Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church

The opening Mass of SEEK25 in Salt Lake City took place the night of New Year’s Day on the feast of Mary, Mother of God. The hymn “Sing of Mary” rang out as well over 100 priests processed through the main hall, including Salt Lake City’s Bishop Oscar Solis, who gave the homily. / Credit: Kate Quinones/CNA

Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan 2, 2025 / 20:45 pm (CNA).

More than 21,000 people have begun the new year seeking Jesus at the biggest Catholic young adult conference of the year in the U.S., being held in two locations. SEEK25, organized by Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), runs Jan. 1–5 in Salt Lake City and Jan. 2–5 in Washington, D.C.

The four-day program brings together Catholics from across North America. This year’s registration hit a new record with 17,274 paid participants in Salt Lake City. In addition to the second location in Washington, D.C., with a sold-out crowd of 3,355 registrants, SEEK also has a smaller conference in Cologne, Germany, this year with 486 registered attendees.

A large chunk of attendees in Salt Lake City have come from FOCUS campuses, where FOCUS missionaries help build Catholic communities on campus. About 11,084 students from FOCUS campuses were registered for SEEK, an increase of 16% since last year. Another 1,672 students came from non-FOCUS campuses, an increase of 36%. 

The event also brought 46 bishops, up from the record-setting number of 44 last year. 

While SEEK is geared to college students, adults on the “Making Missionary Disciples” track also attend the event as well as families with young children. 

At the conference center, Salt Palace, SEEK attendees were full of life, lining the walls, filling the hallways, cheering and waving flags representing their various universities. 

The exuberant crowd of mostly young adults grew quiet when the opening Mass began, which took place the night of New Year’s Day on the feast of Mary, Mother of God. The hymn “Sing of Mary” rang out as well over 100 priests processed through the main hall, including Salt Lake City’s Bishop Oscar Solis. It took two processional songs for all the priests to process in, kiss the altar, and take their seats. 

During the homily, Solis focused on the new year as well as the 2025 Jubilee of Hope.

SEEK is known for its keynote talks, which this year are being livestreamed by EWTN. 

The first keynote of the conference was Arthur Brooks, a Harvard professor and author, who spoke about happiness. In his talk, Brooks highlighted how satisfaction isn’t permanent, and happiness comes from having meaning in life. 

“Having meaning is key,” he told SEEK attendees. “The why of your life is paramount.”

Brooks noted that many in our culture have encountered a loss of meaning, which he connected with the mental health crisis. It’s hard to find happiness when you don’t know the “why” of your life, he said.

Sister Mary Grace, SV, an Australian Sister of Life and another keynote, focused on meaning, Christ, and God’s rest. She noted that all of us are “seeking true rest” and that “God can insert glory into every single story, to the exception and the exclusion of no one. 

“Resting in peace was never just reserved for the faithful departed, or the retired, or those able to afford it,” Sister Mary Grace told the attendees. “Genesis itself reveals that God spent six days creating, but the culmination does not come to the seventh, when God rests and we take rest in him. God’s rest is the only remedy for heavy hearts.”

The conference continued in full swing on Thursday, Jan. 2, with a morning rosary followed by Mass. Incense still hung in the air as participants divided into separate halls for the men’s and women’s breakout sessions. Hoards of men marched off for a session with Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, president of Franciscan University, while the women gathered for a talk by Fallon Scanlan, a longtime FOCUS employee who spoke on what it means to be a woman. 

The rest of the day was filled with breakout sessions from speakers including Tammy Peterson, podcaster and wife of psychologist and author Jordan Peterson, who spoke on gratitude and her recent conversion to Catholicism, and Trent Horn, Catholic Answers apologist and author, who shared his conversion story in a talk called “Why We Are Catholic.”  

Between breakout sessions, attendees wandered around the “Mission Way,” a large section of booths manned by representatives of Catholic apostolates, colleges, and religious orders.

Taking the stage in the evening is Father Mike Schmitz followed by opportunities for prayer and community, including swing dancing and line dancing.

null / Credit: Orhan Cam/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 2, 2025 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

President Joe Biden will award a pro-abortion activist and two same-sex marriage proponents with the Presidential Citizens Medal — one of the highest civilian awards an American can receive.

