VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- "I am praying for all of you," Pope Francis said, using his televised Sunday Angelus address to speak directly to the people impacted by the wildfires in Southern California.

"I am close to the residents of Los Angeles County, California, where devastating fires have broken out in recent days," the pope told thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square Jan. 12 to pray the Angelus with him.

In a telegram released by the Vatican the previous day, Pope Francis also assured the people of Los Angeles of his prayers as the fires continued to cause death and destruction.

"Entrusting the souls of the deceased to the loving mercy of almighty God, His Holiness sends heartfelt condolences to those who mourn their loss," said a telegram sent by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, to Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles. 

The fires, fueled by dry conditions and warm winds, began Jan. 7. As of 6 p.m. local time Jan. 11, the Los Angeles County medical examiner's office said 16 people had been confirmed dead. More than 150,000 people were ordered to evacuate their homes and thousands of structures, including houses and churches, have been destroyed.

The telegram to Archbishop Gomez, said, "Saddened by the loss of life and the widespread destruction caused by the fires near Los Angeles, His Holiness Pope Francis assures you and the communities affected by this tragedy of his spiritual closeness."

"He likewise prays for the relief efforts of the emergency services personnel and imparts his blessing to all as a pledge of consolation and strength in the Lord," it said.

HOW TO HELP: Angelus, the news outlet of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, has an updated list of ways people can help. Click here.
 

WASHINGTON - Catholics nationwide are invited to pray “9 Days for Life,” an annual Respect Life novena starting Thursday, January 16.

In the Catholic Church, a ‘novena’ consists of prayers over nine successive days, and this particular novena is an opportunity for prayer and penance in observance of the annual Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children on January 22.

All are invited to sign up! Participants may access the novena or subscribe to receive the daily prayers by email or text message in English at 9daysforlife.com or in Spanish at respectlife.org/9-dias-por-la-vida. 

Sponsored by the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the novena began in 2013 in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade—the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal throughout the United States. While the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization returned the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives at federal and state levels, continuing efforts are needed to protect children and their mothers from the tragedy of abortion. This is the thirteenth year the novena is taking place. Since the novena began, it has reached hundreds of thousands of people in over one hundred countries spanning six continents.

The overarching intention of the novena is the end to abortion. Each daily prayer intention highlights a related topic and is accompanied by a reflection, educational information, and suggested daily actions. A resource kit is available, featuring the daily prayer intentions and reflections, among other materials that are available in both English and Spanish. A press kit is also available.

For additional information and updates throughout the novena, please visit the USCCB’s social media pages on X, Facebook, Threads, and Instagram.

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WASHINGTON – “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” and these words remind us that we are connected and responsible for each other as we seek to fulfill the dream and build a more just society for all God’s children, said Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Referencing the words of the late civil rights leader whose life and legacy are commemorated on January 20, Archbishop Broglio’s full reflection on Dr. King follows:

“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. challenged all to live out the principle of solidarity and human dignity. As we commemorate what would have been his 96th birthday, Dr. King’s message continues to have an impact on our lives today. Our Holy Father Pope Francis said in his address to the United States Congress during his Apostolic Visit to the United States:

‘Here too I think of the march which Martin Luther King led from Selma to Montgomery fifty years ago as part of the campaign to fulfill his “dream” of full civil and political rights for African Americans. That dream continues to inspire us all. I am happy that America continues to be, for many, a land of “dreams.” Dreams which lead to action, to participation, to commitment. Dreams which awaken what is deepest and truest in the life of a people.’

“Dr. King’s memorial holiday is a fitting occasion to recall also his words from Letter from a Birmingham Jail where he stated, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ In reflecting on the continuing realities of racial injustice, immigrant families seeking welcome, and economic disparity, these words remind us that we are connected and responsible for each other as we seek to fulfill the dream. As we approach Dr. King’s holiday, let us be inspired by this righteous man’s work and sacrifice to create a more just society for all of God’s children.”

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- During the Holy Year 2025, the international community should strive "to overcome the logic of confrontation and embrace instead the logic of encounter," Pope Francis told ambassadors and other diplomats accredited to the Holy See.

In accordance with the biblical tradition of jubilees, the Holy Year is a time to rediscover how, in God, all people are brothers and sisters, "to pardon offenses, to support the weak and the poor in our midst, to give rest and relief to the earth, to practice justice and to recover hope," the pope said Jan. 9.

