The Shrine of Santa Maria della Consolazione in Deliceto, Italy, where St. Alphonsus Liguori was inspired to write and compose the famous Italian Christmas carol, “Tu Scendi dalle Stelle,” in 1744. | Credit: Gianpiero Passalia/EWTN News

Rome Newsroom, Dec 25, 2025 / 01:00 am (CNA).

The Christmas song, written and composed by St. Alphonsus Liguori in the mid-18th century, describes Christ, King and Creator, coming into the world as a poor baby.

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Christmas Mass during the Night in a packed St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 24, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Dec 24, 2025 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV, at Christmas Mass during the Night, said Christ’s birth brings light into the world’s darkness — and where the human person is welcomed, God is welcomed too.

“To enlighten our blindness, the Lord chose to reveal himself as a man to man, his true image, according to a plan of love that began with the creation of the world,” the pope said in his homily in St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 24.

“As long as the night of error obscures this providential truth, then ‘there is no room for others either, for children, for the poor, for the stranger,’” he added, quoting Pope Benedict XVI’s homily at Christmas Mass on Dec. 24, 2012.

“These words of Pope Benedict XVI remain a timely reminder that on earth, there is no room for God if there is no room for the human person,” the pontiff said.

Leo celebrated the Christmas Mass, also known as midnight Mass, for a packed Vatican basilica at 10 p.m. The Vatican said an estimated 6,000 people were inside the basilica for the Mass, while another 5,000 people followed the papal Mass via jumbo screens in St. Peter’s Square.

In a surprise before the Mass, the pope stepped outside St. Peter’s Basilica to greet those who were forced to stay in the rainy square because there was no more room inside.

“The basilica of St. Peter’s is very large, but unfortunately it is not large enough to receive all of you,” Leo said, thanking everyone for their presence, wishing them a merry Christmas, and bestowing his apostolic blessing.

The preparatory readings and the sung Proclamation of the Birth of Christ — also called the Kalenda Proclamation — preceded the Mass. The pontiff removed a cloth to reveal a wooden sculpture of the Christ Child, placed in front of the main altar of the basilica, after the chanting of the Kalenda Proclamation. A group of 10 children dressed in traditional clothing from different parts of the world brought flowers to the figure of baby Jesus.

In his homily, the pope recalled that, “for millennia, across the earth, peoples have gazed up at the sky” attempting to read the future in the stars. 

Yet, they remained lost and in the dark, he said. “On this night, however, ‘the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light’ (Is 9:2).”

“Born in the night is the One who redeems us from the night,” Leo said. “The hint of the dawning day is no longer to be sought in the distant reaches of the cosmos, but by bending low, in the stable nearby.

Pope Leo invited Christians to marvel at the wisdom of Christmas, through which “God gives the world a new life: his own, offered for all.”

“He does not give us a clever solution to every problem but a love story that draws us in. In response to the expectations of peoples, he sends a child to be a word of hope. In the face of the suffering of the poor, he sends one who is defenseless to be the strength to rise again. Before violence and oppression, he kindles a gentle light that illumines with salvation all the children of this world,” he said.

The pontiff quoted a sermon of St. Augustine, who said “human pride weighed you down so heavily that only divine humility could raise you up again.”

“While a distorted economy leads us to treat human beings as mere merchandise, God becomes like us, revealing the infinite dignity of every person,” Leo said. “While humanity seeks to become ‘god’ in order to dominate others, God chooses to become man in order to free us from every form of slavery. Will this love be enough to change our history?”

Archbishop Bernard Bober of Košice celebrates Mass with homeless and people in need at the Archdiocesan Charity in Košice, Slovakia, during a traditional Christmas gathering in December 2025. / Credit: Archdiocesan Charity of Košice

EWTN News, Dec 24, 2025 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Bernard Bober of Košice, Slovakia, found a special gift under the Christmas tree: a new “cathedra,” a wooden bench prepared by homeless people.

Pope Leo XIV venerates a statue of the child Jesus during the celebration of Christmas Mass during the Night in St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 24, 2025. | Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Dec 24, 2025 / 12:31 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Christmas Mass during the Night in St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday. The Mass was attended by an estimated 6,000 people inside the basilica, while around 5,000 people gathered outside in St. Peter's Square, according to the Vatican.

