St. James the Apostle Roman Catholic Church

2025 was a complex and multifaceted year for Christians in the Middle East, oscillating between supportive initiatives and messages of hope alongside persistent challenges. | Credit: Ismail Adnan/ACI MENA

Dec 31, 2025 / 15:30 pm (CNA).

2025 was a complex and multifaceted year for Christians in the Middle East. Across six pivotal countries, the contours of this reality reveal an uneven trajectory that is nevertheless unified in essence: a steadfast attachment to land and faith amid harsh circumstances and ongoing challenges.

Egypt: Official support and societal challenges

Throughout the year, the Egyptian state continued its positive policies toward Christians, most notably through the development of the Holy Family Trail, the legalization of the status of 160 churches and related buildings, and the disbursement of a “Christmas grant” to informal workers. At the same time, Copts faced ongoing challenges, including the failure of some universities to take Christian feast days into account when scheduling examinations.

More profoundly, sporadic attacks led by extremists persisted, involving the abduction of girls, the displacement of families, and the vandalism of property, churches, and cemeteries, along with hate speech targeted at Christians. These incidents underscored a gap between official positions and certain societal practices.

Jordan: A model of stability awaiting completion

Jordan remains among the safest countries in the region for Christians, with increasing official support.

This year, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities established eight Christmas celebration sites nationwide, launched the Baptism Route for Christian pilgrimage, and issued postage stamps featuring icons of Jordanian saints.

The country also hosted church-related intellectual conferences, and the king of Jordan held significant meetings this month with Church leaders from the region and from around the world.

Nevertheless, Christians continue to await the issuance of a new personal status law, while emigration persists, having significantly reduced their population over past decades to around 4%, according to some sources, which is down from nearly 12% in 1956.

Lebanon: Papal hope amid persistent crises

Lebanon continues to grapple with the legacy of its civil war 50 years on, along with deep divisions and ongoing crises.

In 2025, the country suffered destruction from Israeli bombardment, particularly in the south, alongside security breakdowns that included the killing of a priest in his home and a spate of church thefts.

The pope’s visit offered a profound spiritual balm, carrying strong messages of peace, Lebanon’s role in the world, the responsibility of youth in shaping the future, and the imperative not to forget the poor and vulnerable.

Yet political and economic realities continue to weigh heavily on Christians, leaving emigration as an ever-present option.

Syria: Official reassurances and deep-seated anxiety

Syria’s Christians endured a difficult year amid security breakdowns and scattered acts of vandalism targeting churches and religious symbols.

The most serious incidents occurred in the heart of Damascus with the bombing of St. Elias Church and in Suwayda, where at least six churches were vandalized, numerous properties looted, and several Christians killed.

In response, cooperation between the state and the Church, along with meetings between political leadership — particularly President Ahmed al-Sharaa — and patriarchs, helped ease some concerns, alongside heightened security measures around churches on Sundays and feast days.

Still, Christians continue to face harsh living conditions and fears of an uncertain future, including those in eastern Syria under the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

The Holy Land: Cautious celebration amid ongoing threats

Holy Land Christians returned this year to celebrating Christmas in Bethlehem and elsewhere following a decline in the intensity of the war there, despite the destruction it left behind, especially in Gaza, where those who remain face the challenge of living with dignity.

In the West Bank, settler attacks escalated, particularly in the Christian town of Taybeh.

With ongoing unemployment and instability, Christian emigration continues from the Holy Land, reducing the Christian proportion to around 1%. Their numbers have declined sharply, especially in Jerusalem, where Christians now number no more than about 6,700.

In Bethlehem, emigration is no longer an individual phenomenon but increasingly affects entire families, fueling fears that the Holy Land could be emptied of its indigenous Christian population and transformed into little more than a living museum.

Iraq: Church reconstruction and ongoing attacks

Iraq witnessed a stark paradox in 2025: repeated attacks on cemeteries and churches, and renewed waves of emigration that have cost the country nearly 90% of its Christian population.

The decline of the Christian population has taken place over two decades, alongside the reconstruction and reopening of monasteries and churches. These include the Monastery of Mar Oraha, the Chaldean Church of the Immaculate Conception, St. Thomas Syriac Orthodox Church in Mosul, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Light in Ankawa, and the consecration of the altar of Our Lady of the Syrians Church in Duhok for the Syriac Orthodox.

