The gentle and hopeful show came as the nation grapples with COVID-19, stark political divisions and racial tensions brought by the death of George Floyd.

The Vatican’s doctrinal office said that when alternative vaccines are not available, it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines developed or tested using cell lines originating from aborted fetuses.

A study published last year in the journal, Nature Sustainability, predicted frankincense resin production will be halved in the next 20 years.

Reaching out to and helping the poor “is to imitate God; it is to make oneself small out of love in order to raise up the other,” the preacher of the papal household told Pope Francis, officials of the Roman Curia and Vatican employees.

A new report Dec. 16 by the Death Penalty Information Center said the use of capital punishment reached a historic low this year in the United States even with the return of federal executions by the Trump administration.

Netflix has announced that in 2021 it will release a documentary series based on “Sharing the Wisdom of Time,” a book in which Pope Francis called for creating “an alliance between the young and old people” by sharing their stories.

The human figures in the Nativity scene are made of rings of ceramic stacked on top of each other. They are cylindrical, not curvy like a natural human form. And the presence of an astronaut and a knight carries the whole thing to another level of untraditional.

Throughout Africa, a witch is culturally understood to be the epitome of evil and the cause of misfortune, disease and death. Consequently, the witch is the most hated person in African society and subject to punishment, torture and even death.

The Archdiocese of Washington has petitioned the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to lift the 50-person cap on indoor religious gatherings in D.C.

After a boat carrying refugees was allegedly denied entry into Trinidad and Tobago and subsequently shipwrecked, Venezuelan bishops said the treatment of migrants fleeing the country constitutes a serious human rights violation.