Below is the full text of the pope’s Christmas night homily:

Dear brothers and sisters,

For millennia, across the earth, peoples have gazed up at the sky, giving names to the silent stars, and seeing images therein. In their imaginative yearning, they tried to read the future in the heavens, seeking on high for a truth that was absent below amidst their homes. Yet, as if grasping in the dark, they remained lost, confounded by their own oracles. On this night, however, “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined” (Is 9:2).

Behold the star that astonishes the world, a spark newly lit and blazing with life: “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (Lk 2:11). Into time and space — in our midst — comes the One without whom we would not exist. He who gives his life for us lives among us, illuminating the night with his light of salvation. There is no darkness that this star does not illumine, for by its light all humanity beholds the dawn of a new and eternal life.

It is the birth of Jesus, Emmanuel. In the Son made man, God gives us nothing less than his very self, in order to “redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own” (Titus 2:14). Born in the night is the One who redeems us from the night. The hint of the dawning day is no longer to be sought in the distant reaches of the cosmos, but by bending low, in the stable nearby.

The clear sign given to a darkened world is indeed “a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12). To find the Savior, one must not gaze upward, but look below: The omnipotence of God shines forth in the powerlessness of a newborn; the eloquence of the eternal Word resounds in an infant’s first cry; the holiness of the Spirit gleams in that small body, freshly washed and wrapped in swaddling clothes. The need for care and warmth becomes divine since the Son of the Father shares in history with all his brothers and sisters. The divine light radiating from this Child helps us to recognize humanity in every new life.

To heal our blindness, the Lord chooses to reveal himself in each human being, who reflect his true image, according to a plan of love begun at the creation of the world. As long as the night of error obscures this providential truth, then “there is no room for others either, for children, for the poor, for the stranger” (Benedict XVI, Homily, Christmas Mass during the Night, 24 December 2012).

These words of Pope Benedict XVI remain a timely reminder that on earth, there is no room for God if there is no room for the human person. To refuse one is to refuse the other. Yet, where there is room for the human person, there is room for God; even a stable can become more sacred than a temple, and the womb of the Virgin Mary become the Ark of the New Covenant.

Let us marvel, dear brothers and sisters, at the wisdom of Christmas. In the Child Jesus, God gives the world a new life: his own, offered for all. He does not give us a clever solution to every problem, but a love story that draws us in. In response to the expectations of peoples, he sends a child to be a word of hope. In the face of the suffering of the poor, he sends one who is defenseless to be the strength to rise again. Before violence and oppression, he kindles a gentle light that illumines with salvation all the children of this world. As St. Augustine observed, “human pride weighed you down so heavily that only divine humility could raise you up again” (St. Augustine, Sermon 188, III, 3). While a distorted economy leads us to treat human beings as mere merchandise, God becomes like us, revealing the infinite dignity of every person. While humanity seeks to become “god” in order to dominate others, God chooses to become man in order to free us from every form of slavery. Will this love be enough to change our history?

The answer will come as soon as we wake up from a deadly night into the light of new life, and, like the shepherds, contemplate the child Jesus. Above the stable of Bethlehem, where Mary and Joseph watch over the newborn Child with hearts full of wonder, the starry sky is transformed into “a multitude of the heavenly host” (Lk 2:13). These are unarmed and disarming hosts, for they sing of the glory of God, of which peace on earth is the true manifestation (cf. v. 14). Indeed, in the heart of Christ beats the bond of love that unites heaven and earth, Creator and creatures.

For this reason, exactly one year ago, Pope Francis affirmed that the Nativity of Jesus rekindles in us the “gift and task of bringing hope wherever hope has been lost,” because “with him, joy flourishes; with him, life changes; with him, hope does not disappoint” (Homily, Christmas Mass during the Night, 24 December 2024). With these words, the holy year began. Now, as the jubilee draws to a close, Christmas becomes for us a time of gratitude and mission; gratitude for the gift received, and mission to bear witness to it before the world. As the Psalmist sings: “Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all the peoples” (Ps 96:2–3).

Brothers and sisters, contemplation of the Word made flesh awakens in the whole Church a new and true proclamation. Let us therefore announce the joy of Christmas, which is a feast of faith, charity, and hope. It is a feast of faith, because God becomes man, born of the Virgin. It is a feast of charity, because the gift of the redeeming Son is realized in fraternal self-giving. It is a feast of hope, because the child Jesus kindles it within us, making us messengers of peace. With these virtues in our hearts, unafraid of the night, we can go forth to meet the dawn of a new day.

null / Credit: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 24, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Abortion clinic workers across the country are once again receiving Christmas cards from religious sisters offering prayers, compassion, and an invitation to seek a career outside the abortion industry.