This year the Church of Abraham in the ancient archaeological site of Ur hosted its first-ever prayer service. Politically, the 2025 parliamentary elections revived debate over the Christian quota and representation, amid Church calls for unity and the defense of rights.

Emigration — especially among youth — remained the dominant theme.

A sign of hope

The Vatican announced this year the canonization of the martyred bishop Ignatius Maloyan, a deeply symbolic step that once again cast light on the history of martyrdom that has shaped Christian presence in the region.

The resonance of the Roman pontiff’s message at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy in Beirut continues to echo among the peoples of the Middle East: “The Middle East needs new attitudes: a rejection of the logic of revenge and violence, a move beyond political, social, and religious divisions, and the opening of new pages in the name of reconciliation and peace. We have traveled the path of mutual hostility and destruction for far too long, and we all witness the painful results. We must change course and educate the heart for peace. To the Christians of the East, the sons and daughters of these lands, I repeat and say: Take courage.”

This story was first published by ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, and has been translated for and adapted by CNA.

Pope Leo XIV presides over first vespers (evening prayer) in St. Peter's Basilica in anticipation of the Jan. 1 solemnity of Mary, Mother of God on Dec. 31, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media.

Dec 31, 2025 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV at a New Year’s Eve prayer service reflected on God’s divine plan of salvation for the world — and the hope of ordinary people.

“The world moves forward in this way, propelled by the hope of so many simple people — unknown to the world but not to God — who, despite everything, believe in a better tomorrow, because they know that the future is in the hands of the One who offers them the greatest hope,” the pope said in St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 31.

Leo presided over first vespers (evening prayer) in anticipation of the Jan. 1 solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. The liturgy included hymns, Psalms, readings from Scripture, and the singing of the “Te Deum,” a Latin hymn of thanksgiving from the early Church.

In his homily, the pontiff spoke about God’s plan versus the plans the world makes.

“In our own time we feel the need for a wise, benevolent, merciful plan — one that is free and liberating, peaceful and faithful, like the plan that the Virgin Mary proclaimed in her canticle of praise: ‘From generation to generation his mercy is upon those who fear him’ (Lk 1:50),” he said.

But, Leo noted, the world is enveloped in other plans: “Strategies aimed at conquering markets, territories, spheres of influence — armed strategies, cloaked in hypocritical rhetoric, ideological proclamations, and false religious motives.”

However, the holy Mother of God sees things with God’s eyes, the pope continued. She knows that “with the power of his arm the Most High scatters the schemes of the proud, casts the mighty from their thrones and lifts up the lowly, fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich away empty.”

The Holy Father referenced the words of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 4, that “when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.”

The apostle presents the mystery of Christ as “a great plan for human history,” Leo said. “A mysterious plan, yet one with a clear center, like a lofty mountain illuminated by the sun in the midst of a dense forest: This center is the ‘fullness of time.’”

On the vigil of the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, he emphasized Mary’s motherhood and her role in the revelation of the great mystery and paradox of “a God who is born of a virgin.”

“The mother of Jesus is the woman with whom God, in the fullness of time, wrote the Word that reveals the mystery,” he said. “He did not impose it; he first proposed it to her heart, and once her ‘yes’ was received, he wrote it with ineffable love in her flesh,” he said.

“Thus God’s hope became intertwined with Mary’s hope,” he added.

Pope Leo pointed out that the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, concludes the Octave of Christmas and “spans the passage from one year to the next and extends over it the blessing of the One ‘who is, who was, and who is to come’ (Rv 1:8).”

“The liturgy of the first vespers of the Mother of God possesses a singular richness, deriving both from the dizzying mystery it celebrates and from its placement at the very end of the solar year,” he said.

Recalling that the Church is at the end of the Jubilee Year 2025, he added that the “Te Deum” prayer, to be sung at the end of the liturgy, “seems to expand so as to give voice to all the hearts and faces that have passed beneath these vaults and through the streets of this city.”

“We thank God for the gift of the jubilee, which has been a great sign of his plan of hope for humanity and for the world. And we thank all those who, during the months and days of 2025, have worked in service to the pilgrims and to make Rome more welcoming,” he said.

“What can we wish for Rome?” he continued. “That it may be worthy of its smallest ones: of children, of elderly people who are alone and frail, of families who struggle most to make ends meet, of men and women who have come from afar hoping for a dignified life.”

