Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

Sister Lucia, visionary of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal. / Credit: Fatima Shrine

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 10, 2025 / 16:22 pm (CNA).

Today, Dec. 10, marks the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Sister Lucia of Fatima in Pontevedra province in Spain, where the devotion of the Five First Saturdays of the month was revealed.

After the apparitions of the Angel of Portugal in 1916, the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children — Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia — occurred in Fatima the following year.

After the deaths of her two cousins in 1919 and 1920, Lucia was placed under the protection of the bishop of Leiria, who sent her incognito to study at a school run by the Dorothean Sisters in Porto, Portugal, under the pseudonym of Dolores.

When she turned 18, she expressed the desire to enter the Discalced Carmelite order, but the Dorothean Sisters persuaded her to go to their novitiate located in Tuy, a town in Spain's Galicia region north of Portugal.

Since her identity could not be revealed, the sisters were unable to certify the studies required for her to enter the novitiate, so they sent her to Pontevedra to perform manual labor at the Dorothean Sisters' house there.

The Virgin Mary asks her to reveal the devotion of the First Saturdays

Feeling discouraged by the situation, and thinking that becoming a Carmelite nun was increasingly a distant possibility, on Dec. 10, 1925, Lucia’s cell was illuminated with a supernatural light.

"Our Lady, as if wanting to instill courage in me, gently placed her motherly hand on my right shoulder, showing me at the same time Her Immaculate Heart, which she held in her other hand, surrounded by thorns," the visionary later wrote.

At that moment, the Child Jesus, who was also present, addressed her, saying, "Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them." 

The Virgin Mary then asked Lucia to reveal the devotion of the Five First Saturdays, about which she had already spoken to her, along with Jacinta and Francisco, eight years earlier in Fatima:

“I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the rosary, and keep me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the 15 mysteries of the rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”

‘And have you revealed to the world what the Heavenly Mother has asked you?’

Five days later, on Dec. 15, 1925, according to the testimony of Lucia, who eventually became a Carmelite in 1949, while performing her assigned duties, she encountered a boy to whom she wanted to teach the Hail Mary and urged him to go to a chapel to recite a short prayer.

Several weeks passed and in February 1926, Sister Lucia said she met the boy again and asked him if he had prayed to the Virgin Mary as she had suggested. The boy turned to her and said, "And have you revealed to the world what the Heavenly Mother has asked you?”

At that moment, the boy transformed "into a resplendent child," with whom Sister Lucia continued to speak. The little boy insisted that she spread devotion to the First Saturdays because "many souls begin, but few persevere to the very end, and those who persevere do it to receive the graces promised.”

“The souls who make the five First Saturdays with fervor and to make reparation to the Heart of your Heavenly Mother, please me more than those who make fifteen, but are lukewarm and indifferent,” said the child, who confirmed that confession did not have to be immediate, provided that Communion was received in a state of grace and with the intention of making reparation.

All these events were recounted by Sister Lucia in 1927, after she went to the tabernacle on Dec. 17 to ask how to reveal this devotion if it was part of the secret communicated at Fatima.

Sister Lucia said that Jesus told her unequivocally: "My daughter, write what they ask of you; and everything that the Blessed Virgin revealed in the apparition in which she spoke of this devotion, write that down as well. As for the rest of the secret, continue to keep silent."

Sister Lucia’s time in Spain

Sister Lucia resided in Spain from 1925 to 1946. During her stay in the country, she wrote her memoirs. When the Second Republic was proclaimed in 1931, and given its anti-religious character, dressed in civilian clothes she took refuge in Rianxo, a port town also in Galicia, at the home of the sister of the superior of the Dorothean Sisters in Tuy.

She also spent a month on the island of La Toja, located off the coast, where she was advised to go because she was ill. In 1945, she traveled to Santiago de Compostela for the Holy Year.

Popular devotion

The Virgin Mary's apparitions to Sister Lucia in Pontevedra have not received official recognition from the Vatican. However, like other phenomena of the same nature, they sparked popular devotion from their very beginnings.