Meeting with representatives of 184 nations, the European Union and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Pope Francis read only the first paragraph of his prepared text. Explaining that he was "still suffering from a bit of a cold," he asked an aide, Msgr. Filippo Ciampanelli, to read the rest of his text. 

While the meeting is billed as an opportunity for the pope to wish the diplomats a happy new year, Pope Francis used the occasion almost as a "Jubilee for Ambassadors" by reflecting in his text on the characteristics of "a diplomacy of hope, of which all of us are called to be heralds, so that the dense clouds of war may be swept away by renewed winds of peace."

Reviewing the past year and challenges the world is facing, the pope's prepared text offered specific examples, including denouncing "heinous acts of terror, such as those that recently occurred in Magdeburg in Germany and in New Orleans in the United States."

Warning that growing "social and political tensions" sow increased polarization, distrust, hatred and even violence, the pope referred to attacks in May on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and in July on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

In the presence of Andrii Yurash, Ukraine's ambassador to the Holy See, the pope wrote in his text that "my wish for the year 2025 is that the entire international community will work above all to end the conflict that, for almost three years now, has caused so much bloodshed in war-torn Ukraine and has taken an enormous toll of lives, including those of many civilians."

"Similarly," the text said, "I renew my appeal for a ceasefire and the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza, where there is a very serious and shameful humanitarian situation, and I ask that the Palestinian population receive all the aid it needs."

Yaron Sideman, Israel's ambassador to the Holy See, also was present at the meeting and, like all the ambassadors, shook the pope's hand at the end of the audience.

The Israeli government and various Jewish groups have objected to Pope Francis' frequent criticism of Israeli military action in Gaza, particularly regarding civilian casualties, the bombing of hospitals and schools and the lack of access for humanitarian aid deliveries.

In his text, Pope Francis said, "My prayerful hope is that Israelis and Palestinians can rebuild the bridges of dialogue and mutual trust, starting with the smallest, so that future generations can live side by side in the two states, in peace and security, and that Jerusalem can be the 'city of encounter' where Christians, Jews and Muslims live together in harmony and respect."

"War is always a failure," the pope wrote in his text. 

In a passage that could refer both to Gaza and to Russia's war on Ukraine, Pope Francis wrote that "the involvement of civilians, especially children, and the destruction of infrastructures is not only a disaster, but essentially means that between the two sides only evil emerges the winner."

"We cannot in any way accept the bombing of civilians or the attacking of infrastructures necessary for their survival," he wrote. "We cannot accept that children are freezing to death because hospitals have been destroyed or a country's energy network has been hit."

The Holy Year, the text said, should be a time when the international community takes "active steps to ensure that inviolable human rights are not sacrificed to military needs."

Pope Francis also expressed concern about ongoing violence or political tensions in Sudan, Congo, Myanmar, Mozambique, Haiti, Bolivia and Colombia.

The speech he prepared also pointed to Nicaragua, "where the Holy See, which is always open to respectful and constructive dialogue, follows with concern the measures taken against individuals and institutions of the church and asks that religious freedom and other fundamental rights be adequately guaranteed to all."

Under Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his vice president and wife, Rosario Murillo, a handful of bishops and hundreds of priests and other religious leaders have been arrested and expelled from the country, churches are monitored, and church humanitarian organizations have been closed.
 

Pope urges diplomats to embrace peace in Jubilee

Pope Francis greeted ambassadors and diplomats at the Vatican on January 9 for his annual New Year’s address.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While society is increasingly focused on pushing the limits of human achievement, it must not lose sight of its duty to protect the dignity of the vulnerable, especially children exploited by the "scourge of child labor," Pope Francis said.

"Today we know how to turn our eyes toward Mars or virtual worlds, but we struggle to look into the eyes of a child who has been left on the margins and is being exploited and abused," he said at his general audience Jan. 8.

The thousands of people, including many children, who gathered to see the pope in the Vatican audience hall also were treated to a short performance by members of the Circafrica, a circus troupe with animatronic elephants, acrobats and dancers from several African nations.

In his main audience talk, Pope Francis told the crowd that "the century that generates artificial intelligence and designs multiplanetary existences has not yet come to terms with the scourge of humiliated, exploited, mortally wounded childhood."

Speaking about child labor, the pope said that "too many little ones are forced to work."