The medal is awarded to Americans who “have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens,” according to a Thursday, Jan. 2, news release from the White House. The pro-abortion and same-sex marriage activists were three of 20 people to receive the honor at a White House ceremony on Thursday.

“President Biden believes these Americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to serving others,” the White House news release stated. “The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice.”

Biden, the nation’s second Catholic president, has long been at odds with Church teachings about the sanctity of human life and human sexuality. Earlier this year, Biden awarded former Planned Parenthood leader Cecile Richards with the highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom.

Other recipients named included civil rights activists, lawmakers, and veterans. 

Eleanor Smeal, abortion activist

The longtime feminist activist Eleanor Smeal, who is the president of the Feminist Majority Foundation and former president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), was one of Thursday’s Presidential Citizens Medal recipients. 

While working as the president of NOW in 1986, Smeal led the first national abortion rights march in Washington, D.C., with more than 100,000 protesters, according to the Feminist Majority Foundation. She has campaigned for the Equal Rights Amendment and has spoken against pro-life laws that restrict abortion.

Smeal, who was raised Catholic, has also been critical of the Vatican and the Catholic Church for its teachings about the sanctity of life, its opposition to birth control, and its teachings about human sexuality.

In 1987, Smeal was arrested during a protest at the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See — the Vatican’s embassy — in which speakers criticized the Church’s teachings about homosexuality, abortion, and birth control, according to the Washington Post.

“Because of my sex, I am second-class forever in my church,” Smeal said at the time. “Because of my sex, I could have been condemned to death at an early age [if I did not disobey the Church ban on birth control].”

When President George W. Bush nominated Samuel Alito to serve as a Supreme Court justice in 2005, Smeal warned about his Catholic faith, writing that “the majority of the court would be Roman Catholics, which would underrepresent other religions, not to mention nonbelievers.”

Mary L. Bonauto, gay marriage activist

One of the lawyers who argued on behalf of same-sex marriage in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, Mary L. Bonauto, was also awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal on Thursday. 

Bonauto, who was also raised Catholic, is the senior director of civil rights and legal strategies for GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD). She argued on behalf of clients in Michigan and Kentucky who were fighting against the states’ bans on same-sex marriage. 

In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that state bans on same-sex marriage violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution and forced all 50 states to provide marriage licenses to homosexual couples who sought them.

Before the Supreme Court ruling, Bonauto also fought legal cases in favor of same-sex marriage in Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maine. 

“Her efforts made millions of families whole and forged a more perfect union,” the White House news release stated.

Bonauto also wrote an amicus brief in favor of Philadelphia’s refusal to contract with Catholic Social Services because of its policy of not placing children with same-sex couples. The Supreme Court unanimously sided with Catholic Social Services on religious freedom grounds.

Evan Wolfson, advocate for same-sex marriage

Biden also awarded Evan Wolfson, a lawyer and the founder of Freedom to Marry who advocated for the nationwide legality of same-sex marriage, with the Presidential Citizens Medal.

“For 32 years, starting with a visionary law school thesis, Evan Wolfson worked with singular focus and untiring optimism to change not just the law, but society — pioneering a political playbook for change and sharing its lessons, even now, with countless causes worldwide,” the White House statement read. 

Wolfson also served as co-counsel in a Hawaii lawsuit against the state’s ban on same-sex marriage in the 1990s, according to Freedom to Marry. He has worked on numerous other legal cases in favor of legal rights for homosexuals and in cases related to HIV and AIDS, according to the organization.

Civil rights activists, lawmakers, and veterans receive medals

Biden also awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to 17 other people, including civil rights activists, lawmakers, and veterans.

This included a posthumous award to Collins J. Seitz, who was the first judge to integrate a white public school, which the White House news release stated “tore down walls of separation to help us see each other as fellow Americans.” Another posthumous medal went to Louis Lorenzo Redding, a Black attorney who argued against racial segregation in two cases, which “[laid] the legal framework for Brown v. Board of Education,” according to the White House.

