Pope Leo XIV passes through the Holy Door carrying the jubilee cross as he leads the pilgrimage of the Holy See on June 9, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Dec 18, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Just a few weeks remain until the closing of the holy year, which was inaugurated by Pope Francis on Dec. 24, 2024. On Jan. 6, 2026, Pope Leo XIV will be the one to close the enormous bronze door of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, through which nearly 30 million pilgrims have passed during the last 12 months seeking a plenary indulgence. 

This Holy Door is slated to be reopened in 2033, when the Church celebrates the Extraordinary Holy Year of the Redemption.

The schedule for closing rites of the Holy Doors of the main papal basilicas in Rome is as follows:

The first Holy Door to be closed — and which will remain walled up until the next jubilee — is that of St. Mary Major Basilica. The rite will take place on Dec. 25, as reported by the Holy See Press Office. The ceremony will be begin at 6 p.m. local time, followed by Mass celebrated by the cardinal archpriest of the basilica, Rolandas Makrickas.

Two days later, on Dec. 27 at 11 a.m. local time, the closing ceremony at St. John Lateran Basilica will be presided over by the cardinal vicar of Rome, Baldassare Reina, who will celebrate the Eucharist, and will feature the participation of the diocesan choir, directed by Monsignor Marco Frisina.

On Dec. 28 at 10 a.m. local time, the Holy Door of St. Paul Outside the Walls Basilica will be closed. The solemn event will be presided over by Cardinal Archpriest James Michael Harvey.

Finally, on Jan. 6, 2026, the solemnity of the Epiphany, Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to close the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica before celebrating the Mass that will mark the concluding act of the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope. On that occasion, the pontiff will invite pilgrims to return to Rome in 2033 for the Extraordinary Holy Year of Redemption.

The Holy Doors, as is tradition, have been solely those of the four papal basilicas of Rome: St. Peter’s in the Vatican, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul Outside the Walls. However, on Dec. 26, two days after officially inaugurating the holy year, Pope Francis made an exception by traveling to the Rebibbia prison in Rome to repeat this gesture at another door as a symbol of hope.

The late pope wanted to extend this gesture of grace to prisoners by opening the door of this correctional facility in the Italian capital.

The date on which the closing ceremony for this fifth Holy Door will take place has yet to be announced.

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

Catholic faithful gather on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, in St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral in Dublin to celebrate two milestones: a decree from Pope Leo XIV formally designating St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Dublin and the cathedral’s bicentenary. / Credit: John McElroy/Dublin Archdiocese

Dublin, Ireland, Dec 18, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Following a report in one of Ireland’s mainstream media publications, the Archdiocese of Dublin has moved to clarify questions raised about its financial security.

This image is preserved in the Church of San Vital, built in 386, in Rome. / Credit: Victoria Cardiel/EWTN News

Rome Newsroom, Dec 17, 2025 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

The Church of St. Vitale is the oldest Christian church still standing in the center of Rome and contains the first image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Rome.

Bishop Ronald A. Hicks of Joliet, Illinois. / Credit: Diocese of Joliet YouTube video

Vatican City, Dec 17, 2025 / 09:58 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has chosen Bishop Ronald Hicks of the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois, to be the next archbishop of New York — the most consequential U.S. episcopal appointment of Leo’s pontificate thus far.

The appointment was confirmed by EWTN News with two independent sources with direct knowledge of the appointment.

Hicks, 58, will succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who has led New York, the second-largest U.S. archdiocese by population — with 2.5 million Catholics — since 2009.

The choice of Hicks for one of the most important U.S. archdioceses is likely to be heavily scrutinized for the insight it may give into the direction Pope Leo wishes to take the Church in the U.S.

A native of Illinois, Hicks has led the Joliet Diocese since September 2020. He was an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Chicago from 2018 to 2020, following three years as the archdiocese’s vicar general from 2015 to 2018.

Hicks was born on Aug. 4, 1967, in the town of Harvey, Illinois, south of Chicago, and grew up in South Holland, one suburb over from Dolton, where Pope Leo XIV grew up.

“I recognize a lot of similarities between [Pope Leo] and me,” Hicks told WGN in an interview in May. “So we grew up literally in the same radius, in the same neighborhood together. We played in the same parks, went swimming in the same pools, liked the same pizza places to go to.”

Ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1994, Hicks’ priestly ministry included time as an associate pastor and pastor, and dean of formation as St. Joseph College Seminary.

In 2005, he began a five-year term as regional director of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH) in Central America. Based in El Salvador, he oversaw the care of more than 3,400 orphaned and abandoned children in nine Latin American and Caribbean countries.

He returned to Chicago in 2010 to serve as dean of formation at Mundelein Seminary before Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago appointed him vicar general of the archdiocese on Jan. 1, 2015.

As bishop, Hicks serves on the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations for the U.S. bishops’ conference, and as the conference liaison to the Association of Ongoing Formation of Priests and the National Association of Diaconate Directors.

The Archdiocese of New York serves Catholics in the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island, and in seven counties to the north.

Pope Leo XIV spoke about the solution for restless hearts in his catechesis at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Dec. 17. 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Dec 17, 2025 / 07:30 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV said Wednesday true satisfaction is found not in the accumulation of money or things, or by “too much doing,” but by returning to Jesus Christ, the source of hope, love, and joy.

