“Several dozen” people are presumed dead after a fire broke out in a bar packed with people celebrating the New Year in a Swiss ski resort bar.

The tenacious hope of people of faith, believing in a better tomorrow, keeps God’s plan of salvation alive in the world, Pope Leo XIV said.

Close to 3 million pilgrims and visitors attended audiences, liturgies or meetings at the Vatican with Pope Leo XIV from the time of his election in May through December, according to the Prefecture of the Papal Household.

“The Magnificat,” one of Santer’s early commissions, greets visitors to Catholic United Financial’s St. Cloud branch office as part of CUF’s sponsorship of the Diocese of St. Cloud’s “Jubilee Passport: Pilgrims of Hope” project. The painting depicts Mary holding up her infant son.

Before the final countdown to the New Year, Christians should take a moment to remember all God’s blessings of the past year and to reflect honestly on how they responded to those graces, Pope Leo XIV said.

On Dec. 21, Puerto Rico’s Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón approved Law 183-2025, which amends the Civil Code of Puerto Rico and recognizes the unborn child or “nasciturus” — a Latin legal term referring to “conceived but not born” — as a natural person from conception.

Bishop Earl K. Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio, has granted a dispensation from Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation to Catholics without authorization to stay in the United States, as well as those who “reasonably fear” being pursued in the ongoing immigration crackdown across the country.

It’s significantly more likely for family members and relatives to be a match than someone unrelated to you. A match like Father Torres and Whisnant’s match is rare but still medically possible.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Christmas visit to a Protestant cathedral in New Delhi has drawn renewed criticism from Christian leaders, who say symbolic gestures are no substitute for action amid rising anti-Christian violence.

Seventeen Catholic priests, sisters, seminarians and lay workers were murdered in 2025, according to Fides, the Vatican’s missionary news agency.