Biden also awarded a medal to former Republican Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, who represented Kansas from 1978 to 1987 for “supporting a woman’s right to choose [and] reforming health care” among other things. In 1983, Kassebaum was one of 19 Republicans to oppose a constitutional amendment, which would have allowed states to pass pro-life laws restricting abortion. 

The president also awarded the medal to lawmakers who served on the United States House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 Attack, including former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson. 

Biden also presented a medal to Thomas J. Vallely, a Vietnam War veteran who helped restore relations with the country after the war; and Diane Carlson Evans, an Army nurse in the Vietnam War who founded the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation.

A sign for the Allstate Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame is seen outside the Louisiana Superdome after at least 15 people were killed on Bourbon Street in a terror attack in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2025, in New Orleans. The game was postponed and rescheduled for Thursday, Jan. 2. / Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Jan 2, 2025 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

Notre Dame football fans packed a New Orleans hotel ballroom on Wednesday morning for Mass, offering prayers for those killed during a deadly terrorist attack in the French Quarter in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

The Mass, which is a tradition for Notre Dame fans and had already been scheduled for Jan. 1 — a holy day of obligation — attracted some 500 attendees to the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, just a 20-minute walk from the French Quarter.

Father Nathan Wills, chaplain for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, told the South Bend Tribune in an interview following Mass that prayer in the face of tragedy is “what we do.” New Orleans on Wednesday was to host this year’s college football Sugar Bowl game between No. 2-ranked Georgia and No. 3 Notre Dame, which was postponed and rescheduled for Thursday afternoon.

“In the midst of tragedy, we come together in prayer and faith in Our Lord. There’s no darkness that he can’t overcome. That’s the hope, seeing everybody praying together and singing together,” Wills told the Tribune.

Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texan and Army veteran, slammed an electric pickup truck into a crowd of people at a New Year’s celebration on the city’s famed Bourbon Street, killing 14 and injuring dozens of others. The FBI said Jabbar, who was killed in a shootout with police, likely acted alone and appeared to be inspired by the so-called Islamic State. 

Before closing the Mass with “Joy to the World,” the congregants at the Wednesday Mass locked arms and swayed as they sang Notre Dame’s “Alma Mater” in the same way fans do at the end of Notre Dame football games.

“It was absolutely beautiful,” Wills told the Tribune. “I got choked up at the end there, really. Seeing everybody together in faith, that’s what Notre Dame is about, right?”

Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans offered prayers Wednesday morning for the victims of the attack, calling the incident “a sign of utter disrespect for human life.” Pope Francis also prayed for the victims, sending a condolence message to Aymond on Jan. 2 offering prayers for the souls of the deceased as well as the healing and consolation of the injured and bereaved.

FBI officials have said they are also looking for any links between the New Orleans attack and a separate incident in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day in which one person was killed and seven people were injured when a rented Tesla Cybertruck exploded into flames outside of the Trump International Hotel. 

Pope Francis waves to pilgrims and visitors gathered for the Angelus on Dec. 29, 2024, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Jan 2, 2025 / 12:40 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of January is for the right to an education.

“Today we’re experiencing an ‘educational catastrophe,’ the Holy Father said in a video released Jan. 2. “This is no exaggeration. Due to wars, migration, and poverty, some 250 million boys and girls lack education.”

“All children and youth have the right to go to school, regardless of their immigration status,” he added.

The pope called education “a hope for everyone.”

“It can save migrants and refugees from discrimination, criminal networks, and exploitation — so many minors are exploited! It can help them integrate into the communities who host them.”

He pointed out that “education opens the doors to a better future.”

“In this way, migrants and refugees can contribute to society, either in their new country or in their country of origin, should they decide to return,” he said.

The Holy Father urged the faithful to never forget “that whoever welcomes the foreigner welcomes Jesus Christ.”

He concluded with a prayer: “Let us pray for migrants, refugees, and those affected by war, that their right to an education, which is necessary to build a more human world, might always be respected.”

