By Galen Holley NEW ALBANY – Seven-year-old Luis looked the part, right down to his drawn-on mustache and loose-fitting tilma, and watching him alongside his parents, one could imagine Juan Diego woofing down a cookie prior to the Mass, just as Luis did. The glory and pageantry of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe was resplendent on a cold night in New Albany.
“We feel our hearts burning with gratitude to Our Lady,” said Alma Solis, who, on Dec. 12, buzzed around the sanctuary organizing the celebration. Solis, a tireless volunteer, directed altar servers, gave dancers their cues, and translated on-the-fly from English to Spanish.
Marta Miranda sings in the choir during the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in New Albany on Dec. 12. (Photos by Galen Holley)
“The celebration is important for Catholics and especially for Mexicans,” said Solis, whose father-in-law, Pablo Garcia, despite a language barrier, is in formation to become a deacon.
Parents in the Hispanic community had dressed their little boys as the sainted peasant, Juan Diego, the simple indigenous man to whom, in 1531, Mary, the Mother of God appeared. Our Lady visited Juan Diego on the Tepeyac Hill in what today is Mexico City. She admonished the people to turn from pagan practices and offered miraculous signs as proof of Jesus’s love. Mary, through the power of God, caused roses to bloom in winter on the Tepeyac Hill, and Catholicism thenceforth bloomed in Latin America.
Catholics built a church on the site of the apparition in the 16th century, and today it’s among the most visited destinations in all the Christian world. Still, as St. Francis’s pastor, Father Xavier Jesuraj said in his homily on Dec. 12, the basilica represents something deeper.
“The building of the church was not the most important thing for the Blessed Mother,” said Father Raj. “The Virgin was present not only as an outward sign but as a promise that she is with us in our joys and sorrows, in all moments and aspects of our lives. She encourages us to offer our daily lives as a devotion and continuation of the celebration in which we participate tonight.”
One-year-old Ulysses Sanchez, dressed as St. Juan Diego, catches a nap prior to the celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in New Albany on Dec. 12.
The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe has become the most popular symbol of faith among Mexican Catholics. The enculturated apparition of Mary, with mocha skin and dark hair, is a stark contrast to European images of the Blessed Mother, and suggests her universal character as Mother of the Church. As Father Raj put it, “She came as a sign not only for Latin America but for Europe and all the world proclaiming the love of her son, Jesus.”
The mustaches drawn onto the lips of babies at St. Francis was an adorable sign of just how much the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe means to Hispanic Catholics. The sight of the beatified Lilliputians tottering into the sanctuary, draped in their peasant’s garb, straw hats in-hand, was enough to inspire religious delight. St. Francis Parish recently celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary, and, as on every Dec. 12, the church was packed. Little Kaitlyn Melany lovingly yet shyly placed a bouquet of flowers before the statue of Our Lady. One-year-old Ulysses Sanchez slept angelically in the arms of his mother, all gussied up in his costume of Juan Diego with red and green. Katherine and her little sister, Melanie, were both dressed as Our Lady, and they seemed to enjoy the pageantry and the energy of the congregation.
Outside, members of the dance troupe from St. Matthew Catholic Church in Ripley, including Emily Juarez, Sandy Ruiz Martinze, and Giovanni Martinez, moved in time with the thumping of the drum. The faithful sang hymns to Our Lady, giving thanks for her intercession and prayers, then they enjoyed a sumptuous meal as children scurried about with smiles and squeals of joy.
(Galen Holley is a member of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in New Albany. Contact him at galenholley@gmail.com and watch his “Saint Michael Podcast” on YouTube.)