"Everywhere on earth there are children exploited by an economy that does not respect life, an economy that, in doing so, burns up our greatest reservoir of hope and love," he said. A child "who does not smile and dream cannot come to know or nurture his or her talents."

All those who recognize themselves as children of God, especially those who share the Gospel with others, he said, "cannot remain indifferent, cannot accept that little sisters and brothers, rather than being loved and protected, may have their childhood taken from them, their dreams" and become "victims of exploitation and marginalization."

Christianity's respect for children is rooted in Scripture, the pope said, noting that the word "child" is the second-most cited word in the Old Testament after the name of God, "Yahweh."

The Bible portrays both the joy children bring and the suffering they endure, he said. "Songs of joy resound, but the screams of victims also rise."

"Children are a gift from God," he said. "Unfortunately, this gift is not always treated with respect."

Pope Francis pointed to the Gospel account of the threat to the newborn Jesus by "the blizzard of Herod's violence, who slaughtered the children of Bethlehem: a dark drama that is repeated in other forms in history."

King Herod, after learning from the Magi about the birth of a king, ordered the massacre of all male children aged 2 and under in Bethlehem and its vicinity. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph fled to Egypt after being warned in a dream.

As a result, the Holy Family experienced "the nightmare of becoming refugees in a foreign country, as happens even today to so many people, to so many children," the pope said.

Pope Francis also noted how Jesus frequently presented children as models of faith and told his followers that those who do not convert and become like a child "will not enter the kingdom of heaven."

After his main speech, Pope Francis asked for prayers for peace in Ukraine, Nazareth, Israel and all nations at war. "War is always a defeat," he said.
 

Pope decries forced child labor

During his general audience Jan. 8, Pope Francis decried forced child labor.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- More than half a million pilgrims crossed the threshold of the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica in the first two weeks after Pope Francis opened it.

From Dec. 24, when the pope inaugurated the Holy Year, to Jan. 7, the Vatican said, 545,532 people from around the world have made the journey along the lengthy boulevard leading to St. Peter's Square and crossed through the basilica's Holy Door.

"This is a very significant beginning," Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the chief Vatican organizer of the Jubilee Year, said in a statement. "The groups crowding Via della Conciliazione are giving an important testimony, and this is also a sign of the great perception of safety and security that pilgrims experience in the city of Rome and around the four papal basilicas."

A tunnel diverting vehicle traffic underground at the beginning of Via Della Conciliazione -- the street leading to the Vatican -- was completed just before the start of the Holy Year. A pathway extending from the new pedestrian square at the start of the street to the Holy Door also was set up exclusively for pilgrims walking individually or in groups to St. Peter's Basilica.

Archbishop Fisichella acknowledged, however, that there were some "difficulties" in managing the flow of pilgrims and tourists through St. Peter's Basilica, a problem that would be studied.

The city of Rome has estimated that more than 30 million people will travel to the city during the Jubilee.

Based on the number of pilgrims that crossed the Holy Door in the first days of the Holy Year, "a steady increase in pilgrim turnout is expected," the Vatican said in its statement, noting also the many children, youth, adults and elderly who participated in Jubilee celebrations at the diocesan level Dec. 29.

The Vatican said that the "great desire to participate in the Jubilee was also visible in the thousands of people who filled the four papal basilicas on the days celebrating the opening of the Holy Doors, often filling the squares in front of them."

While Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica and another at a Rome prison complex, he did not attend the opening of the holy doors at the other three papal basilicas in Rome: St. Mary Major, St. John Lateran and St. Paul Outside the Walls.

The first major event of the Holy Year is the Jubilee of the World of Communications Jan. 24-26, which will bring to Rome "thousands of journalists, experts and communications workers from all over the world," the Vatican said.

WASHINGTON - Through gifts to the Collection for the Church in Latin America, Catholics in the United States have an opportunity to support the Church’s mission in countries affected by poverty, political instability and natural disasters. The collection was founded in 1965 as a way for Catholics in the United States to express their unity and solidarity with Catholics in Central and South America and the islands of the Caribbean. Inspired by the Second Vatican Council, it recognizes spiritual bonds rooted in shared faith and history.

