People pray during a Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis Feb. 1, 2026, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the church being named a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI. Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis was the main celebrant. (OSV News photo/Dave Hrbacek, The Catholic Spirit)
NATION MINNEAPOLIS (OSV News) – A century ago, Pope Pius XI granted a grand Minneapolis church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception the title of “basilica.” It was the first church in the United States to receive the designation. To mark the anniversary, Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda celebrated a Feb. 1 Mass that included a reading of the 1926 proclamation, a centennial letter from Pope Leo XIV, and the introduction of a processional hymn commissioned for the event. In 1926, the Holy Father conferred on the Pro-Cathedral of St. Mary the title minor basilica “by reason of the piety of its worshippers as well as by the splendor of its ritual and the richness of its adornment,” according to the basilica’s website. Currently there are 94 minor basilicas in the United States and more than 1,700 worldwide, in addition to four major basilicas in Rome and the Vatican. Among the privileges of the basilica designation is an attachment to the papal household and the right to use the papal coat of arms. In 1966, St. Paul VI changed the name of the Archdiocese of St. Paul to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and elevated the Basilica of St. Mary to the archdiocese’s co-cathedral.
VATICAN VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV has added the feast day of St. John Henry Newman, who is “a radiant light for the Church on pilgrimage through history,” to the General Roman Calendar so that “his Optional Memorial be celebrated by all on 9 October.” Cardinal Arthur Roche and Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, respectively prefect and secretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, announced the pope’s decision in a decree published by the Vatican Feb. 3. Cardinal Roche said the inclusion of St. Newman in the General Roman Calendar “is intended to present his figure as an outstanding example of the constant search for the truth that enlightens and saves” and to help the faithful contemplate him “as a man led by the ‘kindly light’ of God’s grace to find peace within the Catholic Church.” Bishops’ conferences around the world will need to translate from Latin the prayers issued by the dicastery for Mass on his feast day as well as those used in the Liturgy of the Hours and in the Roman Martyrology, and have the translations confirmed by the dicastery.
WORLD MANAGUA, Nicaragua (OSV News) – Nicaragua’s Sandinista regime has blocked a Catholic diocese from carrying out door-to-door evangelization, ordering all pastoral activity to remain inside parish grounds. The restriction affected the Diocese of León, where parishioners planned missions on Jan. 24, according to exiled lawyer Martha Patricia Molina, who documents religious persecution in the country. The move is the latest in a sweeping crackdown on the Catholic Church that intensified after the bishops mediated – and later withdrew from – talks following anti-government protests in 2018. Since then, at least 305 clergy and religious, including four bishops, have been forced into exile, and more than 5,000 Catholic charities, schools, and religious groups have lost legal status. While some religious orders have quietly left the country, the government continues to detain clergy and restrict ministry. Church leaders and human rights monitors say recent prisoner releases are strategic gestures, not signs of real religious freedom. Exiled Auxiliary Bishop Silvio José Baez of Managua spoke of freedom and democracy “coming increasingly closer” in Latin America. He said in his Jan. 25 homily at St. Agatha’s parish in Miami that it’s “time to speak to illuminate the darkness of the moment, feed the hope of the people and denounce the oppressive structures that have prevailed until now, but that are about to disappear.”
(OSV News) — Since 2022, there has been a steady flow of harrowing images and videos of killings, war and destruction from the Holy Land, beginning with the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, followed by Israel’s war on Gaza.
That, coupled with reported attacks on Christians in the West Bank by Jewish settlers, has led the land known as “The Fifth Gospel” to be nearly empty of pilgrims over the last two years.
Although a ceasefire agreement has been in place since October, Israel launched a deadly strike on Gaza Jan. 31 that killed over 30 people, threatening an already shaky detente.
On Feb. 3, only a handful of sick and wounded Palestinians from Gaza were allowed to cross to Egypt after the Rafah border crossing reopened for the movement of people — it was closed in May 2024.
Nevertheless, in early January, Franciscan Father Francesco Ielpo, custos of the Holy Land, urged pilgrims to return not only as an opportunity to be where Christ was, but also as a sign of solidarity with Christians in the area whose livelihoods depend on pilgrims.
Meeting with pilgrims from Rome Jan. 7 at the Franciscan headquarters in Jerusalem, Father Ielpo said the presence of Christians from around the world visiting the Holy Land “generates hope and strengthens the reason for coming here — not to see a museum, but to encounter a living Church.”
Father Ielpo said he is often asked by many how “to help this land and these peoples.”
The most helpful thing, he said, according to Vatican News, was to “return as pilgrims to this land.”
Pilgrimages are “one of the principal sources of economic support, primarily — but not only — for the local Christian community,” he added.
For Michael Kelly, director of public affairs for Aid to the Church in Need Ireland, pilgrims should consider Father Ielpo’s appeal because he, like many men and women religious in the Holy Land, understands “the reality on the ground, and they would not invite pilgrims there if the situation was unsafe.”
While the ceasefire in Gaza is fragile, “around Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee the situation is safe,” Kelly said in a Jan. 28 email to OSV News.
Kelly, who said he has led dozens of group pilgrimages to the Holy Land over the past 20 years, urged pilgrims on the fence about visiting to “leave the hesitation at the door, because it is not outsiders telling people to come, it is the people who live the reality every single day who are asking pilgrims to come.”
“Even before the current war, people had a perception that the Holy Land is unsafe,” he said. “I used to say to people, take the words of Jesus to heart ‘come and see’ — and I can tell you honestly, of the 6,000 or so pilgrims I have brought to the Holy Land, not one said they were concerned or worried once they were there.”
With religious tourism slowing to a trickle, he lamented, Christians in Bethlehem and Jerusalem are reaching a breaking point, both economically and mentally.
