Speaking on one of the United Kingdom’s most popular radio programs, Pope Francis encouraged millions of listeners to reject pessimism, treat others with kindness and look to the future with hope.

The U.S. gathering — and related events preceding it — was a major undertaking in 2024. As the pinnacle of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ three-year National Eucharistic Revival, it is already proving to be a milestone in the life of the U.S. church, and in the lives of the Catholics who participated.

An army of little violinists dressed in traditional attire of Polish highlanders, or “górale,” went viral playing their Christmas carol in a gorgeous church in southern Poland, making a local legendary children’s orchestra go global.

An Indigenous Christian village was burnt to the ground on Christmas Eve in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

An indulgence granted during the Jubilee Year is not just an occasion to “get something” but rather is a sign of the Holy Year, of the moment where the faithful must put themselves in front of God to discover the reality of oneself and see the need for forgiveness, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem said Dec. 29.

Thirteen Catholic “missionaries” were killed in 2024, most of them during the commission of a robbery, but several obviously were targeted for the church work they did.

Offering his condolences, Pope Francis praised former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s Christian faith and his lifelong mission to advance peace.

A Holy Door is an image of God, who awaits the return of his children with open arms, said the archpriest of Rome’s Basilica of St. John Lateran.

The Holy Family, though made up of saints and God incarnate, faced real challenges and offers a model for navigating the “dramatic” moments that test all families, Pope Francis said.

A member of the protest group FEMEN was arrested after she jumped the barricade around the Vatican Nativity scene, took off her shirt and tried to grab the statue of the baby Jesus.