And Then There Were None (ATTWN), a pro-life organization dedicated to assisting abortion clinic workers leave their jobs and find life-affirming careers, carries out this ministry each Christmas season with help from convents around the country. The Christmas card project is a part of a larger mission of handwritten cards sent throughout the year.

This year, Dominican, Maronite, Benedictine, Carmelite, Capuchin, and Franciscan sisters, as well as Apostolic Sisters of St. John and Trinitarians of Mary, sent at least 1,030 handwritten Christmas cards to abortion clinic workers with loving messages and an image of the Holy Family. 

Reaching ‘quitters’

ATTWN has sent nearly 23,000 handwritten cards to abortion facilities in the last decade, encouraging workers to leave their jobs with ATTWN’s support.

“The clinics are hearing from us about once every four to five business days in some way, whether it’s through some gift, a little trinket, a handwritten card, a postcard, or something we send in,” Abby Johnson, ATTWN CEO and founder, told CNA.

Johnson herself once worked in the industry, serving as a clinic director of an abortion facility in Bryan, Texas, for eight years before leaving and starting ATTWN to help other “quitters” leave, find new employment, and heal from their experiences.

“Our handwritten card ministry is one of the most effective ministries we have in reaching abortion clinic workers and having them leave,” she said. “There’s just something very personal about a handwritten note. Somebody took the time to sit down and write to you.” 

ATTWN has “dozens and dozens” of volunteers who send the messages regularly, Johnson said. “We have a really accurate database of abortion clinics and abortion referral facilities. I think there’s about 850 facilities on there, and this group of women are constantly writing notes.” 

When workers receive the notes, “they leave,” Johnson said. “Workers will say, ‘I got this letter. I folded it up, I kept it in my purse, I put it in my scrub pocket, and I went home and I called you guys.’ So it is very powerful. We see that it does truly make a difference.”

“I received a handwritten note from one of my sidewalk counselors when I worked at the clinic, and I still have it in my wallet,” Johnson said. “It’s just a Bible verse on it, but it says, ‘The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.’ And I still have that little card in my wallet from 18 years ago.”

The note “meant enough at that time to keep it,” Johnson said. “I pull it out and remind myself why I’m doing [pro-life work] and how God has blessed me so much. It’s just a powerful reminder that someone out there took the time to think about you, specifically.”

Christmas card ministry 

The letters create “by far the most overwhelming response … and we have the highest response from them at Christmastime, which is when they are receiving the notes from the sisters,” Johnson said. 

Five years ago, Johnson decided to incorporate the Christmas season into the ministry, specifically with the help of religious sisters. 

“The idea came to me because I was very moved by a Franciscan sister who used to pray in front of the facility where I used to work in Bryan, Texas. It was the first time that I had ever seen a nun in public in my life.”

“I was so struck by her being out there and her presence,” she said. “It was so hot outside, and she was in her full habit, and her little face was so red. It was over 100 degrees. I remember I just watched her all day outside my window.”

“I remember the first patient that left that day after having an abortion, she fell to her knees and was just weeping. I thought: ‘Wow, this has really impacted her in a way that I just can’t understand. She has a sorrow that I just don’t understand.’”

“That’s always stayed with me ever since I was working there … So when we started the ministry,  we started thinking: ‘How could we incorporate nuns in some way?’” 

If workers started speaking with religious sisters, it could “make an impact on their heart,” Johnson thought. “We started reaching out to convents across the country, asking them if they would partner with us.”

Several reached back out to ATTWN and eagerly wanted to be a part of the project.

A ‘perfect partnership’

ATTWN shares its database of clinics with the sisters, “then they just start writing,” Johnson said. “It’s just been really beautiful to see the fruit of that.”

Some of the participating sisters live in cloistered convents. “They don’t go out. They spend their lives in contemplative prayer,” Johnson said. “So their only real correspondence is through mail, through writing. So it’s beautiful work for them.”

“This is what they do. They write notes, they send letters, they pray. That’s what they do all day long. So it’s a perfect ministry for them. It’s a perfect partnership.”

ATTWN will send the sister some ideas of what they can write so they know the proper resources to share with the workers, but then they can add any additional messages.

