Reducing the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe to anything other than an expression of Mary’s universal motherhood diminishes the true essence of the iconic Marian devotion, Pope Francis said.

Basilan Sisters and some 80 children in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia narrowly avoided being killed in a deadly Dec. 6 strike by Russia, as they celebrated a liturgy marking the feast of St. Nicholas.

Pope Francis has called on all nations to eliminate the death penalty, to divert a fixed percentage of arms spending to a global fund to fight hunger and climate change, and to cancel the international debt of developing nations as concrete ways to usher in a new era of hope.

As the fighting in Gaza drags on, Pope Francis welcomed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the Vatican.

Mexico’s Catholic clergy have called for a truce on Dec. 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and on Christmas Day as criminal violence wracks swaths of the country and clergy working in conflictive regions come under threat.

At a time marked by division, several U.S. bishops wrote Dec. 11 that the patronage of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas, is “a powerful reminder that we are all called to be one in Christ Jesus, beginning from the moment of our conception.”

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Labor Department, Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., surprised some political observers for her union-friendly positions, but also faced criticism from some business groups, as well as from pro-life conservatives concerned about her record on abortion.

With several high-profile cases involving financial mismanagement by priests emerging in recent years, two researchers have found some surprising reasons behind clerical embezzlement — and, they told OVS News, financial pressure isn’t usually one of them, as their long-term data shows.

Catholic and Jewish leaders have created a new tool to tackle record-high levels of antisemitism through education and awareness.

The incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump plans to rescind a long-standing policy preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests at what are seen as sensitive locations, including houses of worship, schools and hospitals, according to a report by NBC News.