The 'most valuable' gift to give this Christmas, according to Pope Leo XIV

The pope with boys and girls from Italian Catholic Action on Dec. 18, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Dec 20, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV told the young people of Italian Catholic Action that they can perform a simple gesture that would be the best gift this Christmas: make peace."Before the holy night of Christmas, think of someone with whom you can make peace," the pontiff urged members of the organization, founded in 1868, which has established itself as one of the main lay organizations of the Church in Italy.'A gift more valuable than those you can buy in stores'"It will be a gift more valuable than those you can buy in stores, because peace is a gift that is truly found only in the heart," he added.He said peace is the "Catholic action par excellence," because it is "the gesture that transforms us as witnesses of Jesus, the redeemer of the world."In this way, Leo made it clear that peace "is not only the absence of war" but above all "a friendship be...

Multiple Kansas Catholic schools targeted by apparent bomb hoax

Downtown Kansas City, Kansas / Credit: Jamie Squire/GettyCNA Staff, Dec 20, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).Multiple Catholic schools in Kansas were targeted by what were apparently hoax bomb threats this week, according to authorities. Law enforcement agencies in the Kansas City area reported investigating threats at numerous Catholic schools on Dec. 19. The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas confirmed in a press statement that "several" Catholic schools in the archdiocese had "received bomb threats" on both Dec. 18 and Dec. 19. "At this time, students and staff are safe," Archdiocesan Superintendent Vince Cascone said in the statement. "Law enforcement continues to investigate, and we are following their guidance closely."The archdiocese did not post a list of the schools affected by the bomb threats, though local media reported at least 13 schools targeted, 12 of which were Catholic. The Olathe, Kansas Police Department posted on Facebook that it had investigated a threat at the cit...

How Iskali is helping young Latino Catholics encounter God and find their purpose

Iskali, a ministry that serves young Hispanic Catholics in the United States, seeks to form active missionary disciples. / Credit: IskaliCNA Staff, Dec 20, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).Fifteen years ago, Vicente Del Real felt called to create a way to reach out to young Hispanic Catholics in the U.S. and provide them with a space to encounter God and use their gifts and talents for the Church. He went on to found Iskali, a nonprofit based in Chicago that promotes the leadership and holistic development of Latino youth, helping them flourish spiritually, personally, academically, and socially. Inspired by Our Lady of Guadalupe's role in the Americas as "the star of the new evangelization," Iskali works to form, empower, and equip young Latinos to become transformative leaders and to invigorate the Catholic Church.The name "Iskali" comes from the Nahuatl, or Aztec, language symbolizing growth, resurgence, and new beginnings. This was also the language Our Lady of Guadalupe spoke wh...

Cardinal Pizzaballa visits Holy Family Parish in Gaza days before Christmas

Children greet the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, during his visit to Gaza's Holy Family Parish on Dec. 19, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Latin Patriarchate of JerusalemCNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 18:35 pm (CNA).Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, arrived in Gaza City on Dec. 19 for a pastoral visit to Holy Family Parish, the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip, just days before Christmas.Accompanied by Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali, the Latin patriarchal vicar, and a small delegation, the cardinal's visit comes as a sign of solidarity with the small Catholic community that has endured over two years of conflict and severe hardship, including what Israel Defense Forces said was an accidental deadly attack on the parish compound last June.Upon his arrival at the parish, Pizzaballa was greeted by children, some wearing Santa hats, amid festive decorations including twinkling lights, Christmas trees, and Nati...

Pope Leo XIV: The person and families must be at center of labor system

Pope Leo XIV addresses employment consultants on Dec. 18, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 14:30 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV advocated for a labor system that serves individuals and families so that the dignity of each employee is recognized and his or her real needs are met.During a Dec. 18 audience at the Vatican with members of the Order of Employment Consultants, the Holy Father highlighted three aspects that he considers particularly important in the business world: the dignity of the person, mediation, and the promotion of safety.At the beginning of his address in the Apostolic Palace, the pontiff emphasized that at the heart of any work dynamic "should neither be capital, nor the laws of the market, nor profit, but the person, the family, and their well-being, to which everything else is secondary."Consequently, he stated that workers must "be recognized in their dignity" and receive concrete responses to their real needs, such...