MERIDIAN – Students at St. Patrick School participated in a Eucharistic procession Dec. 11, followed by adoration in St. Patrick Church. Led by Father Carlisle Beggerly, the procession began at the church and moved through the school halls, where students knelt in reverence. (Photo by Helen Reynolds)VICKSBURG – (Right)Bishop Joseph Kopacz blesses the door at St. Paul Parish on Dec. 7, assisted by Father Rusty Vincent and two altar servers. (Photo by Connie Hosemann)PEARL – Students took part in St. Jude Parish’s second Advent Mass, led by youth. Altar server Gabe Sullivan and reader Kinzie Hall served during the liturgy. (Photo by Tereza Ma)JACKSON – Sixth graders at St. Richard School organized their annual Christmas Store, the “Manhattan Mall,” giving residents of Manhattan Nursing Home a festive shopping experience. Families donated gifts so residents could shop for loved ones and leave with wrapped presents for the holidays. (Photo by Celeste Saucier)SOUTHAVEN – Sacred Heart School student Jack B. places a holly leaf on the Advent wreath as the Pre-K 4 class learns about the meaning of the Advent season on Dec. 2, 2025. (Photo by Sister Margaret Sue Broker)JACKSON – Students at St. Richard Early Learning Center listen as Joni House, executive director of Catholic education for the Diocese of Jackson, reads to them during the National Catholic Educational Association’s “Bright Lights in Catholic Education” tour on Tuesday, Dec. 9. (Photo by Tereza Ma)JACKSON – Sister Thea Bowman Catholic School students Eliel Cattenhead (PreK3) and Micaela Martinez Contreras (PreK4) share what they are learning with teacher Barbara Davis during the National Catholic Educational Association’s “Bright Lights in Catholic Education” tour, led by NCEA President Dr. Steve Cheeseman and principal Chris Payne, on Dec. 9. (Photo by Tereza Ma)MERIDIAN – Students in grades five through eight at St. Patrick School perform “The Kings of Swing” as part of their Christmas production, The Christmas Chronicles. (Photo by Helen Reynolds)PEARL – St. Jude Parish Sunday school teacher Christina Overton leads her Atrium III class in a lesson about the Mass. (Photo by Tereza Ma)
By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The “confrontational” tone dominating both global and national politics is “deepening instability and unpredictability day by day,” Pope Leo XIV wrote in his message for World Peace Day.
“It is no coincidence that repeated calls to increase military spending, and the choices that follow, are presented by many government leaders as a justified response to external threats,” he wrote in the message for the Jan. 1 observance.
But peace must be protected and cultivated, Pope Leo said. “Even when it is endangered within us and around us, like a small flame threatened by a storm, we must protect it.”
Throughout the coming year, Pope Leo will give visiting heads of state signed copies of his message, which was released by the Vatican Dec. 18, and Vatican ambassadors will distribute it to government leaders in the countries where they serve.
Pope Leo XIV joins religious leaders at the International Meeting of Dialogue and Prayer for Peace near the Colosseum in Rome Oct. 28, 2025. In his message for World Peace Day, the pope said religious leaders must refute “forms of blasphemy that profane the holy name of God” by using religion to defend war. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, presented the message at a Vatican news conference.
“In some ways we have been beaten into accepting the logic of war, the logic of armaments, the logic of enemies,” the cardinal said. Pope Leo’s message recognizes that “the first triumph of the logic of war is that we give up our hope for peace.”
“I am not a soldier, I have never been a soldier,” the cardinal said, but “even a soldier can be comforted” by Pope Leo’s appeal to cultivate “peace in his heart and in his relationships and in his prayer and in his aspirations.”
While the message “does not diminish in any way the horrors that we are surrounded with,” he said, “it puts an enormous part of the responsibility on ourselves.”
The theme of the pope’s message, “Peace be with you all: Towards an ‘unarmed and disarming’ peace,” begins with the first words he said to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square May 8, the night of his election.
Pope Leo wrote in the message that he and all religious leaders have an obligation to teach and preach against “the growing temptation to weaponize even thoughts and words” and to condemn the use of religion to justify violence and exaggerated forms of nationalism.
“Unfortunately, it has become increasingly common to drag the language of faith into political battles, to bless nationalism, and to justify violence and armed struggle in the name of religion,” the pope wrote.
“Believers must actively refute, above all by the witness of their lives, these forms of blasphemy that profane the holy name of God,” Pope Leo said.
What is needed instead, he said, is prayer, spirituality and ecumenical and interreligious dialogue “as paths of peace and as languages of encounter within traditions and cultures.”
The message echoed what Pope Leo had told reporters Dec. 2 after meeting Christian, Muslim and Druze leaders in Turkey and Lebanon during his first foreign trip: “The more we can promote authentic unity and understanding, respect and human relationships of friendship and dialogue in the world, the greater possibility there is that we will put aside the arms of war, that we will leave aside the distrust, the hatred, the animosity that has so often been built up and that we will find ways to come together and be able to promote authentic peace and justice throughout the world.”
