Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

New Year's Eve is a time to remember God's great love and "to ask forgiveness for all the times we have failed to treasure his inspirations and invest the talents he has entrusted to us in the best possible way," the pope said Dec. 31 at his weekly general audience.

Seventeen Catholic priests, sisters, seminarians and lay workers were murdered in 2025, according to Fides, the Vatican's missionary news agency. Five of the victims were killed in Nigeria where kidnapping priests, seminarians and school students for ransom has plagued the Christian community, Fides reported Dec. 30.

The path to conversion, the door to God's mercy and the call to live in Christian hope all continue beyond the Jubilee Year, said the three cardinals who closed the Holy Doors at three major basilicas in Rome.

At a time when so much pressure and so many demands are placed on priests, they should find support, freedom and relief in recognizing the gifts of laypeople and collaborating with them, Pope Leo XIV wrote in an apostolic letter marking the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's decrees on the priesthood. 

"Unfortunately, it has become increasingly common to drag the language of faith into political battles, to bless nationalism, and to justify violence and armed struggle in the name of religion," the pope wrote in his message for World Peace Day. "Believers must actively refute, above all by the witness of their lives, these forms of blasphemy that profane the holy name of God."

Condemning the attack on Jews celebrating Hanukkah in Sydney, Pope Leo XIV said, "Enough with these forms of antisemitic violence! We must eradicate hatred from our hearts."

Following the example of St. Francis of Assisi, bishops are called to be close to the people in their dioceses and peacemakers in a world marked by division and tension, Pope Leo XIV told the bishops of Italy.

With thousands of migrants, refugees, unhoused people, the unemployed and members of the trans community present in St. Peter's Basilica or watching from St. Peter's Square, Pope Leo XIV assured them, "In the midst of persecution, suffering, struggles and oppression in our personal lives and in society, God does not abandon us."

The Vatican press office confirmed the Pontifical Swiss Guard is investigating an incident involving one of the guards who has been accused of making an antisemitic gesture.

Pope Leo XIV spent close to three hours listening to and praying with 15 Belgians who had survived clerical sexual abuse as children.

Pope Leo XIV approved the text Oct. 7 and ordered its publication, said the note, which was released Nov. 4. Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the doctrinal dicastery, presented the document during a conference at the Jesuit headquarters in Rome and said its teaching becomes part of the church's "ordinary magisterium" and must be considered authoritative.

After reciting the Angelus prayer Nov. 2, the feast of All Souls, the pope offered special prayers for the victims in el-Fasher, capital of Sudan's North Darfur state.

Pope Leo XIV's recognition of St. John Henry Newman as a "doctor of the church" will be an ecumenical celebration, a sign of esteem for the excellence and ongoing relevance of his teaching, first as an Anglican and then as a Roman Catholic, said a key figure in preparing the declaration.

Pope Leo XIV welcomed Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla to the Vatican for a unique visit combining ceremonial flourishes and a historic moment of prayer in the Sistine Chapel.

The recognition of Palestine in late September by France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia was a positive development, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said, "but we note with concern that Israeli declarations and decisions are moving in the opposite direction — that is, aiming to prevent the possible birth of a real Palestinian State once and for all."

"Often they maintain their strength while seeking a better future, in spite of the obstacles that they encounter," he said Oct. 2 during a meeting with participants in the conference "Refugees and Migrants in Our Common Home," organized by the Augustinian-run Villanova University in suburban Philadelphia.

Arnold Schwarzenegger told reporters he knows that people get "pumped up" spiritually at Mass, but he wishes he could go to Mass at least once and hear a homily on what Catholics can and should do to reduce pollution.

Speaking after Mass Sept. 28 for the Jubilee of Catechists, the pope said St. Newman "contributed decisively to the renewal of theology and to the understanding of the development of Christian doctrine."

The Vatican City State Court of Appeals handed a major victory to Cardinal Angelo Becciu and eight other defendants convicted in late 2023 of crimes related to the Vatican's huge financial loss on an investment property in London.

In a frescoed hall of a building housing the Catholic Church's highest courts, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr. spoke about faith, mercy, tradition and hope.