After the prayer service, Pope Leo visited the Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square, a papal custom, while the Swiss Guard Band gave its annual Christmas concert.

He then personally greeted the band and some of the people gathered in the square.

A Planned Parenthood facility in Minneapolis. | Credit: Ken Wolter/Shutterstock

Dec 31, 2025 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

Here’s a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news:

Appeals court will allow government cuts to Planned Parenthoods

A federal appeals court will allow federal funding cuts to Planned Parenthoods that provide abortion, permitting a key Trump administration policy to go forward after a lower court blocked it.

The Dec. 30 ruling held that the federal government had likely not exceeded its authority when it ordered Medicaid funding cuts to certain nonprofit groups that perform abortions, many of which constituted Planned Parenthoods.

The suit against the Trump administration was brought by nearly two dozen states. The policy had originally been passed in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Louisiana sues to block abortion pill mailing rule

The Louisiana government is suing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to block a Biden-era rule allowing for the mailing of abortion pills.

State Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office announced the lawsuit against the FDA, with Murrill arguing that “unfettered and unsupervised access to these pills is dangerous.”

A 2023 policy from the Biden administration had allowed for the “dispensing of mifepristone through the mail ... or through a mail-order pharmacy,” part of the White House’s efforts to increase abortion access after the 2022 repeal of Roe v. Wade.

A hearing for the lawsuit is set for Feb. 24.

Veterans department institutes ‘near-total’ abortion ban

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has instituted a near-total abortion ban in its facilities following guidance from the Department of Justice.

The Trump administration had proposed the rule change first in August, moving to prohibit medical centers operated by the veterans department from performing both surgical and chemical abortions in most cases and from providing counseling that encourages abortion.

Department spokesman Pete Kasperowicz told the Military Times on Dec. 29 that the ban was officially in effect after guidance from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The veterans department was “complying ... immediately” with the Justice Department’s directive, Kasperowicz said.

Downtown Indianapolis is seen on March 10, 2021. | Credit: John McDonnell/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Dec 31, 2025 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

Leaders overseeing an empty parish in downtown Indianapolis are demanding to be allowed to destroy the building, arguing that the parish is “unused and unusable” even after the local government declared it a protected landmark.

St. Philip Neri Catholic Church filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, alleging that the city had engaged in an “unlawful landmarking” of the Parish of the Holy Cross.

The Holy Cross parish was formally merged with St. Philip Neri in 2014; it has stood unused for years due to structural deterioration.

Indianapolis Archbishop Charles Thompson had relegated the building in 2019. Relegation is the process by which the Church “desacralizes” a Church building, allowing it to be turned over for secular usage, though not for “sordid” activities. Thompson issued the relegation for St. Philip Neri that year due to the building’s significant structural instability.

In the lawsuit, St. Philip Neri says the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission engaged in “unconstitutional interference” when it issued an emergency historic designation for Holy Cross in 2024, removing the ability of the parish to demolish the building.

A local neighborhood association had brought the issue before the commission, looking to preserve the building before its intended demolition.

The preservation group, along with the city Metropolitan Development Commission — which accepted the preservation committee’s recommendation to preserve the church — violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by “intrud[ing] on the religious decision making” of the parish and “substitut[ing] the religious judgments of government actors for those of religious officials,” the lawsuit claims.

The suit asks the federal court to declare the historical designation “unconstitutional and illegal.” It further asks the court to allow the parish to tear down the unused building.

The city government did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the lawsuit. The Indianapolis Archdiocese also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prayer for the New Year 2026. | Credit: ACI Prensa

Dec 31, 2025 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

The end of 2025 is at hand and the world is set to welcome the new year with parties and fireworks, but many forget to celebrate it with God, the Lord of life and time. We therefore share this prayer for you to recite with your family, community, or friends before the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31.

If a Nativity scene is present, it is recommended to gather around it. Begin with the Sign of the Cross: “In the name of the Father…”

Then recite the following prayer:

Reader 1: “Lord God, master of time and eternity, yours is today and tomorrow, the past and the future. As this year comes to an end, we want to thank you for everything we have received from you.

Thank you for life and love, for the flowers, the air, and the sun; for joy and sorrow; for all that was possible and for what could not be. We offer you all that we have done this year, the work we were able to accomplish, the things that passed through our hands and what we were able to build with them.