The first step in sowing peace, the pope wrote, is to believe that peace is possible and that all people desire it.
“When we treat peace as a distant ideal,” he wrote, “we cease to be scandalized when it is denied, or even when war is waged in its name.”
“When peace is not a reality that is lived, cultivated and protected, then aggression spreads into domestic and public life,” he said. When that happens, “it could even be considered a fault not to be sufficiently prepared for war, not to react to attacks, and not to return violence for violence.”
Statistics show that is already happening, the pope said.
Global military expenditures “increased by 9.4% in 2024 compared to the previous year, confirming the trend of the last ten years and reaching a total of $2718 billion – or 2.5% of global GDP,” he wrote, citing studies by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Pope Leo also decried a shift in education and in the media that instead of focusing on achievements in peacemaking and diplomacy since World War II and on remembering with horror just how many people died in that war, “we now see communication campaigns and educational programs – at schools, universities and in the media – that spread a perception of threats and promote only an armed notion of defense and security.”
That shift becomes especially frightening given advancements in weapons technology, particularly the development of drones, robots and other automated lethal weapons systems that can be controlled by artificial intelligence.
“There is even a growing tendency among political and military leaders to shirk responsibility, as decisions about life and death are increasingly ‘delegated’ to machines,” he wrote.
Pope Leo called on Christians and all people of goodwill to join forces “to contribute to a disarming peace, a peace born of openness and evangelical humility.”
“Goodness is disarming,” he wrote. “Perhaps this is why God became a child.”
Pope Leo prayed that as the Jubilee Year draws to a close, its legacy would be a “disarmament of heart, mind and life.”
CASTEL GANDOLFO (CNS) – At the end of his one day off each week, Pope Leo XIV went to the local school in Castel Gandolfo and joined hundreds of excited parents in watching the children’s Christmas concert.
After 45 minutes of songs in Italian, Latin, English and Spanish, Pope Leo thanked the children and their teachers for “the invitation that mysteriously arrived at my house, but maybe even more mysterious was the response when you learned I had decided to come.”
Shortly after the pope arrived Dec. 16 and school staff convinced the parents to sit down, more than 200 students, from the oldest to the youngest, filed on to risers on the stage in the gym wearing white sweatshirts and dark trousers.
Pope Leo XIV shakes hands with students at the Pontifical Paul VI School in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, after he attended their Christmas concert in the school gym Dec. 16, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
The children all begin studying English in primary school, and the first piece they sang in English was a rousing “Joy to the World.” They also sang “The Little Drummer Boy” with drumming hand motions.
At the end of the concert, before leading the children in the Lord’s Prayer – which one class did in Italian sign language as well – Pope Leo spoke about the first song, a modern Italian carol, that recounted the angels singing the news of Jesus’ birth.
“The most beautiful words were about ‘angels who bring love,’ and you are the ones who brought love to all of us this evening,” the pope told the children.
St. Augustine once said, “One who loves, sings,” he told them.
“This is Christmas – God who wanted to draw near to us, especially to the smallest,” the pope said, expressing his hope that “we can feel and live this love” all year long.
Pope Leo also thanked the children for singing in several languages, showing that Christmas fills the hearts of believers everywhere with joy and peace.
He also quoted a well-known Italian song that says, “At Christmas you can do more.”
“It’s an invitation to all of us,” the pope said. “Let’s do more to proclaim peace, love and unity in the world.”
By Katarzyna Szalajko OBERNDORF, Austria (OSV News) – As Christmas nears and “Silent Night” echoes through churches worldwide, its origins point to hardship rather than holiday calm.
The world’s most famous Christmas carol – “Stille Nacht” in German – was not born in a peaceful, picture-book setting. There was no postcard village, no soft snowfall, no glowing atmosphere.
The beloved carol was first sung on Christmas Eve 1818 in Oberndorf, Austria – a town battered by war, famine and political upheaval after the Napoleonic Wars and a global climate crisis triggered by a volcanic eruption.
