Pope Francis turns 87: one of the oldest popes in Church history
Pope Francis at his general audience on Nov. 22, 2023. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 17, 2023 / 06:00 am (CNA). Pope Francis celebrates his 87th birthday on Sunday, Dec. 17, the third Sunday of Advent, as he continues to reign as the oldest pope in the past century and one of the oldest popes in the
Catholicism and martyrdom in Japan: Church marks 400 years since Edo massacre
Oura Church in Nagasaki, Japan. / Credit: Sean Pavone/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Dec 17, 2023 / 07:00 am (CNA). Catholics in Japan have endured centuries of persecution. The currently small — but devout — presence of the Church in Japan is built upon the witness of untold numbers of martyrs, many of whom died en masse. Earlier this month, the Catholic
Vatican court convicts Cardinal Becciu, sentences him to 5 years in jail for embezzlement
Italian Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu (right) waits prior to the start of a consistory during which 20 new cardinals are to be created by the pope, on Aug. 27, 2022, at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. / Credit: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images CNA Staff, Dec 16, 2023 / 11:49 am (CNA). Judges delivered verdicts in the Vatican’s financial
December 17 2023
Third Sunday of Advent 1st Reading – Isaiah 61:1-2A, 10-11 The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach to the meek, to heal the contrite of heart, to preach leniency to captives and release to the confined, and so to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the
A Devotion in Honour of the Seven Sorrows and Joys of Saint Joseph: Prayer of the Day for Sunday, December 17, 2023
First Sorrow and Joy O most pure Spouse of Mary, glorious St. Joseph, as the affliction and anguish of thy heart was exceedingly great in thy perplexity, whether thou shouldst abandon thy most unspotted Spouse, so was the joy unspeakable when, by an Angel, the sublime Mystery of the Incarnation was revealed to thee. By this sorrow and joy, we
Christian population shrinking in China amid ‘crackdown’
Catholics celebrate Christmas Mass at the Nativity of Our Lady Church on Dec. 24, 2019, in Macau, China. / Credit: Kit Leong/Shutterstock Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 15, 2023 / 16:45 pm (CNA). The size of the Christian population in China has leveled off after the dramatic increases of the 1980s and 1990s, according to a Pew Research Center analysis released