Reader 2: We present to you the people we have loved throughout these months, the new friendships and the old ones we have known, those closest to us and those more distant, those who lent us a hand and those we were able to help, with whom we shared life, work, sorrow, and joy.

But also, Lord, today we want to ask for your forgiveness — forgiveness for the time that was wasted, the money that was ill-spent, the unhelpful words, and for the love that was squandered.

All: Forgive me for my work poorly done, and for when I lived without enthusiasm. Also for the prayer that I kept putting off little by little, and which I am only presenting to you now. For all the forgetfulness, carelessness, and and for not speaking to you, I ask for your forgiveness once again.

Before the new year starts, I take a moment to offer you the days ahead, which only you know if I will live to see.

Today I ask for myself and for my loved ones peace and joy, strength and prudence, clarity and wisdom. I want to live each day with a bright outlook and kindness, bringing with me everywhere I go a heart full of understanding and peace.

Close my ears to all falsehood and my lips to lying, selfish, biting, or hurtful words. Open my being instead to all that is good, that my spirit may be filled only with blessings and that I may shower them down wherever I go. Amen.

(To conclude, proceed to hold hands and pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be. Then give each other a hug and greet one another: “Peace be with you! Happy New Year!”)

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Afternoon prayers for the ecumenical youth gathering are taking place in the Accor Arena, which can accommodate more than 20,000 people. Credit: Taizé Community

Dec 31, 2025 / 11:58 am (CNA).

Thousands of young Catholics and other fellow Christians from various traditions are in Paris this week ushering out 2025 and ushering in 2026 as part of an ecumenical gathering organized by the Taizé Community.

The city of Paris and the entire Île-de-France region are the setting for the 48th European Meeting, a pilgrimage from Dec. 28, 2025, to Jan. 1, 2026, in which 15,000 young people ages 18–35 are participating, including 1,000 Ukrainians.

The event includes the participation of nearly 60 brothers out of the 80 who make up the Taizé Ecumenical Community, founded in 1940 with the mission of “being a sign of unity in the Church and in the human family.”

The program includes communal prayer in the large churches of Paris, various local initiatives, testimonies of hope, and workshops. The afternoon prayers take place in the Accor Arena, which can accommodate more than 20,000 people.

Numerous families in Paris and the Île-de-France region have generously welcomed the young people into their homes while various parishes, schools, and sports centers have also made their facilities available.

For Brother Mathew Thorpe, current prior of the community, this event is a call “to break free from our algorithms and experience mutual listening, an opening of the heart to welcome others as they are,” he told the French newspaper La Croix.

He also noted that this year’s gathering includes a psychological support center located in the Notre-Dame de l’Arche d’Alliance (Our Lady Ark of the Covenant) church to provide assistance to young people who have been victims of abuse.

The Taizé brother emphasized that this encounter also offers “a space for young people to listen to Christ in the depths of their being” and expressed his hope that it would help them “go forward in their journey with Christ.”

“The important thing is that they receive something that inspires them to become pilgrims of peace and hope, wherever they are, in their local church, in their places of commitment, to help others eliminate the barriers that divide our society,” he said.

From Spain, 22-year-old Pedro del Río Granado arrived in Paris with other youth from the Archdiocese of Madrid. For this student, the Taizé European Meeting “is a very important experience” and an opportunity to begin the year with God.

Brother Alois, who succeeded Brother Roger, the founding prior of Taizé, said on behalf of the community that this experience “helps us understand the Gospel.”

“We Christians can show that there is something that unites us in Europe, something that keeps us together,” he emphasized.

A few days before the meeting began, Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople in a message addressed to young people reminded them that “the world needs your clear vision, your courage, and your capacity for hope.”

“It needs young peace builders, capable of resisting violence, exclusion, and contempt for others. It needs witnesses of a humble faith, understood not as power but as service,” he said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

“When I began hearing the confessions of the faithful, I understood that there can be no inner peace without forgiveness," said Father Pero Miličević.| Credit: Vatican Media

Dec 31, 2025 / 10:50 am (CNA).

Father Pero Miličević witnessed the cruelest face of war when he was just a child. On July 28, 1993, a group of Muslim militiamen from the Bosnia and Herzegovina army stormed his native village, Dlkani, in the Jablanica district. In just one morning, 39 people were killed, including his father and several members of his family.