Bishop Daniel H. Mueggenborg of Reno, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on National Collections, encountered an Oklahoma priest in 1981 who was later martyred in Guatemala. “Blessed Stanley Rother ministered in Guatemala, even in the face of great danger because God had called him to love and care for Latin Americans in need,” Bishop Mueggenborg said. “Fr. Rother’s ministry to the poor threatened the interests of powerful people and it ultimately led to his death, but his heroic witness helped to inspire my own priestly vocation and my sense of solidarity with Catholics in Latin America. The Collection for the Church in Latin America is an opportunity for all of us to answer that same call. It may not cost us our lives, but a financial sacrifice, even a small one, will go towards impacting the lives of many.”

Last year the collection provided $6.2 million for more than 250 ministries in places where the Church cannot support itself without outside assistance. More than half the money supported pastoral needs, nearly 28% provided disaster relief and about 20% subsidized vocations and the formation of clergy and religious. A few examples are:

• In Haiti, which has severe soil depletion, 330 lay leaders integrated Catholic social teaching on ecology and care for creation with practical instruction on improving their soil and water and on planting trees to prevent erosion. 
• In the Diocese of Choluteca, Honduras, the collection aided migrants who have settled there from other Latin American nations and from as far as Asia and Africa. This part of a wider diocesan social outreach that includes evangelizing the poor with respect and social sensitivity.
• In the Dominican Republic, 18 young women who entered the religious community of the Order of Saint Clare are receiving support as they discover new approaches to praying for the world from their cloistered convent. 
• In Ecuador, the collection helped to subsidize the September 2024 International Eucharistic Congress, which drew participants from 40 nations.
• In the Archdiocese of San Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, a grant supported social ministry that ranges from helping parishes convert cooking oil into low-cost fuel to a World Day of the Poor festival for the community with food, music, and a Eucharistic procession through impoverished neighborhoods. 

“With support from parishioners like you, the Collection for the Church in Latin America helps countless poor and marginalized people to experience God’s love and share it with their neighbors,” Bishop Mueggenborg said. “That is what Blessed Stanley Rother went to Latin America to do, and it is what Jesus calls all of us to do.”

Many dioceses will take this collection on January 25-26. The online giving site #iGiveCatholicTogether also accepts funds for this collection.

For more information see https://www.usccb.org/committees/church-latin-america.

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WASHINGTON – Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory, 77, from the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Washington, and has appointed Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of San Diego, as his successor.

The resignation and appointment were publicized in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2025, by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The Archdiocese of Washington is comprised of 2,104 square miles in the District of Columbia and the five counties of Montgomery, Prince George’s, St. Mary’s, Calvert, and Charles in the State of Maryland, and has a total population of 3,050,847 of which 671,187, are Catholic.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Just as the star over Bethlehem called to and welcomed everyone to encounter the newborn Jesus, God today calls on the faithful to welcome everyone, creating safe, open spaces to find warmth and shelter, Pope Francis said.

The star is in the sky not to remain distant and inaccessible, he said, "but so that its light may be visible to all, that it may reach every home and overcome every barrier, bringing hope to the most remote and forgotten corners of the planet," he said.

"It is in the sky so that it can tell everyone, by its generous light, that God does not refuse or forget anyone," the pope said Jan. 6, celebrating Mass on the feast of the Epiphany in St. Peter's Basilica.

"God does not reveal himself to exclusive groups or to a privileged few, but offers his companionship and guidance to those who seek him with a sincere heart," he said in his homily. "God seeks everyone, always."

"We do well to meditate on this today, in a world in which individuals and nations are equipped with ever more powerful means of communication, and yet seem to have become less willing to understand, accept and encounter others in their diversity!" he said. 

This is why many Nativity scenes portray the Magi "with the features of all ages and races" to characterize the many different people on earth, Pope Francis said.

"God calls us to reject anything that discriminates, excludes or discards people, and instead to promote, in our communities and neighborhoods, a strong culture of welcome, in which the narrow places of fear and denunciation are replaced by open spaces of encounter, integration and sharing of life; safe spaces where everyone can find warmth and shelter," he said.

God rejects and forgets no one because "he is a father whose greatest joy is to see his children returning home," he said, "building bridges, clearing paths, searching for those who are lost and carrying on their shoulders those who struggle to walk so that no one is left behind and all may share in the joy of the father's house."

"The star speaks to us of God's dream that men and women everywhere in all their rich variety will together form one family that can live harmoniously in prosperity and peace," he said. 