In the 1930s, but especially in the 1940s, after the Spanish Civil War, devotional acts and pilgrimages to the site of the apparitions multiplied, and in the following decades, associations and parish projects were established.

In the last third of the 20th century, the place became known as the Shrine of the Apparitions, yet at the beginning of the 21st century it was in danger of ruin, to the point that the Spanish Bishops’ Conference acquired the site in 2021 from the World Apostolate of Fatima association in Spain and began restoration work.

Holy Year in Pontevedra

To mark this centenary, the Holy See has granted the celebration of a jubilee year with the theme "Mary kept all these things in her heart," taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke.

The Apostolic Penitentiary has granted the apostolic blessing and a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, to pilgrims who visit the Shrine of the Apparitions in Pontevedra until Dec. 10, 2026.

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

The flag of the European Union. / Credit: U. J. Alexander/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 10, 2025 / 12:35 pm (CNA).

The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) has expressed concern about a recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, which obliges all member states to recognize so-called "homosexual marriages" legally performed in another country.

In a Dec. 9 statement, the president of COMECE, Bishop Mariano Crociata, warned that the ruling could have an impact on the legal sovereignty of each nation, since the recognition of these unions is mandatory even if they are not valid under a country’s own legal system.

The ruling concerns a same-sex Polish couple who “married” in Germany in 2018. Upon returning to Poland, the authorities refused to record their union in the civil registry. The European court has deemed this refusal contrary to EU law, meaning that all member states are now obligated to recognize the rights stemming from this bond.

Union between a man and a woman

On behalf of the Church in Europe, Crociata referred to the Church's anthropological vision, "founded on natural law," and reiterated that marriage is a "union between a man and a woman."

In this context, the Italian prelate pointed out that the ruling restricts the rights of each nation, especially those in which "the definition of marriage is part of their national identity." In his opinion, the ruling could generate "pressure to amend national family law" and also increase "legal uncertainty."

Currently, almost half of the European Union countries have not legalized same-sex unions: Poland, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and Romania.

In this regard, the bishops emphasized the need for "a prudent and cautious approach" to family law with cross-border implications and urges avoiding "undue influence" on national legal systems in Europe.

Surrogacy could be a consequence of the ruling

Crociata also cited Article 9 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which states that "The right to marry and the right to found a family shall be guaranteed in accordance with the national laws governing the exercise of these rights."

Consequently, the European bishops warned that the approach adopted in this ruling could lead to “negative developments in other sensitive areas,” such as surrogacy.

They therefore expressed their concern about “the current challenging situation in the EU and the polarization present in our societies,” warning that such rulings “can give rise to anti-European [Union] sentiments in member states and can be easily instrumentalized in this sense.”

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

Entrance to the building of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal / Credit: Adrian Grycuk / Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0 pl)

EWTN News, Dec 10, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

Poland's Constitutional Tribunal unanimously ruled Dec. 3 that the Communist Party of Poland (KPP), founded in 2002, is incompatible with the nation's 1997 constitution, citing papal encyclicals condemning communism as it effectively banned the organization and ordered its removal from the national register of political parties.

The court said the party's program embraces ideological principles and methods associated with totalitarian communist regimes, which the Polish Constitution explicitly prohibits.

"There is no place in the Polish legal system for a party that glorifies criminals and communist regimes responsible for the deaths of millions of human beings, including our compatriots," said Judge Krystyna Pawłowicz as she presented the tribunal's reasoning. "There is also no place for the use of symbols that clearly refer to the criminal ideology of communism."

Article 13 and the constitutional ban on totalitarian ideologies

In its ruling, the tribunal pointed to Article 13 of the Polish Constitution, which forbids political parties or organizations whose programs reference totalitarian methods and practices, including those associated with Nazism, fascism, or communism. The constitution also prohibits groups that promote racial or national hatred, encourage violence to seize political power, or operate with secret structures or undisclosed membership.

After reviewing the party's documents, ideology, and activities, the court concluded that the KPP's stated goals aligned with communist totalitarianism and therefore violated Article 13.