“They are suffering isolation and hardship because pilgrims have not come in over two years,” he told OSV News. “They want people to come back, but not just for their material benefit (which is important) but because they want to share their lives of faith with Christians from all over the world.”
“Many of the workers in the hotels and restaurants are Christians, and by patronising these businesses we are helping Christians to survive,” he added.
According to a report by the U.S. State Department, Christian clergy and pilgrims are facing increased harassment, including incidents of spitting and verbal assault by ultra-Orthodox extremists.
Asked how one reconciles the spiritual call to return with the physical reality of rising hostility on the streets, Kelly acknowledged that authorities in Jerusalem must do more to ensure that pilgrims “do not have negative experiences.”
“Jerusalem is a holy city for Jews, Christians and Muslims. All of these believers must be allowed to be free to exercise their faith in the city,” he said, noting that rabbis in Jerusalem denounced Jewish extremists for their harassment, which is “not in keeping with authentic Judaism.”
“I have to say, any time I have witnessed an incident and I have reported it to the Israeli police, they took action immediately,” he said. “This hostility on the streets comes from a very small but vocal faction, and it is necessary for Israeli leaders and politicians to denounce it.”
Kelly also told OSV News that when such incidents occur on pilgrimages he has led, he tells pilgrims, “This is how it was. The Lord did not have a sanitized walk to Calvary; try to enter more deeply into his passion with this very small experience of adversity.'”
“The streets of Jerusalem were hostile on that first Good Friday, when the Lord carried his cross,” he said. “Who are we to expect anything less?”
Nevertheless, the images of war and death remain the biggest hurdle in convincing pilgrims to return.
“People are rightly greatly troubled by the huge loss of life and the intensity of the violence,” Kelly said. While noting that major pilgrimage stops, such as Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum and the Jordan River are safe, he urged pilgrims to overcome their fear by visiting the Holy Land, deepening their faith, and supporting the local Christian community.
“Many Christians are leaving — they see little hope,” he said. “They have not seen Christians from other parts of the world in over two years, (and) they begin to think that they are forgotten about.”
“We have to help Catholics around the world understand that the importance of the Holy Land lies not just in the ancient sites there, but in the life of the local Christians descended from the first followers of Jesus,” Kelly told OSV News.
“My hope is that every Catholic parish in the world will give serious consideration to organizing a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, not only to see the holy sites associated with Jesus, but to be with the local Christian community — to show them that they are really part of the body of Christ, and we will support them,” he said.
(Junno Arocho Esteves is an international correspondent for OSV News. Follow him on X @jae_journalist.)
(OSV News) — At first glance, the official photo of Venerable Augusto Ramírez Monasterio — known simply as “Fray Augusto” — shows a smiling Franciscan friar standing in a small garden, hands clasped and slightly hidden within the sleeves of his brown habit.
Yet the joyful and peaceful demeanor of the friar masked the horrors he was subjected to before his 1983 martyrdom, which was recognized by Pope Leo XIV Jan. 22.
The photo, in fact, was taken in June 1983, moments after he endured hours of torture at the hands of the military.
Venerable Augusto Ramírez Monasterio is seen in a photo taken within moments of his release after he endured hours of torture at the hands of the military in June 1983. His torturers forced him to sign a document stating he had been “treated well,” the vice postulator of his cause said. Pope Leo XIV recognized Fray Augusto’s martyrdom Jan. 22, 2026. (OSV News photo/courtesy Franciscan Father Edwin Alvarado Segura)
In an interview with OSV News Jan. 29, Franciscan Father Edwin Alvarado, vice postulator of Father Augusto’s sainthood cause, said that before his release, his torturers forced him to sign a document stating he had been “treated well” and “only interviewed.”
The official photo “was taken after his torture,” Father Alvarado said. “They wanted to take some photos of him, so he went and placed his hands in his habit so as not to see the burns on his hands.”
The vice postulator told OSV News that he came across the photo and its origin while gathering information on Father Augusto’s life. He immediately sent it to Franciscan Father Giovangiuseppe Califano, the postulator general who oversees the causes of beatification and canonization within the Franciscan order.
Upon receiving the photo, Father Califano said, “There is no better photo than that one, which shows what had happened,” Father Alvarado recalled.
At that time, Guatemala was in the grip of a brutal internal conflict where the Catholic Church frequently became a target of state-sponsored violence, especially under Guatemalan President Efraín Ríos Montt.
Upon seizing power in a 1982 military coup, Ríos Montt oversaw, in his brief one-year tenure, the killing of the Indigenous Mayan population. Catholic priests and nuns were also targeted for their support of the Mayan people.
Father Alvarado, who hails from Costa Rica, recalled his arrival in Guatemala in November 1983 as a postulant, or a candidate for the Franciscan order.
“When I arrived at the airport — I was 17 years old, just a kid — the man who opened my suitcase saw the religious habit and said, ‘Here, you pay for this with your life.’ I didn’t understand because my country, Costa Rica, didn’t have this sort of hostility,” he told OSV News.
It was just a few days later, on Nov. 7, when he heard the news that a priest had been killed. “I didn’t know him … and it was the 13th one they had killed.”
It was Father Augusto.
Born Nov. 5, 1937, in Guatemala City, the would-be Franciscan studied in Nicaragua and Spain, where he was ordained in 1967. He returned to Guatemala to serve as the parish priest of San Francisco el Grande in Antigua Guatemala, dedicating his ministry to youth and the poor during the country’s brutal 36-year civil war.
According to Father Alvarado, witnesses at the time remember “Fray Augusto” as a joyful man who was tirelessly dedicated to the youth and the suffering in Guatemala. As a talented musician, he taught “Solfa,” a singing technique, which allowed him to connect with young people through music.
Father Alvarado told OSV News that those in the parish of San Francisco El Grande, especially members of the church choir, remembered the Franciscan priest’s jovial demeanor and his penchant for making jokes.
