Catholic News

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=Catholic-News&url=10&view=post&articleid=290976&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Micah Kim, the 5-year-old son of Catholic speaker and influencer Paul Kim, passed away Dec. 31, 2025. | Credit: Screenshot of Paul Kim's Facebook page, last visited Jan. 1, 2026Jan 1, 2026 / 16:24 pm (CNA).Micah Kim, the 5-year-old son of popular Catholic speaker Paul Kim, has passed away, Kim announced in a tearful social media post Thursday afternoon.Micah died on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, after more than a week on life support following a rare medical emergency brought on by a severe case of the flu."Micah Joseph is beginning the new year basking in the never-ending glory, love, and peace of God," Kim wrote in the post, which was accompanied by a two-part video. "Micah has been very busy already, as I see the Lord using him and sending him on missions to bring millions of people closer to God."Kim asked for privacy for his family as they grieve but said he felt he had to provide an update to the millions of people praying for Micah and his family throughout the orde...

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=Catholic-News&url=10&view=post&articleid=290969&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Caracas skyline. | Credit: Olga Berrios, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsJan 1, 2026 / 10:00 am (CNA).2026 dawned in Venezuela in an atmosphere of ambivalence: sorrows and joys, tensions and consolations, and more questions than certainties. The work of the Catholic Church goes on within the country's turbulent reality, a task that is far from easy due to "the autocratic drift of national politics," as the bishops stated at the beginning of last year.This past December in their Christmas message, the Venezuelan bishops did not hesitate to reaffirm that the "joyful experience" of Jesus' birth is "overshadowed" by the turbulent national reality. Thus, people go about their daily lives enveloped in a barrage of news, rumors, and hardships.The collapse of the economy and basic services, which seems to have no solution, is causing great suffering for the most vulnerable. The latent threat of foreign military intervention on the national territory continues due to the severe tensions...

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=Catholic-News&url=10&view=post&articleid=290967&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Jan. 1, 2026. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Jan 1, 2026 / 07:05 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV called Catholics to a steadfast openness to other people, warning that peace will not be built through force or exclusion, as he celebrated his first liturgy of the new year on Thursday. "The world is not saved by sharpening swords, nor by judging, oppressing, or eliminating our brothers and sisters," the pope said in his homily for the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Rather, he added, it is saved by "tirelessly striving to understand, forgive, liberate, and welcome everyone, without calculation and without fear." As is customary for the Jan. 1 Mass, a large group of diplomats accredited to the Holy See attended the liturgy in St. Peter's Basilica, underlining the international scope of the Church's prayer for peace on the World Day of Peace, observed each year on the first day of January. A blessing...