Catholics in northwestern Nigeria are celebrating just days before Christmas, as the last group of students kidnapped from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri has been freed.

At a time when so much pressure and so many demands are placed on priests, they should find support, freedom and relief in recognizing the gifts of laypeople and collaborating with them, Pope Leo XIV said.

The cardinals, bishops, priests, religious and laypeople who work in the Roman Curia are called to be a “sign of a new humanity,” founded on mutual love and solidarity, not selfishness and individualism, Pope Leo XIV said.

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Father James A. Misko, vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Diocese of Austin, Texas, as the bishop of Tucson, Arizona.

Pope Leo XIV asked children to pray in front of their Nativity scenes this Christmas and, especially, to pray “that all the world’s children may live in peace.”

The Catholic American Bible is set to replace the New American Bible Revised Edition in 2027, becoming the common text for the Mass lectionary, Liturgy of the Hours and private use.

The head of the English archdiocese where St. John Henry Newman lived and worked, has joined in appeals for the saint’s teachings to be used more imaginatively in education and evangelization.

Third-grader Hattie Halter is the inspiration behind the classroom project that has brought Christmas joy not only to the St. Joseph community but also to people throughout East Tennessee who saw Hattie, her classmates and their heart-filled Christmas tree featured in a news segment on local station WBIR-TV.

Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, acknowledged “the struggle” that is Haiti’s “reality,” but he assured an estimated 5,000 Haitian Catholics gathered in Washington that Mary “walks with us in our struggles” as a mother.

In a sign of closeness as Christmas approaches, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, accompanied by the Latin Patriarchal Vicar Bishop William Shomali and a small delegation, arrived in Gaza Dec. 19 for a pastoral visit to the Holy Family Parish.