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Pope Leo admires the Nativity scene that was made in Costa Rica. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Dec 15, 2025 / 17:06 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Monday thanked Costa Rican artist Paula Sáenz Soto for donating a pro-life Nativity scene to the Vatican, named "Gaudium" ("Joy"), which features a pregnant Virgin Mary."I thank the Costa Rican artist who, along with the message of peace of Christmas, also wanted to make an appeal for protecting life from conception," the pope said during the audience he granted Dec. 15 to the delegations that prepared this year's Christmas tree and Nativity scenes that will adorn the Vatican during the Christmas season.The artwork from the Central American country has been on display since Dec. 15 in the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican, the large hall where the pope is now holding his Wednesday general audiences so pilgrims don't have to endure the cold temperatures of the Roman winter in St. Peter's Square.In his address, the Holy Father...
null / Credit: Shai Barzilay via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 15, 2025 / 17:36 pm (CNA).United Airlines reached a settlement with a flight attendant who alleged that the airline fired him for endorsing Catholic teachings on marriage and gender identity.The former employee, Ruben Sanchez, of Anchorage, Alaska, alleged that United Airlines investigated his social media history after someone reported a private in-flight conversation he had with another Catholic flight attendant."Sanchez and his colleague discussed their working conditions and everyday life. As they were both Catholic, their discussion turned to Catholic theology and then, with United's 'Pride Month' activities set to start on June 1, Catholic teachings on marriage and sexuality," Sanchez's complaint states.The Catholic Church makes a distinction between homosexual orientation and homosexual activity. Same-sex attraction itself is not considered morally wrong, and homosexuals "must be accepte...
Religious sisters show their support for the Little Sisters of the Poor outside the Supreme Court, where oral arguments were heard on March 23, 2016, in the Zubik v. Burwell case against the HHS mandate. / Credit: CNAWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 15, 2025 / 18:06 pm (CNA).The 14-year legal battle against federal contraceptive mandates will continue, with Little Sisters of the Poor and the federal government seeking to reinstate moral and religious exemptions that were established in 2017.Little Sisters of the Poor have already won religious freedom cases on this subject twice at the Supreme Court level. The high court ruled in 2016 that the federal government must protect religious freedoms for those who oppose the contraceptives and in 2020 ruled that the federal government had the legal authority to adopt the broad exemptions established in 2017.Those exemptions fully covered employers that had religious or moral objections to providing the contraceptives, some of which can ...
Chilean president-elect José Antonio Kast. / Credit: Equipo Kast vía Flickr (CC BY 4.0)ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 15, 2025 / 18:31 pm (CNA).After being edged out by 2.9% in the Nov. 16 general election by his Communist Party opponent Jeannette Jara, Republican Party candidate José Antonio Kast reversed the result in the Dec. 14 runoff vote to become the new president-elect of Chile.With 58% of the vote, and in line with the polls that predicted him as the winner with more than 55%, Kast prevailed over Jara, who obtained 42%.With 99.97% of the ballots counted, showing a difference of more than 2 million valid votes, the runoff election marks a change of political direction for the country, currently led by President Gabriel Boric of the political left.Kast is slated to take office as president of Chile on March 11, 2026. On the same day, the legislators elected in November will also take office."Democracy has spoken loud and clear. I have just spoken with president-elect Kast to wish...
A residence hall at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. / Credit: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsCNA Staff, Dec 15, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).After a shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island over the weekend, Providence Bishop Bruce Lewandowski issued a statement asking for God's guidance and expressing his grief in the wake of the tragedy.On the afternoon on Saturday, Dec. 13, while approximately 60 Brown students participated in a study session for final exams in the Barus and Holley building, which houses the School of Engineering and the physics department, an unidentified shooter opened fire, leaving two dead and nine injured. "As are many, I am deeply saddened and troubled by the senseless shooting today at Brown University in Providence," Lewandoski wrote. "Let us unite in prayer for those who lost their lives, for the injured, for the Brown University community and all affected by this tragedy."As of Monday morning, Providence polic...
Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan celebrates Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Dagupan City, on Dec. 13, 2025. / Credit: Archdiocese of Lingayen-DagupanManila, Philippines, Dec 15, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).A group of Filipino bishops has opposed a proposal to construct a nuclear power plant in Western Pangasinan, about 125 miles north of Manila, citing safety, environmental, and moral concerns. On Dec. 4, church leaders from six dioceses in the Ecclesiastical Province of Lingayen-Dagupan issued a pastoral letter regarding the government's plan to build a nuclear power plant, expressing their deep concerns about the project. "We, your pastors, write to you today with profound concern regarding the recent proposal to construct a nuclear power plant in Western Pangasinan," the bishops said. Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan signed the letter along with Bishop Napoleon B. Sipalay of Alaminos; Auxiliary Bis...
Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney, Australia. / Credit: EWTN NewsEWTN News, Dec 14, 2025 / 23:02 pm (CNA).Catholic leaders in Australia have issued strong condemnations of what they described as a "festering" atmosphere of antisemitism, following a terrorist attack on a Hanukkah celebration on Sunday at Sydney's Bondi Beach that left 16 people dead.Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney issued a statement expressing "profound grief and righteous anger" at the violence."That a celebration of the Jewish feast of Hanukkah could end in at least 16 dead, including a young child, and many more injured, horrifies ordinary Australians," Fisher said."The brazen and callous disregard for human life, and the hatred of some people toward all Jews, is an unspeakable evil that must be repudiated by every Australian."Personal connection for the archbishopFisher warned that an "atmosphere of public antisemitism has festered" in Sydney for more than two years, pointing specifically to inflammato...
Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney, Australia. / Credit: EWTN NewsEWTN News, Dec 14, 2025 / 07:02 am (CNA).Catholic leaders in Australia have responded with prayer and condemnation of antisemitism following what police described as a terrorist attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Sunday that left 12 people dead and 29 others injured.Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney called for prayer and the intercession of the Virgin Mary in the immediate aftermath of the Dec. 14 shooting, which authorities said included one of the alleged gunmen among the dead."As we follow the horrific news coming from this evening's shooting at Bondi Beach, let us pray for those who have been killed or injured," Fisher said in a statement released shortly after the attack. "May Our Lady, Queen of Peace, intercede for all affected, and for our beloved city at this time."The archbishop also offered prayers for the "many who were forced to run for their lives" and for emergency servic...
Holy Week in Mexico City's Iztapalapa sector. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Holy Week Organizing Committee in IztapalapaPuebla, Mexico, Dec 14, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).The perennially popular representation of the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ, held every Holy Week in the Iztapalapa sector of Mexico City, has been declared a Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).The decision was made during a UNESCO meeting in New Delhi, India, where the nomination of the Iztapalapa Way of the Cross was reviewed and approved.Speaking at the event, Edaly Quiroz, deputy director of Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History, said that Holy Week in Iztapalapa is not merely a theatrical performance but a manifestation "of unity, faith, and resilience that brings together thousands of people in a collective exercise of memory, identity, and participation."On its website, UNESCO states that this list ...
Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican for the Angelus on December 14, 2025. / Vatican MediaVatican City, Dec 14, 2025 / 08:05 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Sunday voiced deep concern over renewed fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, urging an immediate end to violence and a return to dialogue in line with ongoing peace efforts.After leading pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square in praying the Angelus on the Third Sunday of Advent, the pope said he was "following with deep concern the resumption of fighting in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.""While expressing my closeness to the people, I urge the parties in the conflict to cease all forms of violence and to seek constructive dialogue, respecting the ongoing peace process," he said.The pope's appeal came amid reports of intensified clashes involving the M23 rebel group in the mineral-rich eastern region, despite a recently signed peace agreement betwee...