“There’s a story about one member of the choir who would always bother people. His name was Francisco but everybody called him (by his nickname) Paco. And Father Augusto called him ‘Paco Satanas,’ (Paco Satan or Paco the devil),” the vice postulator recalled.
“That man still remembers it to this day, saying; ‘That’s the nickname the father (Father Augusto) gave me. He used to say that I was the only Satan that worked in the Church,'” Father Alvarado said.
However, he wasn’t just known for his cheeky sense of humor. The fondest memories many witnesses told Father Alvarado were of how the Franciscan priest would visit the sick at their homes or at the hospital at all hours.
But what he was best known for was the time he spent at the confessional, sometimes for hours, attending to those seeking the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
“Recently, I found the testimony of one friar who said Father Augusto would do everything in pastoral ministry: as a pastor, as a superior, but where he spent the most time was seated at the confessional,” Father Alvarado said, adding that in Guatemala, especially on Sundays, confessions would begin at 6:30 in the morning, and aside from bathroom or lunch breaks, priests would stay until late in the day in confession.
Sadly, Father Alvarado told OSV News Father Augusto’s torture and subsequent martyrdom were not because of his charitable works or youth ministry, but specifically because of his fidelity to the seal of the confessional.
The events leading to his death began in June 1983, when a former guerrilla leader, who was hoping to accept a government amnesty offer went to Father Augusto for confession. Wanting to help the man reintegrate into society, the Franciscan priest accompanied him to the municipality to obtain an identification card.
However, authorities at the municipality recognized the man from past activities and alerted police, who then arrived and arrested Father Augusto, the man, and his three children, who were accompanying him. They were then handed over to the military, Father Alvarado recounted.
Despite the man’s pleas for the soldiers to release his children and Father Augusto, the soldiers took the priest to a separate room, blindfolded him and had his hands tied.
“It was there that he was tortured to ‘tell the truth’ and say that the man belonged to a paramilitary group,” Father Alvarado said. “Father Augusto told them, ‘It was a confession, I cannot speak about it.’ Then they tortured him; they burned his hands, the soles of his feet and other parts of his body.”
Although he was released after posing for the photo and signing the document assuring he was treated well, from that moment, Father Augusto was marked for death by the government.
He was followed by the Guatemalan government for months and received death threats, and on Nov. 7, 1983, Fray Augusto was kidnapped, tortured and, in an attempted escape, was shot dead by police officers loyal to the government.
For Father Alvarado, that moment in June when Father Augusto refused to divulge the man’s confession is at the heart of his martyrdom: his willingness to suffer physical torture rather than violate the spiritual safety of a penitent.
“For us priests, for the people, it says a lot about how a priest can guard one’s confession to the point of giving his life,” Father Alvarado told OSV News. “This only reinforces the sacrament of confession.”
Through his torture and death, he said, “Fray Augusto has told us that it must be this way; that is what the seal of confession is worth.”
With his beatification confirmed, Father Alvarado told OSV News that he was surprised by a providential coincidence while discussions on possible dates were ongoing between the Archdiocese of Santiago de Guatemala, the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and the Franciscan general postulator.
“For these celebrations, they usually ask that it be a Saturday, not Sunday, so that the majority of the clergy can attend,” he said. However, Father Alvarado noted that the calendar was already filled with other ecclesial events, including beatifications in the United States and Italy.
Upon reviewing the dates available in the year, Father Alvarado was surprised to discover that the only Saturday available was Nov. 7, the same day of Father Augusto’s martyrdom.
“I don’t know how it happened, but it is a Saturday. So we confirmed the date with (Archbishop Gonzalo de Villa y Vásquez),” which will be the 43rd anniversary of his martyrdom, Father Edwin said.
The advancement of Fray Augusto’s cause came as the universal Church celebrated the World Day for Consecrated Life on Feb. 2.
In a letter sent Jan. 29 to religious men and women, the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life encouraged those in consecrated life, noting that they are called to be a “presence that remains” alongside wounded peoples and individuals, in places where the Gospel is often lived in conditions of fragility and trial.”
(Junno Arocho Esteves is an international correspondent for OSV News. Follow him on X @jae_journalist.)
Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) and running back Roman Hemby (1) celebrate on the podium after defeating the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2026 Rose Bowl and quarterfinal game of the College Football Playoff on New Year’s Day at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, Calif. The Hosiers defeated Alabama 38-3. (OSV News photo/Mandatory Credit: (OSV News photo/Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images via Reuters)
NATION BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (OSV News) – As he waited for the announcement of who would win the Heisman Trophy – awarded to the best college football player of the year – Dominican Father Patrick Hyde turned to one of his fellow friars and said, “I have never been so invested in the outcome of an award.” After all, Father Hyde has become a big fan of Fernando Mendoza, the star quarterback of the football team at Indiana University in Bloomington, where the priest serves as pastor of St. Paul Catholic Center on the school’s campus and where Mendoza has attended Mass. Father Hyde not only celebrates the football player that Mendoza is, he also appreciates the person Mendoza is and the way the quarterback embraces his faith in God. So, when Mendoza was announced as the winner of the Heisman on Dec. 13 in a ceremony in New York City, Father Hyde rejoiced with the other friars watching the event on television. His speech was also an all-inclusive thank-you to all the people who have made a difference in his life, starting with the way he has begun nearly every post-game interview this season. Mendoza thanked God, his family, team and community. “This moment is an honor. It’s bigger than me,” he said.