Silent Night Chapel, where the famed “Stille Nacht” Christmas carol was born is seen on an 2024 photograph in Oberndorf, Austria. The beloved carol was first sung there on Christmas Eve 1818. Oberndorf was not a fairy-tale place back then – it was battered by war, famine and political upheaval after the Napoleonic Wars and a global climate crisis triggered by a volcanic eruption. (OSV News photo/courtesy Stille Nacht Museum)
Museum officials say the song emerged from poverty and uncertainty. Its creators, Father Joseph Mohr and schoolteacher Franz Xaver Gruber, both rose from humble beginnings thanks to mentors who recognized their musical gifts.
Mohr’s lyrics speak of God entering a troubled world in quiet humility, while Gruber’s simple melody conveys warmth and hope. “The melody is simple but creates a feeling of warmth and safety,” Martina Knall, a representative of the Stille-Nacht-Museum, said.
“The text speaks of rescue from distress, hope and love – themes that speak to everyone.”
For Father Thomas Kunnappallil, pastor of Oberndorf’s parish since September, said that for him as a priest, “Silent Night” is more than a Christmas song, leading back “to the deep mystery that God does not appear in the splendor and noise of this world, but in the silence of a child who gives peace and hope.”
The Nativity scene is unveiled and the Christmas tree is lighted in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Dec. 15, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
NATION BURLINGTON, Wash. (OSV News) – Several parishes and schools across Western Washington have shut down operations due to historic flooding in the state. Gov. Bob Ferguson announced Dec. 12 that President Donald Trump signed the state’s request for an emergency declaration, permitting federal funds to be used as aid in 16 counties and several Tribal Nations affected by the floods. The Laudato Si’ Movement-Washington State Chapter released a statement Dec. 11, saying, “We are working together with Archdiocese of Seattle, Catholic Community Services, and additional collaborative agencies to prepare for and provide emergency assistance, as needed.” St. Charles Parish in Burlington, St. Catherine Mission in Concrete, Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Snoqualmie, St. Joseph School in Issaquah and Immaculate Conception School in Mount Vernon are among the closures. The Tri-Parish Food Bank at St. Charles has also been shut down. In its statement, the Laudato Si’ Movement-Washington State Chapter said it “holds all those affected in prayer” and called the devastation “heartbreaking.” Early on Dec. 15, the National Weather Service said that “a period of very active weather will dominate the week ahead as a series of strong frontal systems produce cascading impacts across Western Washington.”
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The Washington-based Black and Indian Mission Office is getting a boost from two new half-hour documentaries, “Trailblazers of Faith: The Legacy of African American Catholics” and “Walking the Sacred Path: The Story of the Black and Indian Mission Office.” Father Maurice Henry Sands, a Detroit archdiocesan priest that heads the office, hopes they’ll be an aid with fundraising. Trailers of the films can be viewed on the mission office’s website, https://blackandindianmission.org/films. “Trailblazers of Faith” tells the story of how African Americans have been able to embrace the Catholic faith without abandoning their own culture. A particular focus is on the Baltimore-based Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first Catholic order in the U.S. for Black women, as well as Venerable Mother Henriette Delille of New Orleans, Servant of God Julia Greeley, Venerable Father Augustus Tolton and Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman. They are among seven Black Catholics with active sainthood causes – dubbed the “Saintly Seven.” The Black and Indian Missions Office originated in 1874 as the Bureau of Catholic Missions, with wider goals added in subsequent years. The office is in a brick row house that once belonged to St. Katharine Drexel (1858-1955), the Philadelphia heiress who devoted her life and her wealth to ministering to Native Americans and African Americans.