“It was the experience of the darkness and evil of war,” he summarized to journalists at the Holy See Press Office during the recent presentation for the pope’s message for the 2026 World Day of Peace, which will be celebrated on Jan. 1.

Thirty-two years after that day of terror, that boy, who instantly lost his innocence, speaks today with the serenity of a priest. Miličević was only 7 years old when the gunfire shattered his childhood. He was playing with his twin brother and another of his older brothers when the bursts of gunfire began. “The bullets flew over our heads,” he recalled.

His mother and sister pulled them inside the house to safety. His father, Andrija, wasn’t there. He had gone out to the fields to help an aunt, but he was also murdered. He was 45 years old. Miličević’s mother, Ruža, was left a widow with nine children, seven of them minors.

That same day, two of his mother’s sisters and several cousins ​​were also murdered. “When one person dies, it’s already terrible; when three children die, as happened to my aunt, I don’t know how a mother’s heart doesn’t break,” the priest confessed, his voice trembling.

7 months held in a prison camp

The devastation of that July 28 did not end with the massacre. His mother and siblings were deported to a prison camp known as the “Museum” in Jablanica, along with about 300 Croatian Catholics. They remained there for seven months.

The conditions were extreme. “We didn’t have enough food, there was no hygiene, and we slept on cold granite slabs,” he recounted. Death was a part of daily life, but, he explained, the physical pain and hunger were not comparable to the anguish of not knowing what would become of them.

‘We would never have survived without faith’

What sustained them was a simple faith, inherited from their mother: the daily recitation of the rosary. “We would never have survived without faith, prayer, and the need for peace,” he related.

During that imprisonment, the temptation for revenge was constant. However, Miličević said he left the camp with a firm conviction: “We had to maintain peace in our hearts and not think about revenge.”

When they were finally released, another devastating blow came. His father’s body had remained exposed to the elements for seven months without being interred. Only then were they able to lay him to rest. “His body had been left unburied; what we buried were his bones,” he explained.

Miličević is often asked how he was able to endure so much suffering. His answer hasn’t changed over the years: faith. “That upbringing in God nourished us and helped us get through horrors that no child should ever see,” he said.

Forgiveness, however, was a process. He couldn’t find it in his heart to forgive right away. Miličević readily admitted that at first, he was consumed by rage. For years, it remained an open wound. However, the true turning point came when he decided to become a priest. He was ordained in 2012.

‘There can be no inner peace without forgiveness’

“When I began hearing the confessions of the faithful, I understood that there can be no inner peace without forgiveness and that it was necessary to deal with what I went through,” he explained. Only then did the wound begin to heal.

In 2013, 20 years after his captivity, he returned to the former prison camp. “I returned in tears,” he recounted. It wasn’t about settling scores but a decisive step toward inner liberation.

Today, his story embodies the message that Pope Leo XIV is proposing for the Jan. 1 World Day of Peace. “Peace must be lived, cultivated, and protected,” the priest emphasized, adding: “Evil is overcome with good, not with revenge or weapons.” Quoting the pontiff, he recalled that “goodness is disarming.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Young people at the 2023 SEEK conference in St. Louis. | Credit: Photo courtesy of SEEK

Dec 31, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

The annual SEEK conference is set to simultaneously get underway Jan. 1–5 in three U.S. cities: Columbus, Ohio; Denver; and Fort Worth, Texas.

“To the Heights!” is the theme of this year’s conference, which is organized by FOCUS. The theme was inspired by the recently canonized St. Pier Giorgio Frassati.

“As St. Pier Giorgio reminds us, we are called to the heights — to live lives of holiness, joy, and mission. SEEK is a time for renewal, for community, and for reigniting our passion to share Christ with the world,” said FOCUS founder Curtis Martin.

According to the organizers, the gathering will bring together tens of thousands of Catholics to “encounter Christ through prayer, adoration, [and] the sacraments” as well as take in inspirational talks and performances from an extensive lineup of Catholic speakers and entertainers.

Bishop Earl Fernandes, who presided over a Mass at a SEEK conference in St. Louis three years ago, was so inspired by his experience there that he returned home with the desire to bring SEEK to the Diocese of Columbus.