BEL AIR, Md. (OSV News) – Well before he was a University of Maryland transfer who used his final year of college football eligibility to become a major success story as a running back at Indiana University, Roman Hemby said he owed much credit to John Carroll School in Bel Air for instilling vital Catholic values that guide him today. Hemby, a Maryland graduate who grew up in Edgewood, is one of numerous transfers who have turned the 2025 Indiana Hoosiers into a No. 1-ranked, unbeaten (13-0) powerhouse. The Hoosiers entered the College Football Playoff as its No. 1 seed. “I had the utmost faith that things would work out. The atmosphere at John Carroll let me know that God had a plan for me,” said Hemby.
VATICAN ROME (CNS) – Pope Leo used his first New Year’s address to the diplomatic corps Jan. 9 to strongly defend marriage, family life and the unborn, urging nations to prioritize the protection of life over policies he called harmful to human dignity. Speaking in English to diplomats accredited to the Holy See, the pope said abortion “cuts short a growing life” and fails to welcome life as a gift. He reaffirmed Catholic teaching on marriage as the exclusive and indissoluble union of a man and a woman, saying this bond grounds the vocation to love and to life. Pope Leo warned that families face growing marginalization and increasing fragility, brought about by various circumstances, including domestic violence and social pressures. He criticized the use of public funds for abortion, including cross-border efforts to access what he called the “so-called right to safe abortion,” and strongly rejected surrogacy and euthanasia. Instead, he said, society and governments “have a responsibility to respond concretely to situations of vulnerability” and offer solutions and “policies of authentic solidarity.” The pope said a society truly progresses only when it safeguards every human life, from conception to natural death.
WORLD BETHANY BEYOND THE JORDAN, Jordan (OSV News) – Catholics from across Jordan and around the world gathered Jan. 9 at the site of Jesus’ baptism on the Jordan River to celebrate Epiphany, marking the place the Catholic Church recognizes as the beginning of Christ’s public ministry. Clergy from multiple Eastern and Western Catholic rites joined in the liturgy, renewing a global call for pilgrims to visit one of Christianity’s most sacred sites. The celebration included Mass at the newly consecrated Catholic Church of the Baptism of Jesus Christ, inaugurated by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, in January 2025. Despite cloudy skies, rain paused during the Mass – a moment the faith leaders called a sign of blessing in water-scarce Jordan. Church officials highlighted Jordan’s unique role in Christian history, noting it is the only country visited by four popes. Leaders also voiced hope for renewed peace in the region and invited pilgrims worldwide to encounter faith as a journey rooted in baptism, reconciliation and hope. Bishop Iyad Twal, patriarchal vicar of Jordan, told reporters that some calm and peace has returned to neighboring Palestine and Gaza. He said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, was heartened during a recent visit to the coastal enclave to see “a genuine determination to begin new life with optimism.”
BOGOTÁ, Colombia (OSV News) – The Catholic bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean have expressed their pastoral closeness to the people of Venezuela, following a Jan. 3 U.S. military intervention that saw the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and claims of a temporary takeover of the country before Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, was sworn in as Venezuela’s interim president. In a Jan. 5 letter, the bishops of the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council, known as CELAM, shared what they called a “simple, fraternal and hopeful” message marking the Epiphany of the Lord – an event that reveals “a God who is close to his people, who walks with them, illuminates the darkness, and opens new paths even when everything seems uncertain.” In their letter, the bishops said they “share and embrace with a profound pastoral sense the words of Pope Leo XIV, who spoke about the situation in Venezuela and reminded us that the good of the people must always be above any other consideration.” The bishops stressed, “We want to reiterate that you are not alone. CELAM walks with you and with the Venezuelan people, encouraging every effort to build bridges, heal wounds, and advance reconciliation, without excluding anyone. The Church is called to be an open house, a space for encounter, and a serene voice that inspires hope, even in the midst of difficulties.”
(OSV News) — As deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro made his first appearance Jan. 5 in a New York courtroom on narco-terrorism charges after the Trump administration carried out what President Donald Trump called on social media “a large scale strike against Venezuela,” uncertainty about immigration status lingered for some Venezuelan migrants in the U.S.
Astrid Liden, communications officer for the Hope Border Institute, a group that works to apply the perspective of Catholic social teaching in policy and practice to the U.S.-Mexico border region, and a Venezuelan-American, told OSV News, “In recent years, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have sought protection in the United States, many passing through the US-Mexico border. Millions of Venezuelans live abroad due to the situation in Venezuela, and we share their hope in the end of the reign of Maduro, whose rule led to the displacement of so many.”
A person reacts holding Venezuelan and U.S. flags as Venezuelan immigrants celebrate in the New York City borough of Brooklyn Jan. 3, 2026, after the United States struck Venezuela and captured its President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, and they were brought to the Metropolitan Detention Center. (OSV News photo/Eduardo Munoz, Reuters)
However, she added, “The recent end of TPS for Venezuelans by the Trump administration sets a very dangerous precedent and puts hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans at risk.”
Maduro was arraigned in a Manhattan federal court by Judge Alvin Hellerstein. Cameras are prohibited in most federal court proceedings, but according to reporters, Hellerstein said, “It’s my job to assure this is a fair trial.”
At the brief hearing, Maduro said through an interpreter that he was “innocent” and “still president of my country.”
Maduro’s regime was seen as illegitimate by many countries around the world, including the European Union. Venezuela’s opposition demonstrated through collecting digitized voter tallies that their candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, won the 2024 presidential election with 67% of the vote; but Maduro refused to cede power. The Biden administration, which recognized González as Venezuela’s rightful president-elect, in January 2025 said Maduro “clearly lost the 2024 presidential election and has no right to claim the presidency.”
However, world leaders also expressed concern that the U.S. military action to remove Maduro flouted international law.
At an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council just prior to Maduro’s hearing, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned that rules of international law have not been respected,” while U.S. ambassador Mike Waltz called the action a “surgical law enforcement operation.”
The previous day, Pope Leo XIV expressed “deep concern” following Maduro’s capture.