VATICAN VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Nativity scene and the Christmas tree are signs of faith and hope, Pope Leo XIV said. “As we contemplate them in our homes, parishes and town squares, let us ask the Lord to renew in us the gift of peace and fraternity,” he said, calling for prayers for all those who suffer because of war and violence. “We must eliminate hatred from our hearts.” The pope was speaking Dec. 15 during a meeting with the government representatives, artisans and donors responsible for providing the Christmas decorations in the Paul VI Audience Hall and in St. Peter’s Square. Pope Leo thanked the Costa Rican artist who created the Nativity scene for the audience hall, titled “Nacimiento Gaudium.” Created by Paula Sáenz Soto, it features a pregnant Virgin Mary and 28,000 colored ribbons, each representing a life saved from abortion thanks to the prayers and support provided to many mothers in difficulty by Catholic organizations, according to a press release by the Vatican City State’s governing office. “I thank the Costa Rican artist who, together with the message of peace at Christmas, also wanted to launch an appeal for the protection of life from the moment of conception,” Pope Leo said. “The Nativity scene and the Christmas tree are signs of faith and hope,” he said to all those present. “Let the tenderness of the child Jesus illuminate our lives. Let God’s love, like the branches of an evergreen tree, remain fervent in us.”
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Timothy Dolan as archbishop of New York and named Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks of Joliet, Illinois, as his successor. The Vatican announced the decision Dec. 18. Cardinal Dolan, who turned 75 in February, submitted his resignation as required by canon law. Appointed archbishop of New York in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI, he was made a cardinal three years later. Cardinal Dolan previously served as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and held several national leadership roles, including chair of pro-life and religious liberty committees. Archbishop Hicks, 58, has led the Diocese of Joliet since 2020. Born in Chicago and longtime priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, he has served as vicar general, auxiliary bishop, seminary formator, and regional director of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos in Central America. He currently serves on several USCCB committees and Catholic boards.
WORLD PARIS (OSV News) – Fifty French Catholics killed under Nazism were beatified Dec. 13, 2025, during a Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, recognizing their witness of faith during World War II. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg presided at the liturgy, as they were declared blessed, with their liturgical memorial on May 5. The martyrs – priests, seminarians and laymen – died in Germany between 1944 and 1945 while serving fellow French workers deported under Nazi forced labor policies. Many belonged to the Young Christian Workers movement, with several also active as Catholic scouts. They volunteered to accompany workers sent to German factories, offering pastoral care through a clandestine mission known as the St. Paul Mission. For French Father Bernard Ardura, former president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, and postulator of their causes in Rome since 2018, these men are “martyrs of the apostolate.” “They went to Germany voluntarily, as Christians, and it was as Christians that they were arrested and died,” he told OSV News. They died in concentration camps, death marches or executions, refusing to abandon their faith. In his homily, Cardinal Hollerich praised their courage, calling the witness given by their lives and deaths a faithful following of Christ to the very end.
SYDNEY (OSV News) – After two gunmen targeted Jewish beachgoers at an event celebrating the first day of Hanukkah in terror attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, Pope Leo XIV highlighted God’s closeness to humanity and called for prayers for those who suffer on account of war and violence, especially the victims from the Jewish community in Australia. “Enough with these forms of antisemitic violence!” Pope Leo said Dec. 15, speaking with the groups that donated this year’s Vatican Christmas Tree and Nativity Scene. “We must eliminate hatred from our hearts,” he highlighted. In a Dec. 15 statement, Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney called for an end to an “atmosphere of antisemitism” in Australia. He also shared that he personally has Jewish heritage from his great-grandmother, and that as Christians “an attack on the Jews is an attack on all of us.” Just hours after the shooting and an initial report of 12 dead, the death toll rose to 15. The Guardian reported a 10-year-old girl, a rabbi and two Holocaust survivors were among victims. The second gunman, police confirmed, was in custody and in critical condition. According to authorities, over 40 people were wounded and taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital. The attack occurred in the early evening as hundreds were gathered at Archer Park, a grassy area in Bondi Beach.
A woman holds up a pro-life sign ahead of the 52nd annual March for Life rally in Washington Jan. 24, 2025. (OSV News photo/Bob Roller)
By Kimberley Heatherington (OSV News) – Life issues are perennially critical to the robust public witness of the Catholic Church, but 2025 nonetheless proved a particularly eventful year across a wide spectrum of related concerns.
The year opened with the annual National Prayer Vigil for Life, where worshippers praised and thanked God “for the gift of human life in all its forms and at every stage” and ended with a new coalition of more than 50 organizations pledging to end the death penalty in the United States once and for all.
Remarks by Pope Leo XIV in an impromptu Sept. 30 Castel Gandolfo press scrum demonstrated the expanse – and continuity – of the life issues of concern to the church.