Pope Francis’ prayer video is promoted by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which raises awareness of monthly papal prayer intentions.

Pope Francis on April 25, 2023, appointed Bishop Timothy Senior as bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. / Credit: Archdiocese of Philadelphia

CNA Staff, Jan 2, 2025 / 11:20 am (CNA).

Harrisburg Bishop Timothy Senior is urging Catholics to combat human trafficking in Pennsylvania and beyond, calling on elected leaders to address the crisis and for citizens to take steps to fight it in their communities. 

In a Dec. 29 pastoral letter, the first Senior has issued since becoming bishop of Harrisburg in June 2023, the prelate said he was “shocked and appalled” to learn about the extent of human trafficking “within our own diocesan territory.”

Within the diocese “there are networks of human trafficking, particularly along the main corridors of travel, enslaving many individuals through illicit indentured servitude,” the bishop wrote. 

Human trafficking does not occur in a vacuum, Senior noted, but rather stems from issues and crises including immigration, drug addiction, labor violations, and pornography. 

A 2024 joint report by the International Organization for Migration, the International Labor Organization, and the human rights group Walk Free found that on average more than 50 million people are enslaved in the world at any given time.

Senior told his diocese that trafficking is “not a problem that only happens somewhere else.” The National Human Trafficking Hotline in 2023 ranked Pennsylvania as among the top 15 states for reported cases of human trafficking, he noted. 

“Human trafficking is in our diocese,” the bishop said, in which “scared and exploited men, women, and children are forced into labor and degrading acts so that some people can make money, and others can take advantage of them for free or cheap labor and/or sexual gratification.”

Though the prelate admitted that the situation “sounds like a bleak assessment, and it is,” he called upon the faithful to “remove the blinders from our eyes” and work to bring about change. 

The Pennsylvania bishops have repeatedly advocated legislation to combat trafficking, he said, but “this is not nearly enough.” Church authorities will “continue education efforts” and work through charity groups and other nonprofits, he said. 

The faithful, meanwhile, can take numerous steps to combat trafficking, including refraining from sins such as watching pornography and patronizing prostitution, both industries rife with abuse and human traffic.

Sins that “directly erode the dignity of others” should be proactively addressed, he argued. 

“Since these sins afflict young men at a greater percentage than young women, parents should have conversations with their sons and help them by setting up restrictions for the use of the internet and social media,” the bishop said, further urging fathers to “set good examples for their sons, especially in how they speak about women.”

Parents, meanwhile, should “speak to their children about their God-given dignity, empowering the next generations to recognize when a trafficker may be attempting to groom them.” And individuals should know when to spot signs of trafficking victims, he said, including signs of malnourishment and physical abuse.

The bishop expressed hope that the spirit of the jubilee year will help the faithful “be the instruments of grace and mercy who help to set captives free.”

Pope Francis has repeatedly spoken out against human trafficking. In May the Holy Father described the crime as “one of the most terrible scourges of our time” that disrespects and disregards human dignity and delivers “large profits to people without moral scruples.”

It is “never too late to take action” against human trafficking, the pope said in February 2024.

Also last year, the U.S. bishops urged Congress to pass a bill aiming to combat human trafficking that would, among other things, provide grants to aid organizations in areas with high rates of trafficking.

Pope Francis prays during his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Oct. 9, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Jan 2, 2025 / 09:40 am (CNA).

Pope Francis offered his condolences after 15 people were killed in New Orleans when a U.S. Army veteran drove a pickup truck with an Islamic State flag into a crowd celebrating the New Year.

The pope sent a condolence message to New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond on Jan. 2 offering prayers for the souls of the deceased as well as the healing and consolation of the injured and bereaved. 

“His Holiness Pope Francis was deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the attack that took place in New Orleans,” said the message sent on the pope’s behalf by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

“In assuring the entire community of his spiritual closeness, His Holiness commends the souls of those who have died to the loving mercy of Almighty God and prays for the healing and consolation of the injured and bereaved. As a pledge of peace and strength in the Lord, the Holy Father sends his blessing.”

