic St. Nicholas Church for the next 50 years, under an agreement signed with the state.

Pope Leo XIV, who plays the daily online puzzle Wordle, is not the only papal puzzle lover.

The Vatican has completed the official mosaic portrait of Pope Leo XIV, continuing a centuries-old tradition that marks the election of each new pontiff. The circular mosaic, known as a tondo, was created by the Vatican Mosaic Studio of the Fabric of St. Peter’s and will be installed in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

The historic altar of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Monastery of St. Mark in Jerusalem has been unveiled for the first time in nearly 350 years, following an extensive restoration.