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Giovanni Bellini, “The Transfiguration,” 1480 (photo: Public Domain)   My life was changed forever by the message I heard in St. Patrick’s Cathedral: Jesus Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures Joanna Wischer, December 9, 2023 I officially became a Catholic

Scenic view of the crucifix at the Cappella del Santissimo Crocifisso nailed to the Tree of Jesse in the interior of La Cattedrale di Santa Maria Nuova in Monreale, Sicily. (photo: Eleni Mavrandoni / Shutterstock)   ‘But a shoot shall sprout from

A painting of Franciscan missionary Pedro de Gante with Juan Diego, whom the friar baptized along with Diego’s wife in 1525. / Credit:   By Francesca Pollio Fenton CNA Staff, Dec 9, 2023 / 06:00 am (CNA). Many are familiar with the story of

Mother Abbess Cecilia wishes Sister Wilhelmina a Merry Christmas morning on Sister Wilhelmina’s final Christmas, 2018 (photo: Courtesy of the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of Apostles)   The Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of Apostles, in Gower, Missouri, has unique ways

William Sidney Mount, “Saul and the Witch of Endor,” 1828 (photo: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of International Business Machines Corporation)   COMMENTARY: Dealing with evidence is always complicated, and tricky, and may or may not lead to a conclusion. But you’ll

The facade of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Italy. / Credit: Marco Rubino/Shutterstock   By Daniel Payne CNA Staff, Dec 8, 2023 / 17:00 pm (CNA). Climate activists on Thursday vandalized the facade of the nearly 1,000-year-old St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Italy, reportedly

Polonia Castellanos, founder of the Spanish Association of Christian Lawyers. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons   By Martin Barillas Ann Arbor, Michigan, Dec 8, 2023 / 14:30 pm (CNA). Growing numbers of Catholics continue to defy Spain’s socialist government by publicly praying the rosary for

Two purple candles are lit for the Second Sunday of Advent. (photo: Shutterstock)   User’s Guide to the Second Sunday of Advent Msgr. Charles Pope, December 8, 2023 - National Catholic Register Sunday, Dec. 10, is the Second Sunday of Advent. Mass readings: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; Psalm

Pope Francis has described the ongoing collapse of fertility in Western countries as a ‘social emergency.’ (photo: Shutterstock)   Fertility in the U.S. and in other developed Western countries has been trending downward for decades. Daniel Payne/CNA, December 8, 2023 In addition to social

Diego Velázquez, “Immaculate Conception,” 1618 (photo: Public Domain)   ‘The Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the

Anonymous, “Immaculate Conception,” San Francisco Church in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico (photo: Public Domain)   “O most pure Virgin Mary conceived without sin, from the very first instant, you were entirely immaculate." Patti Maguire Armstrong, December 8, 2019 No one has

'Immaculate Conception' by Peter Paul Rubens, circa 1628. (photo: Public Domain)   The Virgin’s patronage of all the Spanish infantry, the oldest in the world, did not become official until 1892 by a Royal Order of the regent María Cristina. CNA Staff, December

Silvio Alvarado with his wife, Paulina, and their two children. / Credit: Courtesy of Silvio Alvarado and Paulina Oña   By Diego Lopez Marina  ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 7, 2023 / 18:30 pm (CNA). In the midst of the public debate over the possible

Immaculate Conception by Antonio Licata (1820). (photo: Renata Sedmakova / Shutterstock)   December 8 marks the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Jimmy Akin BlogsDecember 3, 2021 December 8th marks the feast of the Immaculate Conception. It celebrates an important point of Catholic teaching, and

Spanish protesters show their rosaries in Spain in protest against the action of the police on Nov. 28, 2023. / Credit: Nicolás de Cárdenas/ACI Prensa   By Nicolás de Cárdenas ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 7, 2023 / 07:00 am (CNA). On Dec. 8, the

If we consider the arts, what present philosophers can rival Plato, Aquinas, or Aristotle? (photo: Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain)   COMMENTARY: ‘We all want progress,’ writes C.S. Lewis, ‘but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and

Edoardo Santini. / Credit: Instagram/Edoardo Santini   By Almudena Martínez-Bordiú  ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 7, 2023 / 18:10 pm (CNA). Young Edoardo Santini, considered “the most handsome man in Italy,” has decided to leave his promising career as a model and enter a seminary

Mothers working to help their neurodiverse children live out their God-given potential in society and their faith communities. (photo: Register illustration via Shutterstock)   Advocates for special children champion inclusion and accommodation. Roxane Salonen, December 7, 2023 “It was really just two moms working

Robert Campin, “Mérode Altarpiece,” c. 1430   The Mérode Altarpiece abounds in theological symbolism. John Grondelski, December 23, 2020 - National Catholic Register The Gospel for the Sunday closest to Christmas (which can fall anytime from Dec. 18-24) always features some aspect of the

Metropolitan-Archbishop Borys Gudziak, of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, sprinkles Holy Water during the Priestly Ordination Liturgy of Deacon Paul Spotts at St. Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Frackville, Pa., on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023. (photo: Jacqueline Dormer /