“They fill in other things that they would like to say, different spiritual things that they feel led to say,” Johnson said. Their messages are “from their hearts and are just so prayerful and beautiful.”

After the sisters write the Christmas cards, they are “put on the altar, they’re blessed, they’re prayed over, and they’re sent in.”

“We always make sure that we send them a card that has the image of the Holy Family on it. We just want to remind them that that’s what God wants for them, and this is what Christmas is about — it’s about the Lord.”

The image is a reminder that “this is what we’re designed for,” Johnson said. “We’re designed for families, and God wants families for them as well. He wants families for the women who are walking into those clinics.” 

“He created us for good, for family, for love, and for creation, not for destruction. We make sure that the cards that we send in have an image that really defines that.”

Johnson plans for ATTWN to continue to send the annual cards from the sisters. “For so many of these convents, being pro-life is a part of who they are. It’s part of their charism,” she said. “So we would love to have as many as we can participate.

Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for the recitation of the Angelus on Dec. 21, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Dec 24, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV will celebrate his first Christmas at the Vatican by reviving the tradition of offering Christmas Mass on Dec. 25 in St. Peter’s Basilica, something no pope has done since 1994.

The Christmas celebrations — which will be marked by the closing of the Holy Doors — will begin on the evening of Dec. 24, when the pontiff will celebrate Christmas Eve Mass at 10 p.m. local time in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The schedule represents a change from recent years, when during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Christmas vigil Mass was moved to 7 p.m. Before 2009, it took place at midnight, until Benedict XVI decided to move it to an earlier time.

Tradition of Christmas Mass restored

On Dec. 25 at 10 a.m., Leo XIV will also celebrate the Christmas Day Mass in the Vatican basilica, a custom that has not been observed since the pontificate of St. John Paul II. Afterward, at noon, he will impart the traditional “urbi et orbi” (“to the city and the world”) blessing from the central balcony.

On Dec. 31, the pope will preside at 5 p.m. in St. Peter’s Basilica over first vespers and the Te Deum in thanksgiving for the year that is ending. On Jan. 1, 2026, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and the 59th World Day of Peace, he will celebrate Mass at 10 a.m.

The message for this World Day of Peace, titled “Peace Be with You All: Towards an Unarmed and Disarming Peace,” proposes a vision that rejects fear, threats, violence, and weapons, and advocates for a peace capable of generating trust, empathy, and hope.

One of the most significant moments of the Christmas season will take place on Jan. 6, the solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord. At 9:30 a.m., Pope Leo XIV will close the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica and celebrate the closing Mass of the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025. In the preceding days, the Holy Doors of the other papal basilicas — St. Mary Major, St. John Lateran, and St. Paul Outside the Walls — will also have been closed.

This will be the second time in history that a jubilee year is closed by a different pope than the one who inaugurated it, as happened in 1700, when Innocent XII opened the holy year and Clement XI closed it.

The Christmas celebrations will conclude liturgically on Jan. 11, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. On that day, the pope will celebrate Mass and the baptism of several children of Vatican employees in the Sistine Chapel at 9:30 a.m., following a tradition established by St. John Paul II.

A pro-life Nativity scene

The Christmas spirit is already palpable in the Vatican after the Dec. 15 lighting of the Christmas tree and the inauguration of the Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square, events presided over by Sister Raffaella Petrini, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State. That same day, Leo received the donors of the tree and the Nativity scenes that were also set up in the Paul VI Audience Hall.

The Nativity scene in that space, called “Nacimiento Gaudium,” (“The birth that brings joy”) from Costa Rica, has attracted particular attention. Until Dec. 25, it depicts the Virgin Mary as pregnant, symbolizing anticipation and hope.

The figures rest on 28,000 white ribbons bearing the names or pseudonyms of children saved from abortion, while in the manger, 420 yellow ribbons display messages from hospitalized sick children.

Taking a break at Castel Gandolfo

After Christmas, the pope is scheduled to travel to Castel Gandolfo on Dec. 26 for a few days of rest, without, however, giving up presiding over the main liturgical events or meeting with the faithful on major feast days. In addition, on Jan. 7–8, he will gather all the cardinals of the world in Rome for his first ordinary consistory since the conclave that elected him.

