Preparing the way of the Lord means taking concrete steps to help usher in God’s kingdom of peace, Pope Leo XIV said on his first Advent Sunday back at the Vatican after his trip to Turkey and Lebanon.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christmas carols in every language and culture are expressions of how music can convey “feelings and emotions, even the deepest movements of the soul,” Pope Leo XIV said after listening, clapping and singing along at the Vatican Christmas concert with the poor. “As the melodies touched our hearts, we felt the inestimable value of music: not a luxury for the […]

Amid immigration detention sweeps in Louisiana — part of an ongoing nationwide campaign by the Trump administration — Bishop Michael G. Duca of Baton Rouge has issued a dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass for those concerned for their safety.

The Second Vatican Council, which after three years of dialogue and document drafting closed on Dec. 8, 1965, changed the face of the church, and opened it to the modern world.

One year after the reopening of Notre Dame de Paris, Marseille’s Basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde is preparing to celebrate, on Dec. 7, the completion of restoration work on the iconic gilded copper statue of the Virgin Mary that crowns it.

A newly released Vatican commission report on the issue of women deacons ultimately shows the profound theological mystery of Christ’s relationship to the church, as well as the rediscovery of the long-dormant diaconate itself, experts told OSV News.

Saying it is possible both to uphold justice and to exercise mercy, Florida’s Catholic bishops have urged Gov. Ron DeSantis to stay executions scheduled for Dec. 9 and Dec. 18.

While the statement from Bishop Daniel E. Garcia of Austin, Texas, did not name President Donald Trump, it came after Trump took aim at Somali immigrants during comments at a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Dec. 2, calling them “garbage.”

As Pope Leo XIV was wrapping up his first apostolic trip to Turkey and Lebanon recently, the world was moved by the sight of a young Lebanese woman crying and hugging the pontiff as he was meeting with victims of the deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion.

Pope Leo XIV asked Canadian singer Michael Bublé and other artists to do their very best when performing a Christmas concert for the poor.