Albany's retired bishop files for personal bankruptcy

Bishop Edward Scarfenberger. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of AlbanyNational Catholic Register, Dec 19, 2025 / 12:24 pm (CNA).A retired New York bishop has filed for personal bankruptcy protection in federal court after a state jury verdict found him, along with other officials, personally liable for the collapse of a Catholic hospital pension fund that left about 1,100 retirees without the lifetime monthly payments they were expecting.It's not clear whether a Catholic bishop in the United States has ever previously filed for personal bankruptcy protection.Bishop Edward Scharfenberger, 77, who served as bishop of Albany from April 2014 until his retirement in October, is seeking protection from creditors for his assets valued at between $100,001 and $500,000, according to a filing Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of New York.The seven-page filing does not list the bishop's assets but states that he has between 100 and 199 creditors and de...

Massachusetts removes LGBT ideology requirements for foster care parents

null / Credit: New Africa/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 12:54 pm (CNA).Massachusetts will no longer require prospective foster parents to affirm gender ideology in order to qualify for fostering children, with the move coming after a federal lawsuit from a religious liberty group. Alliance Defending Freedom said Dec. 17 that the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families "will no longer exclude Christian and other religious families from foster care" because of their "commonly held beliefs that boys are boys and girls are girls."The legal group announced in September that it had filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court over the state policy, which required prospective parents to agree to affirm a child's "sexual orientation and gender identity" before being permitted to foster. Attorney Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse said at the time that the state's foster system was "in crisis" with more than 1,400 children awaiting placement in foster homes. Yet the s...

Church leaders condemn arson attack on top Bangladesh newspaper offices

A group set fire to the office of the country's top Bangla newspaper, Prothom Alo, late on Dec. 19, 2025, to protest the killing of Sharif Osman Hadi, a front-line leader of a 2024 uprising in Bangladesh. / Credit: Dipu MalakerDhaka, Bangladesh, Dec 19, 2025 / 13:24 pm (CNA).Catholic leaders in Bangladesh have condemned arson attacks on the offices of two of the country's top newspapers and the homes of ousted Awami League leaders in protests of the killing of a frontline leader in a 2024 uprising.Sharif Osman Hadi, 32, was shot in broad daylight on Dec. 12 and died in Singapore on Dec. 18. "We condemn this attack and we are very concerned about the upcoming elections," said Father Liton Hubert Gomes, secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Bishops' Conference in Bangladesh.The announcement of Hadi's death prompted thousands of people, especially young, to take to the streets of Dhaka to protest and demand justice for Hadi's killers. Some protesters claim ...

Top 2025 religious freedom developments included mix of persecution, protection

null / Credit: Joe Belanger/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 19, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).Here is an overview of some of the religious freedom developments and news in the United States and abroad in 2025:White House started the Religious Liberty CommissionPresident Donald Trump established the White House Religious Liberty Commission in May to report on threats to religious freedom in the U.S. and seek to advance legal protections. The commission and advisory boards include members of various religions. Catholic members on the commission include Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Robert Barron. Catholic advisory board members include Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, Bishop Kevin Rhoades, and Father Thomas Ferguson.Lawmakers condemned persecution of Christians Rep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, introduced a joint resolution condemning the persecution of Christians in Muslim-majority countries across the wor...

Cardinal Dolan says of retirement: 'I'll always keep working'

The archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, speaks to EWTN News on Friday, April 25, 2025, at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. / Credit: Screenshot/EWTN NewsCNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).Now that the Vatican has announced that Archbishop-designate Ronald Hicks will succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan as archbishop of New York, what comes next for the cardinal?"I'll always keep working," Dolan told Father Dave Dwyer, a Paulist priest, executive director of Busted Halo Ministries, and cohost of "Conversation with Cardinal Dolan," during a discussion of his retirement plans earlier this year. "For a priest, your life is your work," he said, indicating that he hopes to continue preaching retreats, which he said he loves, and teaching. "But I won't have an appointment. I won't have administrative duties. Yippee!" Dolan quipped.The cardinal said he is looking forward to having "more choices, instead of waking up in the morning and being han...