“This must guarantee the country’s sovereignty, ensure the rule of law enshrined in the Constitution, respect the human and civil rights of all, and work to build together a serene future of collaboration, stability, and harmony, with special attention to the poorest who suffer due to the difficult economic situation,” he said after reciting the Angelus prayer with pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square Jan. 4.
At a Jan. 3 press conference, Trump said the U.S. will “run the country” of Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” but questions remained about that process.
But the action also highlighted uncertainty for some Venezuelans in the U.S.
In 2025, the Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status for about 600,000 Venezuelans living in the U.S., stripping their legal status to remain in the U.S. TPS status is sometimes granted to countries where natural disasters or civil unrest have fueled displacement.
Asked during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” Jan. 4 whether Venezuelans in the U.S. who were previously under TPS can apply for asylum, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem suggested they can do so, but did not directly address whether deportations to that country would continue.
“Every individual that was under TPS has the opportunity to apply for refugee status and that evaluation will go forward,” Noem said, without elaborating on how those evaluations would be made.
In a comment on the subject at his press conference, Trump said, “Frankly, some wanna stay and some probably wanna go back.”
Catholic immigration advocates previously urged the Trump administration to leave TPS status in place for countries including Venezuela in part because of its political instability.
“The dismantling of a corrupt autocratic regime does not occur simply through the removal of its head — we know this well,” Linden said. “This protection in the United States must be maintained until voluntary and safe return truly becomes a viable option. As Pope Leo XIV has said, we must ensure that ‘the good of the beloved Venezuelan people’ — both those in the country and those abroad — remains enshrined. We must see Venezuelans, including the leaders elected in 2024, involved in a process of democratic transition for there to be a country where Venezuelans can one day return to.”
J. Kevin Appleby, senior fellow for policy at the Center for Migration Studies in New York and the former director of migration policy for the USCCB, told OSV News, “TPS should be renewed at least until a democratically-elected government is in power, so that people feel they will not face persecution upon return.”
He added, “Moreover, the remittances that would flow to the country from half a million Venezuelans with TPS would help steady the country economically.”
In comments to reporters on Maduro’s hearing, Notre Dame Law School professor and organized crime expert Jimmy Gurulé, a former federal prosecutor and former assistant U.S. attorney general, said the hearing is likely the first part of what will be a lengthy legal process.
“While justice will ultimately be served in the Maduro case, it won’t be anytime soon,” he said.
A jury trial in the Maduro case, Gurulé said, “is unlikely to commence until sometime in 2027” in part because “the list of pretrial issues goes on and on.”
“Initially, defense attorneys will challenge the legality of the court’s jurisdiction over Maduro,” he said. “Defense counsel will argue that the U.S. military invasion of Venezuela and subsequent apprehension of Maduro not merely violated principles of international law, but constituted the crime of aggression.”
“Maduro’s defense attorneys will seek broad criminal discovery, which could include a request for the disclosure of classified evidence,” he added. He said that could involve lengthy litigation under the Classified Information Procedures Act, which “balances the government’s needs to protect secrets with a defendant’s rights to a fair trial.”
(Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.)
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.
El belén se inaugura y el árbol de Navidad se enciende en la Plaza de San Pedro, en el Vaticano, el 15 de diciembre de 2025. (Foto CNS/Lola Gómez)
NACIÓN BURLINGTON, Washington (OSV News) – Varias parroquias y escuelas del oeste de Washington han cerrado sus puertas debido a las históricas inundaciones que ha sufrido el estado. El gobernador Bob Ferguson anunció el 12 de diciembre que el presidente Donald Trump había firmado la solicitud del estado para declarar el estado de emergencia, lo que permite utilizar fondos federales como ayuda en 16 condados y varias naciones tribales afectadas por las inundaciones. El Movimiento Laudato Si’ del estado de Washington emitió un comunicado el 11 de diciembre en el que decía: “Estamos trabajando junto con la Arquidiócesis de Seattle, los Servicios Comunitarios Católicos y otras agencias colaboradoras para prepararnos y proporcionar ayuda de emergencia, según sea necesario”. Entre los cierres se encuentran la parroquia de San Carlos en Burlington, la misión de Santa Catalina en Concrete, la parroquia de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores en Snoqualmie, la escuela de San José en Issaquah y la escuela de la Inmaculada Concepción en Mount Vernon. También se ha cerrado el banco de alimentos Tri-Parish Food Bank de San Carlos. En su comunicado, el Movimiento Laudato Si’ del estado de Washington afirmó que “mantiene a todos los afectados en sus oraciones” y calificó la devastación de “desgarradora”. A primera hora del 15 de diciembre, el Servicio Meteorológico Nacional afirmó que “un periodo de clima muy activo dominará la semana que viene, ya que una serie de fuertes sistemas frontales producirán impactos en cascada en todo el oeste de Washington”.
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – La Oficina de Misiones Afroamericanas e Indígenas, con sede en Washington, está recibiendo un impulso gracias a dos nuevos documentales de media hora de duración: “Pioneros de la fe: el legado de los católicos afroamericanos” y “Recorriendo el camino sagrado: la historia de la Oficina de Misiones Afroamericanas e Indígenas”. El padre Maurice Henry Sands, sacerdote de la arquidiócesis de Detroit que dirige la oficina, espera que sirvan de ayuda para recaudar fondos. Los tráilers de las películas se pueden ver en el sitio web de la oficina misionera, https://blackandindianmission.org/films. “Pioneros de la fe” cuenta la historia de cómo los afroamericanos han podido abrazar la fe católica sin abandonar su propia cultura. Se presta especial atención a las Hermanas Oblatas de la Providencia, con sede en Baltimore, la primera orden católica de Estados Unidos para mujeres negras, así como a la venerable madre Henriette Delille, de Nueva Orleans, la sierva de Dios Julia Greeley, el venerable padre Augustus Tolton y la sierva de Dios hermana Thea Bowman. Todos ellos forman parte de un grupo de siete católicos negros con causas de canonización en curso, conocidos como los “Siete Santos”. La Oficina de Misiones Negras e Indígenas se creó en 1874 como Oficina de Misiones Católicas, y en los años siguientes se le añadieron objetivos más amplios. La oficina se encuentra en una casa adosada de ladrillo que perteneció a Santa Katharine Drexel (1858-1955), la heredera de Filadelfia que dedicó su vida y su fortuna al servicio de los nativos americanos y los afroamericanos.
