News

The story of the L.A. miracle that will make Pier Giorgio Frassati a saint

December 24, 2024
By Pablo Kay
OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Saints, World News

This odd combination of circumstances would eventually prove providential, confounding medical authorities, changing the life of this anonymous seminarian, and forever tying him to another young man who had been dead for almost 100 years: Pier Giorgio Frassati, who in August will be declared a saint of the Catholic Church on account of the miracle of Juan Gutierrez’s ankle.

Caritas, Jubilee USA present Holy Year debt-relief project

December 23, 2024
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service Filed Under: Jubilee 2025, News, Vatican, World News

A key part of a jubilee in the Bible was releasing prisoners, and Catholics today can join a global campaign to press for the release of thousands of people imprisoned in poverty because of their nations’ foreign debt, said an official of Caritas Internationalis.

Biden commutes most federal death-row sentences to life in prison

December 23, 2024
By Kate Scanlon
OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Respect Life, World News

Several days after speaking with Pope Francis, President Joe Biden announced Dec. 23 that he would commute most existing federal death sentences to life in prison.

Pope condemns ‘hypocrisy’ of exalting peace while waging war

December 23, 2024
By Justin McLellan
OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, Vatican, War in Ukraine, World News

Pope Francis sharply criticized the global “hypocrisy” of nations advocating for peace while profiting from war, calling for renewed efforts toward dialogue and reconciliation.

Pope, suffering a cold, focuses on mothers and children before Christmas

December 23, 2024
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service Filed Under: Christmas, Feature, News, Vatican, World News

Leading the recitation of the Angelus prayer from inside the chapel of his residence because of a cold, Pope Francis nevertheless blessed the baby Jesus figurines children and adults will put in their Nativity scenes — and he brought one of his own as well.

Cardinal Pizzaballa tells Gaza Christians they are ‘the light’ of church

December 23, 2024
By OSV News
OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, World News

“You have become the light of our Church in the entire world,” Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa told Gaza Christians Dec. 22 during a pre-Christmas visit aiming to bring the joy of the season to the suffering Christian community in the Gaza Strip.

Pope, bishops, hundreds of faithful pray for victims of shocking Christmas market attack

December 23, 2024
By OSV News
OSV News Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, News, World News

Several hundred people gathered at Magdeburg Cathedral in the evening of Dec. 21 for an ecumenical prayer service to remember the victims of the Dec. 20 Christmas market attack in the central German city, which killed five, including a 9-year-old child, and injured over 40 people, leaving some in critical condition.