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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Exchanging Christmas gifts and organizing holiday parties are all well and good, but Christians should contemplate the scene of Jesus’ birth to recover what is truly important during the Christmas season, Pope Francis said. At his weekly general audience Dec. 20, just five days before Christmas, the pope told people that…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When St. Francis of Assisi staged the first Nativity scene 800 years ago, he did so to remind people of the powerful, awe-inspiring truth that God became human in Jesus, Pope Francis said. Nativity scenes are not simply works of art or folk art, the pope told hundreds of people involved…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A Catholic priest can bless a gay or other unmarried couple as long as it is not a formal liturgical blessing and does not give the impression that the Catholic Church is blessing the union as if it were a marriage, the Vatican doctrinal office said. The request for a blessing…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — With song, cake and circus performers, Pope Francis celebrated his 87th birthday in festive style at the Vatican. As in previous years, the pope spent his birthday Dec. 17 in the Paul VI Audience Hall with the children of those assisted by the Vatican’s “Santa Marta” pediatric dispensary, which gives medical…
WASHINGTON – In response to the Declaration “Fiducia supplicans” issued by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith today, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) offered the following statement from its spokesperson, Chieko Noguchi, executive director of public affairs. “The Declaration issued today by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the…
WASHINGTON – Pope Francis has nominated the Most Reverend Pola Ayoub Matta Usama Shafik Akhnoukh, the bishop of Ismayliah (Coptic) Egypt, as the apostolic visitator for the Coptic Catholic faithful in the United States. [Vatican announcement.] The appointment was publicized in Washington, D.C. on December 16, 2023, by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the…