VATICANO CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (CNS) – El belén y el árbol de Navidad son signos de fe y esperanza, dijo el papa León XIV. “Mientras los contemplamos en nuestros hogares, parroquias y plazas, pidamos al Señor que renueve en nosotros el don de la paz y la fraternidad”, dijo, pidiendo oraciones por todos aquellos que sufren a causa de la guerra y la violencia. “Debemos eliminar el odio de nuestros corazones”. El Papa habló el 15 de diciembre durante una reunión con los representantes del Gobierno, los artesanos y los donantes responsables de proporcionar los adornos navideños en la Sala de Audiencias Pablo VI y en la Plaza de San Pedro. El Papa León agradeció al artista costarricense que creó el belén para la sala de audiencias, titulado “Nacimiento Gaudium”. Creado por Paula Sáenz Soto, muestra a la Virgen María embarazada y 28 000 cintas de colores, cada una de las cuales representa una vida salvada del aborto gracias a las oraciones y el apoyo prestado a muchas madres en dificultades por organizaciones católicas, según un comunicado de prensa de la oficina de gobierno de la Ciudad del Vaticano. “Agradezco a la artista costarricense que, junto con el mensaje de paz en Navidad, también ha querido lanzar un llamamiento a la protección de la vida desde el momento de la concepción”, dijo el papa León. “El belén y el árbol de Navidad son signos de fe y esperanza”, dijo a todos los presentes. “Que la ternura del niño Jesús ilumine nuestras vidas. Que el amor de Dios, como las ramas de un árbol siempre verde, permanezca ferviente en nosotros”.
CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (CNS) – Incluso en situaciones difíciles y lugares hostiles, como las prisiones, cuando las personas se centran en cuidarse unas a otras, respetarse mutuamente y ofrecer perdón, “florecen hermosas flores del “terreno duro” del pecado y el sufrimiento”, dijo el papa León XIV. Vestido con vestimentas rosas para el Domingo Gaudete, tercer domingo de Adviento, el papa celebró la misa en la basílica de San Pedro el 15 de diciembre con motivo del Jubileo de los Presos. Participaron reclusos y exreclusos, tanto adultos como menores, de Italia, España, Portugal, Malta y Chile, acompañados por guardias y capellanes, así como representantes de otros 85 países. Fue el último de los grandes eventos del Jubileo antes de Navidad y del cierre del Año Santo el 6 de enero. Las hostias consagradas durante la misa fueron elaboradas por reclusos de las prisiones italianas de Opera, San Vittore y Bollate. Forman parte de un proyecto en el que participan más de 300 reclusos de prisiones de toda Italia que elaboran regularmente hostias para 15 000 iglesias y parroquias.
MUNDO SÍDNEY (OSV News) – Después de que dos hombres armados atacaran a bañistas judíos en un evento que celebraba el primer día de Hanukkah en un atentado terrorista en la playa Bondi de Sídney, el papa León XIV destacó la cercanía de Dios a la humanidad y pidió oraciones por aquellos que sufren a causa de la guerra y la violencia, especialmente las víctimas de la comunidad judía en Australia. “¡Basta ya de estas formas de violencia antisemita!”, dijo el papa León el 15 de diciembre, dirigiéndose a los grupos que donaron el árbol de Navidad y el belén del Vaticano de este año. “Debemos eliminar el odio de nuestros corazones”, destacó. En una declaración del 15 de diciembre, el arzobispo Anthony Fisher de Sídney pidió el fin de la “atmósfera de antisemitismo” en Australia. También compartió que él personalmente tiene ascendencia judía por parte de su bisabuela y que, como cristianos, “un ataque contra los judíos es un ataque contra todos nosotros”. Apenas unas horas después del tiroteo y de un informe inicial de 12 muertos, el número de víctimas mortales ascendió a 15. The Guardian informó de que entre las víctimas se encontraban una niña de 10 años, un rabino y dos supervivientes del Holocausto. La policía confirmó que el segundo tirador estaba detenido y en estado crítico. Según las autoridades, más de 40 personas resultaron heridas y fueron trasladadas al Hospital St. Vincent. El ataque se produjo a primera hora de la tarde, cuando cientos de personas se habían reunido en Archer Park, una zona verde en Bondi Beach.
Pope Leo XIV’s childhood home in Dolton, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, is pictured May 9, 2025. Dolton’s board of trustees on Dec. 1 approved a motion to officially declare the house a historic landmark. Shortly after the former Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected pope, the board purchased the residence in July for $375,000. (OSV News photo/Carlos Osorio, Reuters)
NATION DOLTON, Ill. (OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV’s childhood home just outside of Chicago has been declared a historic landmark. The village of Dolton’s board of trustees approved a motion for the designation during a regular meeting Dec. 1 that began with a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. Mayor Jason House described the property as one of the “most culturally and spiritually significant locations in the United States,” according to ABC-7 Chicago. The modest, one-story brick residence, located at 212 E. 141st Pl., was purchased by the village’s board in July for $375,000, an amount that included all applicable realtor and auction fees. Weeks after the election of the first U.S.-born pope, the board had moved to acquire the 75-year-old home where the former Robert Prevost and his family lived until 1969. The site immediately became a tourist attraction and even a place of pilgrimage after Pope Leo’s papal election. Speaking during the board meeting ahead of the vote, House said the move represented “a very big moment for residents” of the village, noting the “target timeline” for developing the site is spring 2027 – but adding, “Hopefully it’s faster.”
