With rain-slicked coats and rain-soaked feet, last-minute visitors did not let Rome’s infamous winter deluges and damp stop them from their goal: to pray and pass through to the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The Wyoming Supreme Court on Jan. 6 found that two state laws restricting abortion — including the first state law to specifically ban chemical or medication abortions — violated the state’s constitution and could not be enforced.

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.

As the new year begins and the Jubilee Year comes to a close, Pope Leo XIV will hit the ground running with an extraordinary consistory taking place in Rome this week. 

The powerful and violent cannot control, suppress or commodify God’s grace, friendship and will to usher in a new dawn, Pope Leo XIV said.

As deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro made his first appearance Jan. 5 in a New York courtroom on narco-terrorism charges after the Trump administration carried out what President Donald Trump called on social media “a large scale strike against Venezuela,” uncertainty about immigration status lingered for some Venezuelan migrants in the U.S.

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans has issued a formal apology to abuse survivors in that archdiocese, following last month’s court approval of a $230 million settlement in the five-year-long bankruptcy case.

The 5-year-old son of Catholic influencer Paul J. Kim succumbed to influenza and sepsis after tens of thousands of people rallied in prayer at the end of December, praying for Micah’s healing.

An estimated 33 million visitors and pilgrims came to the Vatican to celebrate the Jubilee Year, exceeding early forecasts, officials said at a news conference at the Vatican Jan. 5.

Following the liberation of all the children and staff abducted from St. Mary’s School in the Nigerian town of Papiri, the Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles, who manage the school, have expressed deep gratitude for the support received during the trying period.