The pope, who shortly after being elected the successor to Pope Francis reaffirmed the church’s teaching against abortion, responded to a media question concerning the Chicago Archdiocese’s plans to give an immigration advocacy award to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a Catholic who supports keeping abortion legal, over the objections of pro-lifers.
“Someone who says, ‘I’m against abortion but says I’m in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro-life,” the pontiff remarked. “So someone who says that ‘I’m against abortion, but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life. … Church teaching on each one of those issues is very clear.”
On the same day as the pope’s remarks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced approval of a new generic form of mifepristone – a pill commonly used for early abortion – marking the second time a Trump administration has permitted a generic form of the drug.
On Dec. 9, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America called for FDA Commissioner Marty Makary to be fired, arguing that he has “slow-walked a promised safety study of women’s real-world experiences taking abortion drugs.” The White House rejected that claim and the call for his firing.
Pro-life groups characterized the move as an abandonment of pro-life principles, concerns that were reinforced on Oct. 16 when President Trump announced a proposal to increase access to in vitro fertilization.
Trump made campaign trail promises to expand IVF, an action the Catholic Church and other experts warn will fuel large-scale destruction of embryonic human life while doing little to increase the nation’s overall birth rate. The U.S bishops expressed concern on Oct. 17, saying that while reproductive technologies such as IVF can be “well intended,” they nonetheless “strongly reject” efforts to promote IVF. Other family life matters – such as health insurance, cash support for parents and food assistance benefits, also known as SNAP – also grabbed headlines in 2025.
Affordable Care Act subsidies – which would cost an estimated $350 billion over the next decade, if extended – cover some 22 million Americans. Set to expire Dec. 31, their absence will result in estimated average health insurance premium increases of 26%, with a congressionally approved extension far from certain.
As a result, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted 4.2 million more Americans will go without coverage, while critics point to enrollment fraud and the benefit to insurance companies instead of patients.
The complications of substituting direct subsidies for ACA exchange assistance are a point for current debate, but the U.S. Catholic bishops addressed the need for health care reform as early as 1993 in “A Framework for Comprehensive Health Reform,” insisting “every person has a right to adequate health care.”
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act – signed into law July 4 – is expected to challenge family finances in several ways. Estimated to cut $930 billion from Medicaid and $285 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, it also increases the national debt on paper by $3.4 trillion.
After the bill’s passage, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services – then president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops – issued a statement citing what he described as “unconscionable cuts to health care and food assistance, tax cuts that increase inequality, immigration provisions that harm families and children, and cuts to programs that protect God’s creation.”
Twenty U.S. Catholic bishops signed onto an interfaith effort opposing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which would enact key provisions of President Trump’s legislative agenda on taxes and immigration, calling it a “moral failure.”
Families coast-to-coast are also being impacted by amplified immigration enforcement policies, including raids, arrests and deportations in multiple cities.
As OSV News reported in July, three Florida immigration detention sites were accused of denying timely medical care (potentially resulting in deaths), having freezing and overcrowded cells with no bedding or hygiene access, and of carrying out degrading treatment – including beatings, shackling and isolation, with detainees being forced to eat with their hands cuffed behind their backs.
“If the administration succeeds in deporting the numbers of people it says it wants to deport, it will not only change the church in America. It will change America,” Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami told OSV News on Nov. 4.
On July 20, Archbishop Wenski and some 25 Knights of Columbus rode their motorcycles to pray a rosary at the entrance of Alligator Alcatraz, the controversial migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades. On Nov. 12, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted overwhelmingly to issue a rare group statement voicing “our concern here for immigrants” at their annual fall plenary assembly.
A day later, on the feast of the patron saint of immigrants St. Frances Xavier Cabrini – and a day after the U.S. bishops issued a special pastoral message on immigration – a coalition of Catholic organizations held a wave of prayer vigils across the country Nov. 13 for what organizers called “a national day of public witness for our immigrant brothers and sisters.”
Assisted suicide and the death penalty also continued to make their mark in 2025, with both the New York Assembly and Senate passing the Medical Aid in Dying Act, a controversial bill now awaiting Gov. Kathy Hochul ‘s signature.