The decision comes almost five years after Poland's former justice minister and prosecutor general, Zbigniew Ziobro, submitted a request to the tribunal to have the KPP outlawed. Last month, Polish President Karol Nawrocki also filed his own application.

Historical claims and the Church's teachings on communism

The KPP identifies itself as the ideological heir to several earlier communist movements in Polish history, including the original Communist Party of Poland (1918–1938) and its precursor, the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (1893–1918). It also claims continuity with the postwar Polish Workers' Party (1942–1948) and the Polish United Workers' Party, which governed the country during the communist era from 1948 until 1990.

In its written justification, the tribunal took the unusual step of referencing Catholic social teaching, citing passages from two papal encyclicals condemning communism.

The judges referenced Pope Pius XI's 1931 encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, which condemned communism's reliance on class struggle, abolition of private property, and its record of "cruelty and inhumanity" across Eastern Europe and Asia. They also cited Pope Pius XI's later encyclical Divini Redemptoris (1937), which warned that communist movements sought to inflame class antagonisms and justify violence against perceived opponents in the name of "progress."

The tribunal used these texts to illustrate what it described as the inherently totalitarian nature of the ideology underlying the party's program. It also served as historical evidence of communism's documented practices and global impact, well understood by the framers of Poland's post-communist constitution.

Party to be removed from register

The judges concluded that the KPP's activities violated constitutional prohibitions on organizations referencing totalitarian methods, ordering the party's removal from the national register and effectively dissolving it.

During the hearing, the chairwoman of the KPP's national executive committee, Beata Karoń, argued that, while her party has "a certain vision of what it wants," if the proposals are unattractive, the party simply won't gain support in elections.

The ruling reflects the broader challenge faced by countries once under Soviet domination, which continue to reckon with the political and cultural wounds of communist rule while working to rebuild their institutions and identity in a post-totalitarian era.

The Holy House of Our Lady in the Shrine of Loreto. / Credit: Tatiana Dyuvbanova/Shutterstock

Loreto, Italy, Dec 10, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

What do Galileo, Mozart, Descartes, Cervantes, and St. Thérèse of Lisieux have in common? They all traveled hundreds of miles to step inside the Virgin Mary’s house, which is preserved inside a basilica in the small Italian town of Loreto.

Catholic pilgrims have flocked to the Holy House of Loreto since the 14th century to stand inside the walls where tradition holds the Virgin Mary was born, raised, and greeted by the angel Gabriel.

In other words, if it is actually the house of Nazareth, it is where the “Word became flesh” at the Annunciation, a point on which the history of humanity turned.

There is an often-repeated story that angels carried the Holy House from Palestine to Italy and while modern listeners may doubt the legend’s veracity, historic documents have vindicated the beliefs of pious pilgrims over the centuries — with an ironic twist.

Tradition holds that the Holy House arrived in Loreto on Dec. 10, 1294, after a miraculous rescue from the Holy Land as the Crusaders were driven out of Palestine at the end of the 13th century.

In 1900, the pope’s physician, Dr. Joseph Lapponi, discovered documents in the Vatican archive stating that in the 13th century a noble Byzantine family, the Angeli family, rescued “materials” from “Our Lady’s House” from Muslim invaders and had them transported to Italy for the building of a shrine.

The name Angeli means “angels” in both Greek and Latin.

Further historic diplomatic correspondences — not published until 1985 — discuss the “holy stones taken away from the House of Our Lady, Mother of God.” In the fall of 1294, “holy stones” were included in the dowry of Ithamar Angeli for her marriage to Philip II of Anjou, son of King Charles II of Naples.

A coin minted by a member of the Angeli family was also found in the foundation of the house in Loreto. In Italy, coins were often inserted into a building’s foundation to indicate who was responsible for its construction.

Excavations in both Nazareth and Loreto found similar materials at both sites. The stones that make up the lower part of the walls of the Holy House in Loreto appear to have been finished with a technique particular to the Nabataeans, which was also widespread in Palestine. There are inscriptions in syncopated Greek characters with contiguous Hebrew letters that read “O Jesus Christ, Son of God,” written in the same style inscribed in the Grotto in Nazareth.

