Increase in U.S. executions largely driven by Florida, year-end report says December 16, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: News, Respect Life, World News Although there was a significant increase in executions in the U.S. in 2025, a smaller number of new death sentences was imposed, a new report from the Death Penalty Information Center found.
Pew report reveals why some Americans, including Catholics, leave their childhood faith December 16, 2025By Gina Christian OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, World News Americans who leave their childhood religion typically do so by the age of 30, with just under half saying they stopped believing their former religion’s teachings.
Belarus’ Catholic Nobel laureate says his freedom is ‘truly a miracle from God’ December 15, 2025By Jonathan Luxmoore OSV News Filed Under: News, Religious Freedom, World News A Catholic Nobel Peace Prize winner who was unexpectedly freed from jail in Belarus has paid tribute to supporters who helped secure his release, while warning that over a thousand political prisoners still languish in his country’s penal colonies.
Christmas reminds faithful God can be found in the ordinary, pope says December 15, 2025By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Filed Under: Christmas, News, Vatican, World News Christmas is a reminder that people can encounter God in ordinary, everyday places, Pope Leo XIV said.
‘Enough’ of antisemitic violence, say pope, archbishop after Australia attack December 15, 2025By Junno Arocho Esteves OSV News Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, Gun Violence, News, World News Two gunmen targeted Jewish beachgoers at an event celebrating the first day of Hanukkah in an apparent terror attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, New South Wales police said.
Christmas creche, tree are signs of hope, pope says December 15, 2025By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Filed Under: Christmas, Feature, News, Vatican, World News The Nativity scene and the Christmas tree are signs of faith and hope, Pope Leo XIV said.
God wants all people to be saved, pope says at Jubilee of Prisoners December 15, 2025By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Jubilee 2025, News, Vatican, World News Even in difficult situations and harsh places, like prisons, when people focus on caring for one another, respecting each other and offering forgiveness, “beautiful flowers spring forth from the ‘hard ground’ of sin and suffering,” Pope Leo XIV said.
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.
Pope condemns ‘antisemitic violence,’ ‘terrorist massacre’ in Sydney December 15, 2025By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, Feature, Gun Violence, News, Vatican, World News Condemning the attack on Jews celebrating Hanukkah in Sydney, Pope Leo XIV said, “Enough with these forms of antisemitic violence! We must eradicate hatred from our hearts.”
Bishop Lewandowski offers prayers in wake of shooting at Brown University December 15, 2025By OSV News OSV News Filed Under: Feature, Gun Violence, News, World News Bishop Bruce A. Lewandowski of Providence offered prayers for “all affected by this tragedy” in the wake of a Dec. 13 shooting at Brown University that left two students dead and nine others injured.
Minnesota bishop leads prayer service after ICE detention of parent of Catholic school student December 15, 2025By Josh McGovern OSV News Filed Under: Immigration and Migration, News, World News Across the street from the B.H. Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, people gathered with paintings of Our Lady of Guadalupe on her feast day, Dec. 12, for a special prayer service for those detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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.”