VATICAN VATICAN CITY (OSV News) – A commission set up by Pope Francis to study women deacons has voted against the possibility of ordaining women deacons while also supporting more study on the issue. It also expressed hope that women’s access to other ministries would be expanded. Pope Francis established the “Study Commission on the Female Diaconate” in 2020 as a follow-up to a previous group that studied the history of women deacons in the New Testament and the early Christian communities. The Vatican published the synthesis, including the results of votes the commission members took on eight different statements or “theses.” One proposition that showed members split exactly down the middle was: “The masculinity of Christ, and therefore the masculinity of those who receive Holy Orders, is not accidental but is an integral part of sacramental identity, preserving the divine order of salvation in Christ. To alter this reality would not be a simple adjustment of ministry but a rupture of the nuptial meaning of salvation.” When this statement was put to a vote among 10 members in February, it received five votes in favor, confirming its current form, while the other five members voted to remove it. A statement that received six votes against, two for and two abstaining was: “The undersigned is in favor of the institution in the church of the female diaconate as understood as the third degree of holy orders.”
WORLD ABUJA, Nigeria (OSV News) – Church leaders in West Africa are pleading for the safe return of hundreds of children and teachers kidnapped from a Catholic school in central Nigeria. The Nov. 21 attack on St. Mary’s School in Papiri left the rural community reeling, with Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna of Kontagora describing widespread trauma and confusion. As of Nov. 26, 265 people – including 253 children – remained in captivity, while about 50 students who escaped have been reunited with their families. Local residents say entire families were taken, and at least one parent died from the shock of learning his young children were abducted. Nigeria’s government has launched a military search-and-rescue mission, and Pope Leo XIV used his Nov. 23 Angelus address to call for the hostages’ release – as well as for the release of kidnapped clergy in Cameroon. Church leaders there warn they may shut down parishes and schools if abductions continue. “The frequent kidnapping of our priests and mission personnel has pushed us to the wall and we say that this should stop with immediate effect,” a Nov. 23 press release signed by Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda said. “We think these people need to live in tranquility and peace,” he said.
(OSV News) – We radiate the life of Jesus to the world to the extent that we live with the conviction that we are divinely loved. Advent calls us beyond the false security of the merely virtuous person and into the daring surrender to God’s love of the saint.
But our feelings and the circumstances of our lives and the world around us so often make it difficult for us to be rooted and grounded in the love of God. Thankfully, what the Advent season calls us to, it also makes possible. These weeks are fertile ground for cultivating trust in the truth that no matter how things may seem to us, we are intimately and tenderly loved by God. And in living this conviction, we may ever more radiantly learn to bear Christ to others.
As we contemplate Advent themes in this spirit, we welcome into our company four radiant women, all doctors of the church, who put all their hope in God’s love: Thérèse of Lisieux, Hildegard of Bingen, Teresa of Avila and Catherine of Siena.
– Thérèse of Lisieux on consistency
It is natural for us to live by the changing weather patterns of our emotions. One day, we are anxious about finances or deadlines or the results of health tests, so we withdraw into a cocoon or snap at those around us. The next day, we are feeling in control of life and rather successful at being human, so we beam joviality and peace upon the world.
Advent stirs us from the slumber of following our feelings and urges us to “stay awake” to what faith demands of us (Mk 13:33-37).
As important and compelling as our emotions are, faith calls us not to be absorbed in them or to identify with them. Rather, we are to dive beneath their variability and deliberately to live ever alert to the truth that God’s love is holding us in being, moment by moment. Our fears or moods may remain, but as we consistently choose to live by faith, to live awake to the reality that we are unstintingly and passionately loved, we will be for others the living presence of God.
A particular genius of St. Thérèse of Lisieux was to live in constant trusting vigilance to God’s love for her and thus to be an unwavering beacon of divine goodness. The sweetness of Thérèse’s writing style perhaps makes it easy to miss her tenacious refusal to conform herself to the contours of her changing emotions. However, this consistent decision to be attentive and receptive to the flood of God’s love is unmistakable in Thérèse’s response to the trial of faith that blanketed the last 18 months of her life.
After first describing to her prioress her experience of a relentless “night of nothingness” in which “everything has disappeared,” Thérèse goes on to articulate her stance of steadfast trust. She writes: “My dear Mother, I may perhaps appear to you to be exaggerating my trial. In fact, if you are judging according to the sentiments I express in my little poems composed this year, I must appear to you as a soul filled with consolations and one for whom the veil of faith is almost torn aside; and yet it is no longer a veil for me, it is a wall which reaches right up to the heavens and covers the starry firmament. When I sing of the happiness of heaven and of the eternal possession of God, I feel no joy in this, for I sing simply what I want to believe.”
For at least one day this week, try to live in the spirit of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, acting not according to your changing feelings, but rather according to what you want to believe.
– St. Hildegard of Bingen on transformation
How can we possibly live as Advent stirs us to live? The messiness and anxieties of our everyday lives frequently exert an all-consuming claim over us. Within the grip of life’s contingency, not to mention its banality, how can we live in the security of being divinely loved and so be for others the presence of the living God? Is it simply a matter of dogged spiritual will-power?
John the Baptist promises that Jesus “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mk 1:1-8). The Holy Spirit enables us to enter into and live by the life of Jesus. This means that every decision we make to live in the truth that we are loved by God, while certainly our own decision, is mysteriously enabled; it is a sharing in Jesus’ trusting “yes” to live as the beloved Son of God.