Archaeologists also confirmed a tradition of Loreto that third-century Christians had transformed Mary’s house in Nazareth into a place of worship by building a synagogue-style church around the house. A seventh-century bishop who traveled to Nazareth noted a church built at the house where the Annunciation took place.

From St. Francis de Sales to St. Louis de Montfort, many saints visited the Holy House of Loreto over the centuries. St. Charles Borromeo made four pilgrimages in 1566, 1572, 1579, and 1583.

St. John Paul II called the Holy House of Loreto the “foremost shrine of international import dedicated to the Blessed Virgin” in 1993.

The victory over the Turks at Lepanto was attributed to the Virgin of Loreto by St. Pius V, leading both Gen. Marcantonio Colonna and John of Austria to make pilgrimages to the shrine in 1571 and 1576, respectively.

Christopher Columbus made a vow to the Madonna of Loreto in 1493 when he and his crew were caught in a storm during their return journey from the Americas. He later sent a sailor to Loreto on a pilgrimage of thanksgiving on behalf of the entire crew.

Queen Christina of Sweden offered her royal crown and scepter to the Virgin Mary in Loreto in 1655 after her conversion from the Lutheran faith to Catholicism.

Napoleon plundered the shrine and its treasury on Feb. 13, 1797, taking with him precious jewels and other gifts offered to the Virgin Mary by European aristocracy, including several French monarchs, over the centuries. Yet, the object of real value in the eyes of pilgrims, the Holy House of Mary, was left unharmed.

In a homily in 1995, Pope John Paul II called the Holy House of Loreto “the house of all God’s adopted children.”

He continued: “The threads of the history of the whole of humankind are tied anew in that house. It is the Shrine of the House of Nazareth, to which the Church that is in Italy is tied by providence, that the latter rediscovers a quickening reminder of the mystery of the Incarnation, thanks to which each man is called to the dignity of the Son of God.”

This story was first published on Dec. 10, 2018, and has been updated.

null / Credit: Guillaume Paumier via Flickr, filter added (CC BY 2.0)

EWTN News, Dec 9, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Conservative factions across Europe have responded with concern to a recent ruling by the European Union’s Court of Justice requiring Poland to recognize “same-sex marriages” performed in other EU member states, despite such unions having no legal status under Polish law.

The situation arose when two Polish citizens who had “married” in Germany in 2018 returned to Poland and requested that officials register their union in the country’s civil records. Polish authorities declined, explaining that national law did not provide legal recognition for “same-sex couples.”

Following this legal challenge, a Polish court referred the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg for clarification on how EU law should be interpreted. It is a standard procedure available to national courts before issuing their own rulings.

In its November ruling, the CJEU determined that refusing to recognize a “marriage” between two EU citizens lawfully concluded in another member state violates EU law by infringing on freedom of movement and the right to respect for private and family life. The court stated that member states must recognize marital status lawfully acquired in another EU country for the purpose of exercising rights conferred by EU law.

Concerns over sovereignty

The ruling has sparked immediate and strong criticism from Polish leaders and advocacy organizations, who view it as a significant overreach into matters of national competence.

Olivier Bault, communications director for Ordo Iuris, an international institute focused on life, family, and national sovereignty issues, responded to the ruling as “yet another overreach by the Court of Justice of the European Union.”

Bault said that family matters are reserved for member states under EU treaties, stressing that all 27 nations had ratified through their democratic institutions the principle that “each of them has a right of veto over any decision regulating marriage or family matters at the EU level.” He contended the court invoked broadly interpreted rights like freedom of movement and private life to regulate areas meant to fall under national rather than EU law.

Addressing concerns about the precedent this decision may set, Bault noted that in theory the ruling should have no impact in Poland, where the constitution defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. He pointed out that Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal has previously affirmed the supremacy of the Polish Constitution over EU law and CJEU interpretations.

