News & Commentary

Pope marks 800th anniversary of Nativity scene, asks prayers for Holy Land

OSV News December 11, 2023

On Dec. 9, Pope Francis met with the more than 100 people involved in erecting the creche, officials from the Rieti Valley, which includes Greccio, and from the little town of Macra, in northern Italy, which donated the silver fir tree.

A woman is pictured in a file photo holding a newborn at Holy Land Family Hospital of Bethlehem in the West Bank. The hospital, located just 1,500 steps from the birthplace of Christ, is confronting significant challenges amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip 45 miles away. (OSV News photo/courtesy HFH Foundation)

Hospital close to Christ’s birthplace in Bethlehem struggles to operate amid war

OSV News December 8, 2023

The Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem, located just 1,500 steps from the birthplace of Christ, is confronting significant challenges amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip 45 miles away.

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington July 11, 2023. Tuberville told reporters on Capitol Hill Dec. 5 that he would end his monthslong blockade on hundreds of military promotions undertaken in protest of a Pentagon abortion policy. (OSV News photo/Kevin Wurm, Reuters)

Tuberville ends hold on military promotions over Pentagon abortion policy

OSV News December 7, 2023

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., told reporters on Capitol Hill Dec. 5 that he would end his monthslong blockade on hundreds of military promotions undertaken in protest of a Pentagon abortion policy.

The Gift of Perfect Joy

Susan Hines-Brigger December 6, 2023

Happiness and joy. Those are two words that get tossed around quite a bit at this time of year and certainly with good reason. The birth of Christ is definitely something to celebrate.

Portraits of six African Americans who are sainthood candidates are displayed in the lobby of the Catholic Center in Baltimore in November 2023 for Black Catholic History Month.

Group Visits Vatican Officials, Advocates for Canonization of Black Catholics

OSV News December 5, 2023

When three members of St. Ann Parish in East Baltimore sat down with leaders of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican in late October to advocate for sainthood for six Black potential saints from the United ...

Brian Terrell, who lives on a Catholic Worker farm in Maloy, Iowa, and Martha Hennessy, granddaughter of Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day, carry a banner in New York City during a march to abolish nuclear weapons Nov. 28, 2023. Catholic Worker and Pax Christi members were among the participants. The event coincided with the second Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons taking place at U.N. headquarters in New York City Nov. 27-Dec. 1. (OSV News photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Nuclear disarmament a ‘pro-life issue,’ warns archbishop

OSV News December 4, 2023

The threat from nuclear weapons is as great now as ever, and their destructive power is more immediate than climate change, said Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, at a Nov. 29 Mass in Manhattan that remembered ...

Pope planning to withdraw Cardinal Burke’s Vatican salary, sources say

OSV News November 30, 2023

Pope Francis told the prefects of Vatican dicasteries that he saw no reason for the Vatican to continue giving U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke a monthly salary and questioned why the Vatican should be providing him with a free apartment ...