As consistory begins, so does symbolic transition from Francis to Leo January 7, 2026By Paulina Guzik OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News Cardinals from around the world are gathering at the Vatican Jan. 7-8 for an extraordinary consistory called by Pope Leo XIV, an event seen as the first major step in his governance of the universal Church.
As jubilee year ends, the faithful heed Pope Leo’s call to keep the church alive January 6, 2026By Paulina Guzik OSV News Filed Under: Feature, Jubilee 2025, News, Vatican, World News After a jubilee year not seen for centuries — with one pope opening the Holy Door and another closing it — Pope Leo XIV ended the Jubilee Year of Hope at St. Peter’s Basilica Jan. 6 telling the world to love and seek peace, protect what is holy, and flee from modern efficiency.
New archbishop of Krakow tells faithful that without them he ‘doesn’t make sense’ December 22, 2025By Paulina Guzik OSV News Filed Under: Bishops, News, World News Entering the centuries-old Royal Wawel Cathedral in Kraków on Dec. 20, Cardinal Grzegorz Rys opened a new chapter of one of the oldest archdioceses in Catholic Poland, telling the faithful that without them he “doesn’t make sense.”
Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai convicted in ‘farce’ national security trial December 15, 2025By Paulina Guzik OSV News Filed Under: News, Religious Freedom, World News Hong Kong’s prominent Catholic, media tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai has been convicted of national security offenses under the city’s controversial national security law.
Trappist bishop in Norway says Advent calls Catholics to hope in the darkness December 14, 2025By Paulina Guzik OSV News Filed Under: Advent, News, World News As Advent unfolds in the far north, Bishop Erik Varden says the season’s power lies not in cheerfulness but in hope—”light shining at the darkest point of the night.”
From Nigeria to Belarus, 2025 marks a grim year for religious freedom December 9, 2025By Paulina Guzik Filed Under: Feature, News, Religious Freedom, World News As 2025 draws to a close, the plight of persecuted Christians around the world remains dire — and in many places, deeply forgotten.
Weigel: Jimmy Lai’s ‘witness to human dignity’ an ‘expression of his faith’ November 12, 2025By Paulina Guzik OSV News Filed Under: News, Religious Freedom, World News As reports spread that U.S. President Donald Trump appealed directly to China’s Xi Jinping to free jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai when they met in South Korea Oct. 30, American theologian George Weigel told OSV News that Lai “is a non-violent, deeply committed defender of not simply his rights to free speech, but to those of the people of Hong Kong” and that his “witness to human dignity and to basic human rights is an expression of his Catholic faith.”
Ahead of World Day of the Poor, first laundry for the poor under Pope Leo opened in Parma November 7, 2025By Paulina Guzik OSV News Filed Under: News, Vatican, World News During the pontificate of Pope Francis, the papal laundries for the poor were traditionally named after the pope. Pope Leo XIV asked that during his pontificate, they be named after St. Francis of Assisi.
Imprisoned Belarusian Catholic opposition journalist Poczobut receives Sakharov prize October 23, 2025By Paulina Guzik OSV News Filed Under: News, Religious Freedom, World News Two imprisoned journalists, Belarusian Catholic Andrzej Poczobut and Georgian Mzia Amaglobeli, have been named laureates of the 2025 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, to be awarded by the European Parliament Dec. 16.
From Poland with love: Pope Leo reins in a royal Arabian gift October 15, 2025By Paulina Guzik OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Sports, Vatican, World News At his Wednesday morning general audience, Pope Leo’s face lit up with an unusually bright smile receiving a unique donation: Proton, a purebred Arabian horse from a prestigious Polish stable.
CNEWA director: Sense of relief as hostages freed, ceasefire holds — but peace vulnerable October 13, 2025By Paulina Guzik OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Feature, News, World News Scenes of joy, relief and tearful welcomes flooded media across the world Oct. 13 as the remaining Israeli hostages were freed from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip as part of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement.
Amid historic deal, Gaza pastor says little is left after ‘tsunami’ of destruction October 13, 2025By Paulina Guzik OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, World News Historic momentum is felt across the Middle East as thousands gathered Oct. 11 in Tel Aviv, Israel, for the last mass gathering before the hostage release expected to take place Oct. 13, and tens of thousands of Palestinians started to make their way back to their homes in northern Gaza Strip.