Going further, Bault added that similar constitutional supremacy positions have been taken by the highest courts in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Romania, particularly regarding CJEU rulings that imply sovereignty transfers not previously approved through democratic procedures.

Political reactions

These sovereignty concerns have been forcefully echoed by senior Polish political figures across the spectrum. Former prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki criticized the CJEU ruling as a deep interference in member state affairs with significant implications for Polish families.

He drew a pointed analogy to drug legalization, arguing that the court’s logic would be equivalent to requiring Poland to accept drug imports simply because countries like the Netherlands have legalized them. Morawiecki said that Poland cannot consent to such impositions and that national sovereignty remains fundamental to member state functioning.

The criticism has extended to Poland’s representatives in Brussels. Polish members of the European Parliament also voiced strong opposition to the decision. Among them, Tobiasz Bocheński characterized the decision as “an example of the attack on the rule of law,” arguing that it deprives Polish citizens and others of the right to determine their own future and therefore fails to respect democracy or freedom.

Adding to the chorus of opposition, former Polish presidential candidate Krzysztof Bosak publicly reaffirmed the importance of the natural family in Polish society, stating that only a man and a woman can marry and start a family. Bosak stressed that opposing the legalization of “same-sex marriage” does not mean people living with same-sex attraction should be treated with disrespect or any type of aggression.

Regional implications

The ruling has prompted wider regional discussions across Eastern and Central Europe, where “same-sex marriage” remains either unrecognized or unregulated in most countries.

In neighboring Lithuania, which shares both a border and significant cultural ties with Poland, Justice Minister Rita Tamašunienė addressed the decision by clarifying that “this obligation does not mean that national law must provide for same-sex marriage.” Tamašunienė belongs to the Lithuanian Polish Electoral Action-Union of Christian Families, a faction within the current ruling coalition that has explicitly carved out certain issues it will not support, including the legalization of partnerships and “same-sex marriage,” as part of the coalition agreement. The coalition receives strong support from Lithuania’s Polish minority.

The Catholic Church affirms that marriage is the exclusive union of one man and one woman, as the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, reiterated Nov. 25 during the presentation in Rome of the document titled “Una Caro (One Flesh): In Praise of Monogamy.”

The EU court’s decision highlights growing tensions between EU institutions and member states over issues touching on national identity and values. As similar cases may arise in other Central and Eastern European nations with traditional marriage laws, the ruling could become a flashpoint in ongoing debates about the limits of EU authority and the preservation of national sovereignty in matters of family law.

Bishop John Keenan speaks at the First Saturdays Conference in Knock, Ireland, on Dec. 6, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of First Saturdays Conference

Dublin, Ireland, Dec 9, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

At Knock Shrine on Saturday, Dec. 6, hundreds came from across Ireland to mark the centenary of the First Saturdays devotion and the promises given by Our Lady to Sister Lucia at Fátima in an apparition on Dec. 10, 1925.

Bishop John Keenan of Paisley, Scotland, told participants: “We need to respond to Our Lady not with half-measures.”

Urging a wider devotion in parishes worldwide to the First Saturdays, Keenan said: “A mother’s gut reaction is very visceral, the desire to save and to protect. We need to respond to Our Lady not with ‘half-measures’; we need to respond to her wounded Immaculate Heart and practice the First Saturdays.”

The five First Saturdays devotion is an act of reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which requires devotees on five consecutive first Saturdays to go to confession, receive holy Communion, pray five decades of the rosary, and keep Mary company for 15 minutes of meditation.

Conference organizer Father Marius O’Reilly told CNA: “The First Saturdays seem to be the forgotten part of the Fátima message. Our Lady promises that there will be peace in the world and that many souls will be saved if we do what she asks. The consecration was, of course, fulfilled by St. John Paul II in 1984, but we have not responded to Our Lady’s call in relation to the First Saturdays. The effect of this is seen everywhere.”

Christine O’Hara, First Saturday Apostolate and conference chair, told CNA about the First Saturdays in her own parish. “One simple but powerful message that we hope will come out of our conference is that people will take Our Lady’s promise to heart and consider starting a group within their own parishes to observe the First Saturdays devotion,” she said. “I started a group in my own parish in 2022, and it has been a great success. Parishioners have received great graces from practicing the devotion.”