“We are absorbed by many activities that do not always leave us satisfied … We have to assume responsibility for many commitments, solve problems, face difficulties,” the pope said at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Dec. 17. 

“Yet,” he added, “we often perceive how too much doing, instead of giving us fulfillment, becomes a vortex that overwhelms us, takes away our serenity, and prevents us from living to the fullest what is truly important in our lives.”

In his catechesis, the pontiff stressed that the true value of life is not measured by “days full of activities” or economic success.

“It is therefore in the heart that true treasure is kept, not in earthly safes, not in large financial investments, which today more than ever before are out of control and unjustly concentrated at the bloody price of millions of human lives and the devastation of God’s creation,” he said.

Leo warned that this logic of accumulation ends up emptying life of meaning even for those who, from the outside, seem to have achieved success: “It is important to reflect on these aspects, because in the numerous commitments we continually face, there is an increasing risk of dispersion, sometimes of despair, of meaninglessness.”

“Human life is characterized by a constant movement that that drives us to do, to act,” he acknowledged, adding that Jesus’ resurrection can give us insight into this human experience.

“When we participate in [Christ’s] victory over death, will we rest? Faith tells us: Yes, we will rest,” the pope said. “We will not be inactive, but we will enter into God’s repose, which is peace and joy. So, should we just wait, or can this change us right now?”

The true destiny of the heart

Leo noted that many people, despite having so much, feel empty at the end of the day.

The answer, according to the pontiff, is “because we are not machines, we have a ‘heart’; indeed, we can say that we are a heart.”

He turned to the Gospel of St. Matthew to underscore the centrality of the heart, citing the words of Jesus: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Mt 6:21).

He also cited the beginning of St. Augustine’s “Confessions,” where the bishop of Hippo wrote: “Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

St. Augustine, with the adjective restless, “helps us understand the human being’s yearning for fulfillment.”

“The authentic approach of the heart,” he continued, “does not consist in possessing the goods of this world, but in achieving what can fill it completely; namely, the love of God, or rather, God who is Love.”

The Holy Father explained that this treasure is found only by “loving the neighbor we meet along the way: brothers and sisters in flesh and blood, whose presence stirs and questions our heart, calling it to open up and give itself.”

But in order to love one’s neighbor, Leo pointed out that it is necessary to “slow down” one’s pace, to “look them in the eye, sometimes to change our plans, perhaps even to change direction.”

“Here is the secret of the movement of the human heart: returning to the source of its being, delighting in the joy that never fails, that never disappoints. No one can live without a meaning that goes beyond the contingent, beyond what passes away,” he concluded.

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

Pope Leo XIV looks out from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after his election on May 8, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Although “papal fashion,” meticulously crafted down to the smallest detail, has evolved over time, the popes’ attire still holds profound symbolism that continues to capture the attention of many.

Proof of this is the recent naming of Pope Leo XIV as one of the 55 best-dressed people of 2025 by Vogue magazine, one of the most prestigious and recognized fashion and beauty publications in the world.

Pope Leo XIV shares this distinction with athletes, actors, singers, politicians, and models, including Rosalía, Rihanna, Bad Bunny, actress Jennifer Lawrence, and tennis player Venus Williams.

The American magazine, founded in 1892, highlights in its annual ranking that Leo XIV has broken “with the humble tastes of his predecessor,” Pope Francis, preserving “the papal legacy of impeccably crafted liturgical vestments.”

As the “best outfit of 2025,” the magazine cites his first appearance as pope on May 8 in the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, wearing a red satin mozzetta and a wine-colored stole, embroidered in gold and with a pectoral cross held by a golden silk cord.

The mozzetta is an elbow-length cape that falls over the shoulders and is worn over the rochet as a sign of authority, while the chasuble is the outer liturgical vestment worn over the alb and stole, and its color changes according to the liturgical season. Historically, the liturgical garment represents the “yoke of Christ” and is a symbol of charity.

Pope Francis chose not to wear these garments after his election in 2013, a gesture of simplicity that marked his pontificate and was recognized at the time by Esquire magazine, which also included him on its list of “best-dressed men,” highlighting his understated style.

The Italian Filippo Sorcinelli has established himself as one of the leading designers for recent popes, starting with Benedict XVI. Furthermore, the tailoring of the papal liturgical vestments is entrusted to the historic Gammarelli tailor shop, located near the Pantheon in the heart of the Eternal City.

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

Schoolchildren attend a ceremonial welcome and tree planting at Aras an Uachtarain, the official residence of the president of Ireland, during a state visit by His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco and his fiancee, Charlene Wittstock, on April 4, 2011, in Dublin. / Credit: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Dublin, Ireland, Dec 17, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A U.K. Supreme Court ruling has found that Christian religious education taught in schools in Northern Ireland is unlawful, but it does not apply to Catholic schools.

The European Parliament building in Brussels, Belgium. / Credit: Ala z via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)

EWTN News, Dec 17, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

The EU-Western Balkans summit on Dec. 17 in Brussels brings together European Union leaders and their counterparts from six Western Balkan nations.

St. Januarius (left) and the relic of the blood of St. Januarius. / Credit: Chapel of St. Januarius

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 16, 2025 / 12:58 pm (CNA).

The miracle of the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius, patron saint of the Italian city of Naples, occurred again on Tuesday, Dec. 16.

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

EWTN News, Dec 16, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).

A drastic cut in EU funding has plunged the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) into financial crisis, according to the association.