Father Gabriel Romanelli (center), the Latin parish priest of Gaza, is among the celebrants at a Mass to celebrate the feast day of Our Lady, Queen of Palestine and the Holy Land at the shrine dedicated to her at Deir

Father Caleb Laldawngsanga leads refugees from violence-torn Manipur in the praying of a rosary. / Credit: Anto Akkara   By Anto Akkara  Aizawl, India, Dec 6, 2023 / 17:05 pm (CNA). Thousands of ethnic Kuki Christians are still struggling to restart life after being

Christopher Wray at his confirmation hearing on July 12, 2017. / Credit: Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Image   By Tyler Arnold, Joe Bukuras Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 6, 2023 / 17:35 pm (CNA). Sen. Josh Hawley engaged in a tense exchange with FBI Director

Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke during the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, June 29, 2019. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA   By Jonah McKeown  CNA Staff, Dec 6, 2023 / 10:10 am (CNA). Reports emerged last week that

  Feast Day: Dec 6 - CNA On Dec. 6, the faithful commemorate a bishop in the early church who was known for generosity and love of children. Born in Lycia in Asia Minor around the late third or fourth century, St. Nicholas

null / Credit: Josh Applegate/Unsplash   By Walter Sánchez Silva ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 5, 2023 / 18:00 pm (CNA). Father Eduardo Hayen, an exorcist of the Mexican Diocese of Ciudad Juárez, offered a reflection for the first week of Advent, warning about the

Nigerian priest Father Kingsley Eze was kidnapped Nov. 30, 2023, traveling to a sick call. / Credit: Catholic Diocese of Okigwe   By Agnes Aineah  ACI Africa, Dec 5, 2023 / 13:06 pm (CNA). A priest from the Diocese of Okigwe in Nigeria was

Chris Slattery is seen in his signature hat. (photo: Courtesy of Chris Slattery / Register files)   Family, friends and admirers gathered Nov. 27 at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle for the funeral Mass of the man whose network of

The Hollywood sign is seen, along with a cross, in the hills above Los Angeles. (photo: David Pecheux/Shutterstock)   COMMENTARY: How Jesuit Father Daniel Lord developed the ‘moral code’ that the American film industry adhered to for decades. Christian Peschken and Stephen Werner,

Antoni Piotrowski (1853-1924), “Modlitwa (Prayer)” (photo: Public Domain) ‘ For if we continue to love one another and to join in praising the Most Holy Trinity — all of us who are sons of God and form one family in Christ —

Israeli police guard gates to the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque compound Dec. 2 in the walled Old City of Jerusalem. (photo: Scott Peterson / Getty Images)   ‘Lord, Let Us See Your Kindness, and Grant Us Your Salvation’ (Psalm

The small procession of Franciscan friars, with the Custos of the Holy Land, arrives in Manger Square, in front of the Basilica of the Nativity, in Bethlehem on Saturday, Dec. 2, the day of the solemn entrance for the beginning

‘Nest’ (photo: Bachkova Natalia / Shutterstock)   A home is built over moments and years, in ways often hidden behind the imperfections and mundaneness of it all. Brianna Heldt, December 4, 2023 - National Catholic Register The excitement in the house was palpable from

Eduardo Verástegui. / Credit: Eduardo Verástegui/Facebook   By Walter Sánchez Silva ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 4, 2023 / 18:20 pm (CNA). Eduardo Verástegui, filmmaker and aspiring presidential candidate in Mexico, published a “manifesto” against gender ideology, pledging to eliminate gender ideology indoctrination from schools

null / Credit: Carlos Perez via Cathopic   By Diego López Colín ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 4, 2023 / 18:40 pm (CNA). The bishop of Saltillo in the Mexican border state of Coahuila, Hilario González García, has announced the automatic excommunication (“latae sententiae”) of

From left to right: Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (retired), Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Elena Kagan in the justices’ conference room prior to Justice Kagan’s investiture ceremony on Oct. 1, 2010. (photo: Steve Petteway, photographer for

L to R: Blessed Mother and Baby Jesus, St. Edith Stein/Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, St. Teresa of Calcutta (photo: Detail, altar of holy women by Sieger Koder in St. Stephen Church in Wasseralfingen, Germany / Zvonimir Atletic/Shutterstock)   St. Teresa Benedicta

 (photo: Wikimedia Commons)   It is customary to regard the age of the Church Fathers as ending in the East with the life of St. John of Damascus, who died around A.D. 749. Jimmy Akin, December 4, 2019 - National Catholic Register On Dec.

Advent wreath | Warren Bouton / Shutterstock.   From CNA The Advent wreath is made of four candles and a circle of branches. Before the first candle is lighted, the household gathers for this blessing. The blessing of an Advent Wreath takes place on

Advent candles. (photo: Kara Monroe via Flickr / (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0))   The Advent wreath reminds us that Christ is alive among us and that we must cultivate a life of grace, spiritual growth and hope during Advent. Francesca Pollio Fenton/CNA, December 3,