With the opening of the Holy Year 2025, Pope Francis’ schedule of liturgies in December and January has expanded.

After meeting Pope Francis and top Vatican officials, U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken praised the pope’s commitment to upholding the dignity of LGBTQ people.

Not every Christian is called to be an apostle, prophet or evangelist, Pope Francis said, but all Christians can cultivate the fruits of the Holy Spirit by becoming “charitable, patient, humble, peacemakers.”

The Catholic Church must respond to cultural challenges facing marriage and family life with unity and compassion, Pope Francis said, and he called for a deeper integration of the Gospel into contemporary culture.

“We don’t have another theologian, it seems to me, that has been as engaged with modernity as Benedict,” said Cyril O’Regan, a co-winner of the 2024 Ratzinger Prize, often dubbed the “Nobel Prize of Theology.”

panish Cardinal Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, who dedicated his priestly life and ministry to building bridges between Catholics and Muslims, died in Rome Nov. 25 at the age of 72.

Using what the Vatican called an “equipollent” or equivalent beatification, Pope Francis recognized as “blessed” a 15th-century Spanish abbess, mystic and preacher.

The “arrogance” of the invaders attacking Ukraine and Palestine blocks the dialogue necessary to build peace in those countries, Pope Francis said.

When Catholics approach a church tribunal or canon lawyer, they “must always meet the face of our mother, the holy church, who loves all her children with tenderness,” Pope Francis said.

While world events can seem chaotic, violent and out of control, Christians can be certain that “everything is ultimately subject to the judgment of Christ, the just and merciful king,” Pope Francis said at Mass.