At every moment, no matter our internal or external circumstances, the Holy Spirit is holding us in the flow of Trinitarian love; we simply have to choose to participate.
The writings of St. Hildegard of Bingen crackle with a living awareness of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. For Hildegard, the Holy Spirit is the source of “viriditas,” or greenness — that vitality, freshness, dynamism which makes all life, both physical and spiritual, alive.
We glimpse Hildegard’s perception of what it means to be baptized with the Holy Spirit in the closing lines of a letter she wrote to a friend: “May He anoint you with the viridity of the Holy Spirit, and may He work good and holy works in you through that devotion with which true worshipers worship God.” The strength to live confidently as loved sons and daughters of God is not something we muster from our own interior resources. It is what, with our cooperation, the Holy Spirit causes to spring up within us.
We again hear Hildegard portraying the Holy Spirit’s power to make the divine life take root within us in her “Antiphon to the Holy Spirit.” Ringing out across the centuries and greening our Advent journey with healing and hope, she sings:
“The Spirit of God / is a life that bestows life, / root of world-tree / and the wind in its boughs. / Scrubbing out sin, / she rubs oil into wounds. / She is glistening life / alluring all praise, / all-awakening, / all-resurrecting.”
Take some time this week to notice the creation around you. Seek out any surprising signs of life and hopefulness amongst that which seems dormant and barren. Ask the Holy Spirit to stir such surprising vitality in the dormant and barren areas of your interior life, bringing about new vigor, joy and commitment.
– St. Teresa of Avila on encounter
It is perhaps easy for committed Catholics to gloss over the description of Jesus in the first chapter of John as one we “do not recognize.” We know him! We go to Mass every Sunday; we grasp the gist of the Gospels. But Advent challenges us to confront the comfortable presumption that we know the Lord and beckons us to deepen our personal relationship with him.
After all, our decision to cooperate with the divine enablement of the Spirit and to live radiant with the steadfast conviction that we are beloved by God is all about growing in our living union with Jesus. We are invited in the Advent season to expose our minds and hearts anew — or maybe even for the first time — to the ecstasy of self-giving love, the torrent of utterly attentive affection, incarnate and accessible to us in the person of Jesus.
The Christian spiritual tradition teaches that praying with the Gospels is a singularly effective way of coming to know Jesus more intimately. St. Teresa of Avila has precious wisdom to offer us in this regard. For Teresa, the Gospels are a fruitful context for focusing our attention on Jesus and speaking with him in faith.
She gives us a beautiful demonstration of doing just this when she contemplates keeping Jesus company in the Garden of Gethsemane. She had been writing to her sisters about prayer, but she spontaneously bursts into prayer: “O Lord of the world, my true Spouse! … Are You so in need, my Lord and my Love, that You would want to receive such poor company as mine, for I see by your expression that you have been consoled by me?”
Teresa makes the stunning claim here that we can console the Lord in his sufferings. When she teaches us about encountering Jesus in the Gospels, she is not merely suggesting some imaginative exercise or reconstructing in our minds a historical scene. She is talking about encountering a living person.
Teresa is alive to the truth that the Gospel episodes are not over and done with, irretrievably in the past. The Jesus who lived then, lives now and all his earthly life is alive in him; the way he was for the people he encountered in the past is the way he is now for us. So, we can, in fact, be the person touching his cloak, or asking him for mercy, or pleading for living water or consoling him. The episodes of the Gospels truly are pathways to deepening our knowledge of the living Jesus.
– St. Catherine of Siena on Christian identity
Was Mary’s personal identity eradicated at the Annunciation (Lk 1:26-38)? Did her generous, “I am the handmaid of the Lord” signal the end of her own life story as she began her life as the God-bearer? On the contrary, with her “yes” to the unfolding of God’s plan, Mary leaned more fully into her unique selfhood. Her witness prompts us to step back and discern the same flourishing at work in our own lives — or at least potentially so.
Throughout Advent we have prayed that our lives may more and more bear the radiant glory of God to others. We radiate God’s presence inasmuch as we live from the truth that God loves us; this means coming to know more intimately the God revealed in Jesus, cooperating with the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, and surrendering unreservedly to that love which sustains us in being through thick and thin. To be alive with the divine life means the blossoming of our deepest identity. We become light to the world and more fully ourselves as we let ourselves be loved.
St. Catherine of Siena had a vivid insight into the reality that our true self flourishes as we grow in union with God. Her prayer “My Nature is Fire” takes our self-understanding to audacious new depths and profoundly enriches our sense of what our life in Christ offers others.
The prayer reads: “In your nature, eternal Godhead, I shall come to know my nature. And what is my nature, boundless love?
“It is fire, because you are nothing but a fire of love. And you have given humankind a share in this nature, for by the fire of love you created us. And so with all other people and every created thing; you made them out of love. O ungrateful people! What nature has your God given you? His very own nature! Are you not ashamed to cut yourself off from such a noble thing through the guilt of deadly sin? O eternal Trinity, my sweet love! You, light, give us light. You, wisdom, give us wisdom. You, supreme strength, strengthen us. Today, eternal God, let our cloud be dissipated so that we may perfectly know and follow your Truth in truth, with a free and simple heart. God, come to our assistance! Lord, make haste to help us! Amen.”
Advent both reminds us of our transcendent calling and nurtures its fulfillment within us. Throughout this sacred season, we are created into beacons of divine tenderness as the Holy Spirit shapes our lives into Jesus’ “yes” to the Father’s love.
This Advent, guided by the wisdom of the women doctors of the church, let us throw our hearts open to God’s transforming work of love as never before. Our world needs us to do nothing less.
(Michelle Jones writes from Australia.)
A combination photo show images of Sts. Thérèse of Lisieux, Hildegard of Bingen, Teresa of Avila, and Catherine of Siena. (OSV News files)