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

A variety of fish dishes served on Christmas Eve. / Credit: Francesca Pollio Fenton/CNA

CNA Staff, Dec 24, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

There are numerous Christmas Eve traditions families around the world take part in, whether it’s watching a certain movie together, baking cookies for Santa, opening one present before going to bed, or eating a specific meal for dinner. The Feast of the Seven Fishes — in Italian “La Vigilia,” which means “The Eve” — is one of these Christmas Eve traditions.

So, where does this tradition come from?

This feast stems from the southern part of Italy and spans generations. Before 1861, Italy was made up of different regions. Each had its own government, however, and the southern regions were the poorest. This remained true before and after the unification of the country. The new unified government allocated many of its resources to northern Italy, which caused poverty and organized crime in the south. The area, however, though poor, was plentiful in fish since it was so close to the ocean.

The Feast of the Seven Fishes tradition is also tied to the Catholic Church’s practice of not eating meat during certain times of the year — for example, on Fridays during Lent and on the eve of some holidays.

The number seven is also symbolic in that it is repeated more than 700 times in the Bible, and in Catholicism there are seven sacraments, seven days of creation, and seven deadly sins.

Although it is not an actual feast day on the Catholic liturgical calendar, it is definitely a feast in terms of the amount of food on the table!

Put all these things together and that is how the Feast of the Seven Fishes began in the 1900s.

Additionally, many Italians who fled the country due to poverty and immigrated to the United States brought this tradition with them, so the feast continued among many Italian Americans.

So what is eaten during this seven-course meal?

While there is no specific menu, there are some guidelines that are followed. The first being, of course, having seven different fish dishes. These dishes can include any type of seafood including shellfish. Based on the fish you plan to prepare, you can then determine the different courses that typically include appetizers, a soup, pasta, a side salad, and the main entrees.

Many families may also include a palette cleanser, or a small fruit dish, before bringing out the highly-anticipated desserts!

Some dishes include “insalata di mare” (“ocean salad”), which typically has shrimp and mussels; “insalata di polipo” (“salad with octopus”); “capestante,” which are clam shells filled with salmon, shrimp, and bechamel sauce; “linguine con frutti di mare,” which is a pasta with several different kinds of fish; and other dishes that include fried fish, eel, crab, and lobster.

And we can’t forget dessert! “Struffoli” are little balls of fried dough covered in honey and sprinkles and are considered a Neapolitan dessert. Others include “mostaccioli” and “roccocò,” which are types of cookies, and “pandoro” and “panettone” are sweet breads.

This is just a glimpse into the variety of dishes southern Italian families will spend hours preparing ahead of Christmas Eve dinner. Each family has its own fish dishes and ways of cooking them; however, one thing is for sure: You can expect to be filled to the brim with delicious food before heading off to bed.

This story was first published Dec. 23, 2022, and has been updated.

After delaying restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass for three months, Bishop Michael Martin said in a Sept. 26, 2025, letter that the Chapel of the Little Flower in the St. Therese Parish in Mooresville, North Carolina, which was recently renovated by the diocese and can seat just over 350 people, will have two Masses each Sunday and on holy days of obligation, / Credit: Diocese of Charlotte

CNA Staff, Dec 23, 2025 / 16:55 pm (CNA).

Priests as well as the lay faithful are voicing criticisms after Bishop Michael Martin of the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, issued a pastoral letter last week prohibiting the use of altar rails and kneelers in the reception of Communion in the diocese.

In the Dec. 17 letter, Martin said that by Jan. 16, 2026, the use of altar rails, kneelers, and prie-dieus (movable kneelers) will no longer be permitted in the diocese, and any “temporary or movable fixtures used for kneeling for the reception of Communion” must be removed.

In the letter, Martin said while an “individual member of the faithful” is free to kneel to receive and should not be denied Communion, the “normative posture for all the faithful in the United States is standing,” per guidelines from the U.S. bishops.

In May, a leaked draft of a letter detailed Martin’s intended reforms of traditional practices in the diocese. In the letter, the bishop said that because “there is no mention in the conciliar documents, the reform of the liturgy, or current liturgical documents concerning the use of altar rails or kneelers for the distribution of holy Communion, they are not to be employed in the Diocese of Charlotte.”

Also in the May letter, Martin said it was “simply absurd” to suggest that “kneeling is more reverent than standing.”

Martin said in his Dec.17 letter that it is his “intention to continue to facilitate ‘peace and unity’ in our liturgies.”

A Charlotte priest who spoke to CNA on the condition of anonymity said of Martin’s “heavy-handed” approach to reform: “Everybody’s had it.”