On Dec. 12, Illinois became the 12th state, along with the District of Columbia, to legalize assisted suicide, amid outcry among the state’s Catholic bishops and other pro-life and disability advocates. Gov. JB Pritzker signed SB 1950 into law, allowing terminally ill adults who are Illinois residents to end their lives through self-administered lethal drugs prescribed by a physician.
As of Dec. 15, 46 prisoners have been executed in 11 U.S. states, a sharp increase over 25 executions in 2024. According to The Death Penalty Information Center, there are two more executions scheduled for 2025. The center notes, “For every 8.2 people executed in the United States in the modern era of the death penalty, one person on death row has been exonerated.”
On Dec. 3, a new coalition of more than 50 organizations launched the U.S. Campaign to End the Death Penalty. Laura Porter, the campaign’s director, said the coalition comes at “a critical juncture in our country’s history with the death penalty, with executions on the rise and new experimental execution methods being promoted in a handful of states despite growing opposition to the death penalty.”
“It is more important than ever,” said Porter in a statement, “that we shine a light on capital punishment’s failures, and come together to show growing bipartisan support for ending executions.”
(Kimberley Heatherington is an OSV News correspondent. She writes from Virginia.)
VICKSBURG – Even bishops stop by for a visit with Santa. Bishop Joseph Kopacz visits with Santa during the annual St. Paul Christmas party with Father Rusty Vincent and some helpful elves. (Photo by Connie Hosemann)
SPIRITUAL ENRICHMENT GLUCKSTADT – St. Joseph, Fatima Five First Saturdays Devotion, Jan. 3, Feb. 7, March 7, April 4 and May 2. Church opens at 8 a.m.; Mass at 9 a.m.; followed by Rosary. Details: church office (601) 856-2054.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration, Saturday, Jan. 17 at 1 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. Peter, Jackson. Theme is “Beholding the Dream” with speaker Dr. William Jemison.
World Marriage Day 2026, Join us Saturday, Feb. 7 at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Jackson at 1 p.m. or Saturday, Feb. 14 at St. James Tupelo at 1 p.m. for this celebration of marriage across the diocese. If you are celebrating your 25th, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th+ in 2026 this celebration is for you! Please register to join us by visiting jacksondiocese.org/family-ministry. Details: email debbie.tubertini@jacksondiocese.org.
JACKSON – St. Richard, Ladies Retreat, Feb. 6-8, 2026 at Our Lady of Hope Retreat Center in Osyka. Open to women age 21+. Cost: $300/person, includes accommodations and all meals. Deadline to register is Jan. 16. Details: email claudiaaddison@mac.com.
OXFORD – Diocesan Campus Ministry Winter Retreat “Radical Grace: Living the Gospel Upside Down,” Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at St. John the Evangelist Church. Cost: $20 – Registration deadine is Jan. 23. Come and be renewed! Details: amelia.rizor@jacksondiocese.org.
PARISH & YOUTH EVENTS GREENWOOD – St. Francis, Mardi Gras Ball, Saturday, Feb. 14 from 7-11 p.m. at the Andrew McQueen Civic Center. Cost: $45/person. Details: (662) 453-0623.
JACKSON – Knights of Peter Claver Ladies Auxiliary Court #199, Annual Mardi Gras Ball, Feb. 7 at Fondren Hall from 7-11 p.m. Cost: $40/person. Attire: “after five.” Details: Christ the King church office (601) 948-8867.
JACKSON – St. Richard, Krewe de Cardinal Mardi Gras Ball, Saturday, Feb. 7 at the Westin Jackson. Details: visit https://bit.ly/4pGfEAc for more info.
MADISON – St. Joseph School, Annual Draw Down, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, at Reunion Country Club. Details: school office (601) 898-4800.
MERIDIAN – Knights of Columbus Mash Bash Blood Drive, Tuesday, Dec. 30 from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the K of C Hall. Details: schedule through vitalant.org.
PARISHES OF NORTHWEST MS – World Youth Day in South Korea, Aug. 3-7, 2027. Join the Priests of the Sacred Heart on an unforgettable pilgrimage that includes Mass with Pope Leo and more. For ages 16-23. Cost: $1,333 plus fundraising. Application packets available in the parish office. Details: Contact Vickie at (662) 895-5007.