“Our team at the diocese has worked very hard to bring SEEK here,” Fernandes told ETWN News, “and we hope to show the new, young face of the Church, ablaze with hope and enthusiasm for Christ, the Church, and the Gospel.”

“My hope is that young people will have a life-changing encounter with Christ and will broaden their experience of the Church in the United States,” he continued.

“Columbus is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, and our Catholic population has nearly doubled in my three and a half years as bishop. I’m hoping that this will be a mini World Youth Day for us and be a catalyst for evangelization.”

Fernandes is scheduled to celebrate the opening Mass and give talks to seminarians as well as priests in attendance at the conference.

In an email this week to conference attendees, the conference organizers wrote that “SEEK promises to be a transformative experience on so many levels — and the most important thing to remember is to let the Lord lead the way.”

“God longs to speak to you and make himself known to you in an ever-growing, ever-deepening relationship. We invite you to say a prayer before you leave and offer up this special time at SEEK to God, inviting the Holy Spirit to move in you throughout the week. Pray that he will give you the courage to respond boldly to his call and the strength to journey ‘To the Heights!’”

EWTN will offer live coverage of the SEEK 2026 conference beginning Jan. 1, streaming on YouTube and EWTN Plus.

Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims gathered for his Wednesday general audience on Dec. 31, 2025, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. | Credit: Vatican Media

Dec 31, 2025 / 08:08 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV used the Vatican’s final general audience of 2025 on Wednesday to invite Catholics to look back on the past year with gratitude and repentance, and to place what lies ahead in God’s hands.

In St. Peter’s Square on Dec. 31, the pope said 2025 brought both joy and sorrow, citing the jubilee pilgrimage of the faithful as well as “the passing of the late Pope Francis” and “the scenarios of war that continue to convulse the planet.”

“At its end,” Leo said, “the Church invites us to place everything before the Lord, entrusting ourselves to his providence, and asking him to renew, in us and around us, in the coming days, the wonders of his grace and mercy.”

He tied that end-of-year spiritual “dynamic” to the Church’s Te Deum observance, saying the hymn of praise and thanksgiving helps believers recognize God’s gifts and renew hope. Leo noted that the prayer includes lines such as: “You are God: We praise you,” “In you, Lord, is our hope,” and “Have mercy on us.”

According to the Vatican’s published schedule, Leo was set to celebrate first vespers for the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, at 5 p.m. in St. Peter’s Basilica, followed by the Te Deum.

In his catechesis, the pope encouraged an honest examination of conscience, calling the faithful to reflect on God’s action over the past year, to evaluate their response to his gifts, and to ask forgiveness for times they failed to follow his inspirations or invest well the talents entrusted to them.

Leo also returned to a core jubilee image, describing life as a pilgrimage. “This reminds us that our whole life is a journey,” he said, one that reaches its true fulfillment in “the encounter with God and in full and eternal communion with him.”

The pope pointed to another emblematic jubilee practice, the passage through the Holy Door, describing it as a concrete sign of conversion and of the believer’s yes to God, who “invites us to cross the threshold of a new life, animated by grace, modeled on the Gospel.”

Looking to Christmas, Leo recalled St. Leo the Great’s preaching on the universal joy of Christ’s birth: “Let the saint rejoice … let the sinner rejoice … let the pagan take courage.” The pope said that invitation extends to all, including those who feel weak or fragile, because Christ has taken human frailty upon himself and redeemed it.

To close, Leo cited St. Paul VI’s reflection at the end of the 1975 Jubilee, saying its core message can be summed up in a single word: “love.” He then repeated Paul VI’s emphatic profession of faith, including: “God is love! … God is mercy! God is forgiveness! … God, yes, God is life!”

This story was first published by ACI Stampa, CNA’s Italian-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Pope Leo XIV greets a girl in a wheelchair during an audience with members of Italian Catholic Action on Dec. 19, 2025 at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media

Dec 31, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

2025 was filled with impactful moments — from the death of Pope Francis to the election of the first American-born pope, Leo XIV, to hundreds of thousands of young people who gathered in Rome for the Jubilee of Youth to the canonization of the Church’s first millennial saint.

Here are some of the top Catholic moments of 2025:

Death of Pope Francis

The new year began with Catholics around the world uniting in prayer for Pope Francis’ health as he entered the hospital on Feb. 14. He was admitted to Gemelli Hospital in Rome due to a respiratory infection that progressed to bilateral pneumonia, requiring a prolonged hospitalization that lasted almost six weeks.