“If the priests of the diocese were asked for a vote of no confidence, a vast majority would vote that way,” he said. 

“Unfortunately, Bishop Martin’s style of leadership has been a source of division for the diocese since his arrival and there does not seem to be any course correction after many appeals. It has been painful for many across the diocese,” he continued.

“Why is kneeling a problem? Why go to such lengths to force these changes?” he asked. Receiving communion is “the most intimate moment of the week for people, who are receiving their God. Why go through all this bad PR? I don’t understand it.”

“It’s going to be a train wreck,” he continued, speaking of the continued opposition to the bishop’s reforms. 

He told CNA he is hopeful the matter will be addressed at the upcoming consistory of cardinals in Rome.

A letter by an anonymous canon lawyer also began circulating last week throughout the Charlotte Diocese in response to Martin’s Dec. 17 letter.

In the anonymous letter, Martin is accused of ignoring the role of synodality in his decision-making. He is also accused of ignoring the feedback of his presbyteral council. 

Writing to Martin, the letter-writer told him that the “decision to prohibit altar rails and aids to kneeling relies on your own preference rather than the law or the tradition of the Church.”

Matthew Hazell, a British liturgy scholar, told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, in May that Martin’s perspective was consistent with what Pope Benedict XVI famously described as a “hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture.” 

“Rather than allow the novus ordo to be celebrated in a manner in keeping with its own rubrics and with the Church’s tradition, Bishop Martin seems to see it as an entirely new creation that cannot even be seen to have anything in common with what came before,” Hazell told the Register.

Parishes that kneel reportedly provide lion’s share of vocations

According to Brian Williams, an advocate for Charlotte’s Traditional Latin Mass community, of the diocese’s 44 seminarians, “at least 75% are from parishes where kneeling has been the practice to receive holy Communion.”

Williams said his small parish, where kneeling is the norm, has produced seven seminarians recently. 

He told CNA that the ”mega parishes that have embraced these liturgical changes” have provided “maybe two of the 44 seminarians even though they account for tens of thousands of families.” 

One of the largest Catholic parishes in the country, St. Matthew Catholic Church, does not have altar rails. Willliams said there is “one seminarian from there right now, and not more than six men ordained from there in its entire history.” 

“They do a lot of great things, but they’re not providing vocations,” Williams said.

In September, despite a great deal of pushback, Martin canceled the Traditional Latin Mass in all but one small chapel that is not large enough to house the diocese’s burgeoning Latin Mass community. 

He initially tried to cancel the Mass several months earlier than the timeline set by his predecessor, Bishop Peter Jugis, but decided in the summer to allow the Mass to continue.

“It falls to every member of the body of Christ to facilitate unity in our celebrations. These norms for our diocese move us together toward the Church’s vision for the fuller and more active participation of the faithful, especially emphasized by our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, at the beginning of his Petrine ministry,” Martin wrote in the December letter.

In the May letter, Martin described how priestly vestments with too much lace or decoration would be prohibited in the diocese. That letter also decried the use of Latin in any Masses other than ones in which most of the attendees understand Latin, such as “a specific gathering of scholars, clergy, or those trained in classical music.”

Martin said pastors who incorporate Latin into their Masses are not being “pastorally sensitive,” writing that “the faithful’s full, conscious, and active participation is hindered wherever Latin is employed.” 

“Most of our faithful do not understand and will never comprehend the Latin language, especially those on the periphery. It is fallacious to think that if we employ Latin more frequently, the faithful will get used to it and finally understand it,” he claimed. 

When Martin concelebrated the Mass with several other bishops this summer at a parish that traditionally kneels at an altar rail to receive, per his direction, Communion was distributed in front of the altar rail to discourage parishioners from kneeling. 

Nevertheless, a video showed parishioners kneeling anyway, many of them elderly women who needed assistance standing up after receiving.

The Diocese of Charlotte declined multiple requests for comment.

The Berlaymont building in Brussels, seat of the European Commission. / Credit: EmDee/Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 23, 2025 / 16:25 pm (CNA).

The European Commission has decided to withdraw funding from the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe.

Rome’s International Conference on Human Trafficking was held at the Pontifical Gregorian University on Dec. 10, 2025. / Credit: EWTN News/Screenshot

Rome Newsroom, Dec 23, 2025 / 15:55 pm (CNA).