The New Orleans attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism by the FBI, which believes that the driver, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, did not act alone. Jabbar was killed in a shootout with police after driving a truck with an explosive device into a crowd of people celebrating the new year in New Orleans’ French Quarter three hours after midnight.

President Joe Biden said Wednesday evening that the driver had posted videos to social media saying that he was inspired by the Islamic State group in the hours before what Biden called the “heinous act.”

About 30 other people were injured by the New Orleans attack, including two police officers wounded by gunfire from the suspect, according to Reuters. 

Among the 15 victims were a mother of a 4-year-old, an 18-year-old aspiring nurse from Mississippi, and a student-athlete who was visiting home for the holidays.

“Our prayers go out to those killed and injured in this morning’s horrific attack on Bourbon Street,” Aymond said in a brief statement released on the archdiocese’s website.

“This violent act is a sign of utter disrespect for human life,” he said. “I join with others in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans in offering prayerful support to the victims’ families. I give thanks for the heroic duty of hundreds of law enforcement and medical personnel in the face of such evil.”

FBI officials have said they are also looking for any links with a separate incident in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day in which one person was killed and seven people were injured when a rented Tesla Cybertruck exploded into flames outside of the Trump International Hotel.

This month is the Feast of Epiphany, when we celebrate the coming of the magi to the Christ child and recognize that Jesus came for all—Gentiles and Jews, even mysterious “astrologers from the east.” When I read the texts this year, however, the part of the story that sticks out to me isn’t the magi […]

The post Follow the magi and stand up to modern-day Herods appeared first on U.S. Catholic.

Pilgrims cross the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Dec. 25, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

ACI Prensa Staff, Jan 2, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A jubilee is one of the most significant events of the Catholic Church that occurs only every 25 years.

With the beginning of the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, there are many questions the faithful may ask: What can the jubilee contribute to my life of faith? What is a Holy Door? What is a jubilee church? How can I participate if I don’t go on pilgrimage to Rome? The answers to these and other questions will help Catholics understand the value of this exceptional time of grace.

The importance of a jubilee

Why is the jubilee such an important event for Catholics? The answer is simple: It offers an extraordinary opportunity to attain salvation and experience that God’s holiness can transform us. Ultimately, it is a gift that helps us reach heaven.

Why? Because it makes available to the faithful all the easy means to obtain benefits from the “treasury” of the Church, for example, a plenary indulgence, which returns the soul to the state it was in when it received baptism.

Speaking with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Father Giuseppe Bonomo, an Italian priest at the Atri Cathedral in Teramo, Italy — where there is a Holy Door instituted by Pope St. Celestine V — emphasized that the jubilee is also a unique time for “personal and community conversion.”

In fact, during each month of the year, one or more jubilees dedicated to different groups will be celebrated in Rome. In January, for example, there is the Jubilee of the World of Communications, in February the Jubilee of Artists, in April the Jubilee of Teenagers, in May the Jubilee of Confraternities. You can consult the calendar here.

Two indulgences in one day?

In the sacrament of penance sins are forgiven. However, the temporal punishment required by divine justice remains. The indulgence grants the remission of all temporal punishment in purgatory, so that if a person dies after receiving this gift, he or she goes directly to heaven.

The immense value and profound significance that this “treasure” contains makes it a privilege reserved for specific places and times designated for it to be granted. This is where the greatness of the jubilee year lies, a time when the opportunities to obtain it are multiplied — even twice in one day!

Although there is a rule that only one plenary indulgence can be obtained per day, during the jubilee year a second one can be obtained if it is done for the souls in purgatory, i.e., the second one will be applicable only to the deceased.

Requirements to obtain the jubilee indulgence

To obtain the jubilee indulgence it is important first to know how it is granted (the requirements) and second, where (the specific place or times) it is granted. With the arrival of the Jubilee of Hope, the Vatican noted the three usual conditions:

“All the faithful, who are truly repentant and free from any affection for sin, who are moved by a spirit of charity and who, during the holy year, purified through the sacrament of penance and refreshed by holy Communion, pray for the intentions of the supreme pontiff, will be able to obtain from the treasury of the Church a plenary indulgence, with remission and forgiveness of all their sins, which can be applied in suffrage to the souls in purgatory,” the document states.