On March 23, Pope Francis was discharged from the hospital and gave a blessing from the hospital window to the faithful who were gathered.

Soon after, on March 29, the late pontiff was readmitted to the hospital with difficulty breathing. On April 21, the day after Easter, Pope Francis passed away at the age of 88 from a stroke, coma, and irreversible cardiovascular collapse, according to the death certificate published just over 12 hours after Francis’ death.

More than 400,000 people filled St. Peter’s Square for the funeral of Pope Francis on April 26 as the world said goodbye to the first Latin American pope, who led the Catholic Church for 12 years.

Conclave and election of Pope Leo XIV

On May 7, 133 cardinal electors gathered in the Sistine Chapel for the start of the conclave. After four ballots, Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected on May 8 as the 267th pope of the Catholic Church and took the name Pope Leo XIV. A Chicago native, he became the first American pope in Church history.

Thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers as the bells of the basilica began to toll, confirming the election of a new pontiff. The crowds gathered as word spread throughout Rome that a new pope had been chosen.

Jubilee of Youth

One of Pope Leo’s first major events was the Jubilee of Youth, which was held in Rome from July 28 to Aug. 3. Roughly 1 million young adults from around the world filled the streets of Rome as each day was filled with different opportunities and events for the young people to experience the richness of the Catholic faith.

On Aug. 2, Pope Leo XIV was greeted by the largest crowd he had addressed during his pontificate thus far for the evening vigil at Tor Vergata, an outdoor venue 10 miles east of Rome. An estimated 1 million people were in attendance. The Holy Father arrived by helicopter and then drove through the grounds on the popemobile, waving to the cheering young people before the prayer service began.

Minneapolis school shooting

The Catholic community was shaken when a school shooting took place on Aug. 27 at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis. Two children were killed and 20 were injured. The shooter was identified as Robin Westman — who was born “Robert” and identified as a transgender woman — who died by suicide shortly after shooting through the windows of the church during a weekday school Mass.

The Holy Father sent his condolences and offered prayers for the victims. He described the event as an “extremely difficult” and “terrible” tragedy.

Canonization of Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati

On Sept. 7, two of the Church’s most beloved blesseds became saints: Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati. The canonizations of the two men, promulgated before an estimated 70,000 people in St. Peter’s Square, were the first of Leo XIV’s pontificate.

During his homily, the pope said: “Today we look to St. Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Carlo Acutis: a young man from the early 20th century and a teenager from our own day, both in love with Jesus and ready to give everything for him.”

“Dear friends, Sts. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives but to direct them upwards and make them masterpieces,” he added.

Newman made doctor of the Church

The Catholic Church gained a new doctor of the Church on Nov. 1 , when Pope Leo XIV declared St. John Henry Newman a doctor of the Church, recognizing the English cardinal and theologian — one of the most influential converts from Anglicanism — as a towering figure of faith and intellect in modern Catholicism.

“Newman’s impressive spiritual and cultural stature will surely serve as an inspiration to new generations whose hearts thirst for the infinite and who, through research and knowledge, are willing to undertake that journey which, as the ancients said, takes us ‘per aspera ad astra,’ through difficulties to the stars,” the pope said in his homily.

Pope Leo featured at NCYC

On Nov. 21, Pope Leo took part in his first digital encounter with American youth during the National Catholic Youth Conference, which took place Nov. 20–22 in Indianapolis.

The conference featured Catholic speakers, daily Mass and adoration, music and worship, breakout groups and workshops, and interactive exhibits with games, vendors, meetups, and live radio shows.

The main attraction of the conference was the hourlong live, virtual dialogue the pope had with those in attendance. Five young people were chosen to ask the Holy Father questions, which ranged from prayer to technology to friendships and the future of the Church. Pope Leo gave those gathered invaluable advice regarding the several different topics discussed.

First papal trip to Turkey and Lebanon

Pope Leo visited Turkey and Lebanon during his first papal trip from Nov. 27–Dec. 2. The wide-ranging international visit included historic ecumenical encounters, deeply symbolic gestures of prayer, and pastoral visits to Christian communities under pressure. The Holy Father highlighted the importance of unity, peace, and fraternity, and brought encouragement to a region marked by ancient faith and present suffering.