Fifty million people are currently being trafficked around the world, according to the 2023 Global Slavery Index, driving over $236 billion into the hands of criminals, with numbers continuing to rise.

The 2024 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report documented that between 2019 and 2022 the number of identified trafficking victims increased by 25%, forced labor rose by 47%, and the number of child victims rose by 31%, with a dominating 38% increase in girls. 

Earlier this month, the Sovereign Order of Malta, Praeveni Global, the Santa Marta Group, and the Institute of Anthropology of the Pontifical Gregorian University organized an international conference in Rome to discuss prevention efforts, strengthen collaboration, and promote comprehensive action plans. 

Conference panelists included law enforcement, activists, United Nations rapporteurs, and human rights experts as well as appearances from Cardinal Fabio Baggio, the undersecretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and Pam Bondi, attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Survivor testimony

Among those participating in the conference was Karla De la Cuesta, who was rescued alongside other girls from the hands of her traffickers in Mexico.

“We were victims of human trafficking in different ways,” De la Cuesta told EWTN News, explaining that their forms of exploitation included “abuse, sexual exploitation, labor slavery, torture, unlawful deprivation of liberty, forced marriages, forced abortions — multiple crimes committed against us.”

It was thanks to the intervention of Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization) that De la Cuesta’s alleged perpetrators were caught and the girls were able to return home. 

After becoming a lawyer and an activist, De la Cuesta studied her own case file in great depth. More than 10 victims had testified before authorities in her case, but those authorities did not act in accordance with the law or open proper investigations into their cases. This led De la Cuesta to write a book: “All in the Light: The Criminal Case that Mexico Left in the Darkness.”

“I [wrote] about all of this analysis I carried out as a lawyer and activist, hand-in-hand with other experts, where I specifically laid out all of these … omissions on the part of the authorities.”

The publications of De la Cuesta’s findings didn’t come without repercussions. “The Mexican state brought against me great retaliation, brutal attacks,” she said. “Which is why in less than six months after the publication of my book, I had to leave my country and now I live in Spain seeking international protection.”

De la Cuesta highlighted that the existence of safeguarding laws is not enough — the laws need to be enforced.

“In my country, we have a wonderful law, but in reality, it does not end up addressing the actual needs,” she stated. “There is no proper prevention, no proper prosecution, and no proper protection for the victims.”

De la Cuesta said no one should ever have to endure what survivors of human trafficking have lived through. While the harm cannot be undone, she emphasized that resilience is still possible, even in the face of pain that often lasts a lifetime. 

“We can indeed make flowers grow from these wounds,” she said.

Trafficking and pornography go together

The trafficking of children is increasing globally. Not only is it an issue across borders but also in places where children should feel their safest — at home. 

A member of the conference panel, Reem Alsalem, U.N. special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, spoke about how human trafficking and pornography are often interconnected.

“Pornography is a system of online prostitution,” Alsalem said. “So by definition it is exploitative, abusive, and preys on women and girls. Some of the violence and abuse that they’re exposed to happens also through trafficking. They are trafficked for the purpose of being sexually exploited in pornography.”

Alsalem refuted the widely used argument that consuming consensual pornography is the better option.

“Many digital platforms and businesses involved in pornography, first of all, use nonconsensual material; second, many of the women and children that appear in these images and material have been coerced, have been forced, have been threatened and again, as we said, especially the adults have not consented to this, even after they have requested that this material be removed many of these platforms have refused to do so,” she said.

‘Written into the Gospel’

Another panelist at the conference was pyschologist and theologian Father Hans Zollner, director of the Institute of Anthropology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. The Jesuit priest is known for his work in the field of safeguarding against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

“What we need to do … is to understand that child protection or the safeguarding of all people is something that is written into the Gospel,” he told conference participants. He said he believes the Church has made a lot of progress in the last 12 years in terms of supporting victims, especially those who have been subject to clergy abuse.

“If we understood it better and if it was integrated better and more wholeheartedly, that would also come with an openness to listening to stories of victims who want to share with us their life experience,” he said.

Zollner continued to say that evil has been in the world since the beginning of humanity and that there is no salvation from crime and sins except in the perspective of our future in heaven.

“Jesus Christ himself has been a victim of violence,” Zollner said. “And he suffered death because he was unjustly treated.”

“So we believe that he has risen, and that gives us hope that with all the evil that is happening today we still have some hope, some perspective — that this is not the end of it, that the violence and harm we do to each other as human beings is not the last word.”