How can one experience the Jubilee 2025 without going on pilgrimage to Rome?

During the year 2025, Catholics will be able to obtain the indulgence on pilgrimages to any holy place of the jubilee, those churches designated for this purpose. In Rome, in addition to the four main basilicas, there are 13 other churches.

The Eternal City is undoubtedly the center of the 2025 Jubilee, and during the year it expects to welcome 30 million people. However, if one cannot go on pilgrimage to Rome, there are many other ways to obtain the indulgence and experience a true conversion and strengthening of faith.

Bonomo explained to ACI Prensa that any Catholic who wishes can do so in his or her own city. “You must ask your bishop how many churches there are in your diocese” with these qualifications, he explained. 

“There are many jubilee churches! And of course you can obtain the plenary indulgence in these churches,” he said.

You can also obtain it if you visit sacred places such as Marian shrines or other basilicas. You can check which ones here.

It can also be received by performing works of mercy and penance, such as visiting those in need or in difficulty (the sick, prisoners, the lonely elderly, etc.), even by abstaining, at least for one day, from “trivial distractions,” such as social media and “superfluous consumption.”

In addition, those who cannot participate in pilgrimages for “serious reasons” can gain the indulgence if they recite “the Our Father, the Profession of Faith in any approved form, and other prayers in conformity with the objectives of the holy year … offering up their sufferings or the hardships of their lives.”

What is a Holy Door and how many are there in the world?

Pope Francis officially inaugurated the 2025 Jubilee of Hope by opening the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 24, 2024. Passing through a Holy Door during the jubilee symbolizes entry into a new life in Christ and the beginning of a journey of conversion.

Bonomo noted that Holy Doors “can be permanent or not.” The first category includes only nine in the whole world: “The most famous is that of St. Peter in the Vatican, followed by those of the three major basilicas in Rome: St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls, and St. Mary Major.”

“But there are also others outside Rome, such as the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela [Spain], the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio in L’Aquila [Italy], the Basilica-Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Québec [Canada], the Atri Cathedral [Italy], and Sacred Heart Cathedral in New Delhi [India],” he added.

Furthermore, the Italian priest explained that “the basilicas with permanent Holy Doors have their own statutes.” For example, “the Basilica of Atri is open every year from Aug. 14–22, while those in Rome are open only during a jubilee year,” he continued.

In the case of Santiago de Compostela, a holy year occurs when July 25, the saint’s feast day, falls on a Sunday. During that year, the plenary indulgence can be obtained at the cathedral.

The ‘nonpermanent’ Holy Doors

Nonpermanent Holy Doors are those that are opened only for a specific jubilee year, as on Dec. 26, 2024, when for the first time in the jubilee tradition, Pope Francis opened a Holy Door in the Rebibbia prison, located on the outskirts of Rome.

Ten years ago, during his trip to the Central African Republic, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of the Bangui cathedral, a gesture made shortly after the beginning of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy to encourage “peace in this country and the world.” In addition, on Dec. 18 of that year he opened the Holy Door of Charity in a reception center in Termini in Rome.

During the Extraordinary Jubilee of 2015, Pope Francis granted the opening of the Holy Door also in cathedral churches and allowed the dioceses to establish Holy Doors. This, however, will not happen in 2025, since this year the rules for an ordinary jubilee are followed and not an extraordinary one.

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

A Sister of the Missionaries of Charity touches the bronze Holy Door at the papal basilica during its opening for the 2025 Jubilee Year. The religious sister, wearing the distinctive white and blue habit of the order founded by Mother Teresa, joins other faithful in this traditional gesture of devotion as they pass through the ceremonial door on Jan. 1, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

CNA Newsroom, Jan 1, 2025 / 16:17 pm (CNA).

The pealing of a precious ancient bell marked a momentous beginning to the 2025 Jubilee Year at Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major, where Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas opened the Holy Door on Jan. 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.

