From Catholic News Service

Whether the new year will be good or not depends on us choosing to do good each day, Pope Francis said.

"Creating a Culture of Encounter" is the theme of 2017's National Migration Week, an annual observance the U.S. Catholic bishops began over 25 years ago.

On the morning of Dec. 10 in a cemetery in Quincy, Father Augustus Tolton's cause for canonization took one step further as his remains were exhumed and verified.

The song of the angels that heralded the birth of Christ urges men and women to seek peace in a world divided by war, terrorism and greed, Pope Francis said.

The reform of the Roman Curia is not a mere face-lift to rejuvenate an aging body but a process of deep, personal conversion, Pope Francis said.

Olesia Kuzo of Sacramento, California, prepares the traditional Ukrainian Christmas play called vertep. Her three daughters and children of relatives and friends will take part. Kuzo adapted and remade three different scenarios and conducted the rehearsals.

In a real-life situation akin to the "High School Musical" movie franchise, Russell Hornsby was a jock who got the acting bug via the high school musical.

St. Joseph Worker Program participant Kiki Sykes knows by name the children she serves at the nonprofit Jeremiah Program, and she also knows that the ones experiencing poverty might not receive what they're wishing for this Christmas.

Pope Francis' appointment of Bishop Edward J. Burns from Juneau, Alaska, to Dallas Dec. 13 generated a lot of excitement at Catholic Extension in Chicago.