Every two years the U.S. Postal Service issues a traditional first-class Christmas stamp showing Mary and Jesus, and this year’s stamp features an oil-on-panel painting from the first half of the 16th century titled “Virgin and Child.”

Pope Francis has approved a new law strengthening the oversight of Vatican-related foundations and nonprofit organizations as well as detailing sanctions and clarifying existing norms on transparency, accountability and mandated compliance with anti-money laundering measures.

The Christmas carol “O Holy Night” ranked first in a list of hymns most played in December at Christian churches in the United States.

Colorado designer Lorie Smith, who runs a web design company called 303 Creative, has said she should not be required to create wedding websites for same-sex couples based on her Christian beliefs about marriage.

Meeting with a delegation from the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the pope supported their proposal to launch a series of educational programs aimed at helping Christians and Jews in Latin America tap into their common spiritual heritage to become “agents of social change.”

The season of Advent is a moment of grace to help believers stop being presumptuous and pretending to be self-sufficient, Pope Francis said.

Stopping to gaze at and perhaps pray before a Nativity scene is one of the best ways to remember the real meaning of Christmas, Pope Francis said.

Making churches accessible and services understandable is important, but having wheelchair ramps and sign-language interpreters is not enough for a parish to call itself “inclusive,” Pope Francis said.

Parishioners at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Minneapolis, about half of whom are deaf, had the chance to attend Mass celebrated by the first deaf man ordained a Roman Catholic priest in the U.S., Father Tom Coughlin.

Reflecting on the horror and the events of the intervening years after the Sandy Hook school shootings, Msgr. Robert Weiss said: “Gratitude sustains me. I pray a lot and try to keep myself in the Lord’s hands.”