The Lithuanian cardinal, elevated to the College of Cardinals in December 2024, presided over the ceremony at Rome’s preeminent Marian shrine, where the “Bell of the Lost” rang out across the Eternal City from atop the Esquiline Hill.

In his homily, Makrickas emphasized the bell’s spiritual significance, noting how it has called pilgrims to prayer since the Church’s first jubilee and continues to serve as a sonic symbol of Mary’s guidance, much like the “Star of the Sea” that illuminates the darkness.

“Every pilgrim who crosses the threshold of the Holy Door of this first Marian shrine of the West during the jubilee year will pray before the icon of the Mother of God, Salus Populi Romani, and before the sacred crib of Jesus,” the cardinal said during his homily.

The papal basilica, also known as the “Bethlehem of the West,” houses both the venerated icon of Mary and relics of Christ’s crib. Makrickas highlighted how these sacred objects connect to Pope Francis’ document “Spes Non Confundit,” which announced the jubilee year.

Quoting the papal bull, the cardinal reminded the faithful that pilgrims are especially invited to “make a prayer stop at the Marian shrines of the city to venerate the Virgin Mary and invoke her protection.”

The basilica’s location at the center of a star-shaped road network symbolically evokes the Star of Bethlehem, Makrickas noted, reflecting its 1,600-year mission to serve as “a bright star, at the service of the True Light, pointing to the Savior, true God and true man, born of the Virgin Mary.”

The cardinal concluded his homily by entrusting the jubilee year to the Mother of God, praying that she might lead all pilgrims to Jesus, “the fullness of time, of all time, of everyone’s time.”

Daniel Ibáñez contributed to this report.

FBI investigators arrive at the scene where a pickup truck crashed into a work lift after allegedly driving into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in the French Quarter of New Orleans on Jan. 1, 2025. / Credit: MATTHEW HINTON/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Jan 1, 2025 / 11:50 am (CNA).

Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans offered prayers Wednesday morning after the driver of a pickup truck drove into a crowd of people at a New Year’s celebration on the city’s famed Bourbon Street, killing at least 15 and injuring dozens of others. The incident is being investigated by the FBI as an act of terrorism, according to the Associated Press.

“Our prayers go out to those killed and injured in this morning’s horrific attack on Bourbon Street,” Aymond said in a brief statement released on the archdiocese’s website and Facebook page. “This violent act is a sign of utter disrespect for human life.”

According to police, the driver — who was identified by the FBI on Wednesday afternoon as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas — sped through a crowd on Bourbon Street at about 3:15 a.m. Wednesday as partygoers were celebrating the start of the new year. At least 15 people were killed and 35 others were injured and taken to five area hospitals. After the vehicle stopped, the suspect reportedly exchanged gunfire with police and was killed, the AP reported. At least two officers were wounded and taken to a local hospital.

“I join with others in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans in offering prayerful support to the victims’ families,” Aymond’s statement continued. “I give thanks for the heroic duty of hundreds of law enforcement and medical personnel in the face of such evil.”

Police Commissioner Anne Kirkpatrick said the driver was “hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did” and tried “to run over as many people as he could,” according to the AP.

Officials said the truck Jabbar drove had on it a flag of the Islamic State. The vehicle also had weapons and a “potential” explosive device, the New York Times reported, and other potential explosives were found in the French Quarter.

The city of New Orleans is host to this year’s college football Sugar Bowl game between No. 2-ranked Georgia and No. 3 Notre Dame. On Wednesday afternoon it was announced that the game, which was scheduled to be played that evening, would be postponed, the Times reported.

Wednesday’s incident comes a couple of weeks after a car driven by a Saudi Arabian immigrant rammed into a crowd at a Christmas market in the central German city of Magdeburg, killing five people, according to media reports.

This story was updated on Jan. 1, 2025, at 1:57 p.m. ET with information on the identity of the driver, at 2:26 p.m. ET with information about the Sugar Bowl, and at 6:14 p.m. ET with the updated death toll.