The star of Bethlehem is the light of God's love, he said, and "it is the only light that will make us happy." 

"This light likewise calls us to give ourselves for one another, becoming, with his help, a mutual sign of hope, even in the darkest nights of our lives," he said.

"Let us ask the Lord that we might be bright lights that can lead one another to an encounter with him," he said.

Speaking about the current Holy Year and the Jubilee practice of making a pilgrimage, the pope said, "The light of the star invites us to undertake an interior journey that, as St. John Paul II wrote (for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000), frees our hearts from all that is not charity, in order to 'encounter Christ fully, professing our faith in him and receiving the abundance of his mercy.'" 

While Pope Francis and thousands of people were at Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, thousands more lined the main boulevard leading to St. Peter's Square for the traditional, folkloric Epiphany celebration. Marching bands and people in Renaissance costumes paraded up the street behind the Three Kings on horseback.

Before reciting the Angelus at midday in the square, the pope said, "Let us ask the Virgin Mary to help us so that, imitating the shepherds and the Magi, we are able to recognize Jesus close to us, in the Eucharist, in the poor, in the abandoned, in our brothers and sisters," he said.

Pope's Epiphany message: God seeks everyone

A look at Pope Francis' Epiphany message Jan 6, 2025.

Pope Francis gives a child a chocolate Santa before Mass on the feast of the Epiphany in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Jan. 6, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Pope Francis gives the homily during Mass on the feast of the Epiphany in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Jan. 6, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Pope Francis prays during Mass on the feast of the Epiphany in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Jan. 6, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

A woman dressed as "La Befana" waves to the crowd as she rides in a vintage car in St. Peter’s Square after Pope Francis’ Angelus prayer on the feast of the Epiphany at the Vatican Jan. 6, 2025. Italian legend maintains La Befana fills the stockings of good children with treats and candy the night before Epiphany but brings coal for naughty children. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

People dressed in traditional Italian costumes celebrate in St. Peter’s Square during Pope Francis’ Angelus on the feast of the Epiphany at the Vatican Jan. 6, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

People dressed in traditional costumes join Pope Francis for the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square on the feast of the Epiphany at the Vatican Jan. 6, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

People dressed in traditional Italian costumes take part in a parade in Rome to celebrate the feast of the Epiphany Jan. 6, 2025. (CNS photo/Justin McLellan)

People dressed in traditional Italian costumes take part in a parade in Rome to celebrate the feast of the Epiphany Jan. 6, 2025. (CNS photo/Justin McLellan)

Members of the Italian military corps' Carabinieri band take part in a parade in Rome to celebrate the feast of the Epiphany Jan. 6, 2025. (CNS photo/Justin McLellan)

People dressed in traditional Italian costumes carry a framed floral depiction of the Jubilee 2025 logo during a parade in Rome on the feast of the Epiphany Jan. 6, 2025. (CNS photo/Justin McLellan)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When Catholics come to Rome for the Holy Year, their journey should have the specific goal of encountering and listening to Jesus, Pope Francis said.

With a jubilee, the destination is the Holy Door, which "represents Jesus Christ, his mystery of salvation, which allows us to enter into the new life, free from the slavery of sin, free to love and serve God and neighbor," he said in a talk to young members of the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired. The pope met the group at the Vatican Jan. 3. 

The theme of Holy Year 2025 is "Pilgrims of hope," he said, and "the word 'pilgrim' makes us think about walking, so I would like to wish for you always to be people on the move," who yearn to keep moving forward in life.

"But the 'pilgrim' is one who not only walks, but has a destination, and a particular destination," which is "a holy place, which attracts him, which motivates the journey, which sustains him in his fatigue," the pope said.

The pope told his young guests that they should always be "on the move" and "also pilgrims, that is, eager to meet Jesus, to know him, to listen to his word." 

The Lord's word, the pope said, gives meaning to life and "fills it with a new joy, a different joy, a joy that does not remain 'outside' on the surface, but which fills the heart and warms it, a joy that is peace, that is goodness, that is tenderness."

Throughout the church's history there have been many young "pilgrims of hope," he said, that is, "young people who encountered the Lord Jesus and walked with him," such as Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, Sts. Francis and Claire of Assisi, and St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

Jesus "is the hope for every man, woman and also for the world," Pope Francis said. "Let us follow this road, and we too will become little signs of hope for those we meet."