O’Hara’s parish group prays the rosary before Saturday vigil Mass, completing the 15-minute meditation afterward. “Meditation brings us into deeper communion with the Lord. I feel that I am honoring Our Lady by responding to her plea for the First Saturdays.”

The Five Saturdays devotion can be practiced privately or publicly. A priest does not need to be present for the rosary and meditation.

Robert Nugent, who runs a popular YouTube channel called “Decrevi Determined to be Catholic,” told CNA he was encouraging people to do the First Saturdays in their parish. “By starting in January you’ll finish in the month of May, which is the month of Mary. We encourage people to pray this devotion and also to come to the All Ireland Rosary Rally here in Knock.”

Keenan explained how St. John Paul II and St. Louis de Montfort emphasized “devotion to the heart of Mary is devotion to Jesus. When someone you love is hurt; that hurts you more than if you are hurt yourself.”

Damien Philpott of the First Saturday Apostolate told CNA: “I think it is a very important event simply because Our Lady told Sister Lucia 100 years ago at Pontevedra that peace in our world depends on the First Saturdays devotion. We want to establish it in parishes all around Ireland. Sometimes people feel alone and isolated in starting up the First Saturdays. At this event you can meet people who are involved in the First Saturdays.”

Antonia Moffat, formerly with the Walsingham Shrine, spoke about the urgency of this message to bring peace to the world and how the plight of the 300 children abducted from St. Mary’s School in Nigeria would greatly wound the tender and compassionate heart of Mary.

She said: “Heaven’s peace plan is the daily rosary and the First Saturdays each month.”

Representatives from many apostolates and First Saturday groups were at Knock to share their experiences and learn. Karen Clancy of Totus Tuus magazine told CNA: “I’m here to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the First Saturdays; it’s such a great movement and so important in the times we are living in with all the disruptions in our world these days with wars in various places. Our Lady has told Sister Lucia that it’s a matter of war or peace if the First Saturdays are completed or not. I would encourage more people to come to events like this, to learn more about the First Saturdays and promote it more in our parishes and get more people involved.”

Karen Brady of Human Life International explained to CNA that she was there to learn more about First Saturdays. “I already follow them but I would like to have a greater in-depth understanding. It is something that is so important for us to know about as Catholics.”

In his address, Father Philip Kemmy made a powerful connection between Jesus’ words to his friends the night before he died, “keep watch with me,” and Our Lady’s request to “keep me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the mysteries of the rosary.”

Kemmy said: “This is such a beautiful connection to make between son and mother. The 15-minute meditation can be a neglected aspect of Our Lady’s request but it is a very powerful part. Meditating on the mysteries of Jesus’ life brings us into deeper communion with him.”

Pilgrims gather for Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Montligeon in Normandy, France, on Nov. 16, 2025, during the annual “Heaven’s Pilgrimage,” dedicated to prayer for the souls in purgatory. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Shrine of Our Lady of Montligeon

EWTN News, Dec 9, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

At the Shrine of Our Lady of Montligeon in rural Normandy, workers restore its century-old slate roof and windows. Inside the neo-Gothic basilica, pilgrims arrive and light candles, enroll loved ones in Masses, and pray for the souls of the dead — and, increasingly, to seek hope for themselves.

Known internationally for its mission of prayer for the deceased and its archconfraternity for the souls in purgatory, Montligeon welcomes pilgrims year-round and hosts “Heaven’s Pilgrimages” each November. Shrine staff say interest is steadily growing, especially among young people and those approaching or returning to the Catholic Church.

“Yes, indeed, the shrine seems to have gained notoriety in the past 20 years,” said Father Paul Denizot, rector of the shrine, in a statement shared by Marie Houdebert, who works in its international office. 

“I believe it stems from a growing interest in topics like death, the afterlife, and praying for the dead. Among the increasing number of young people rediscovering the Catholic Church and asking to get baptized, many are wondering about hope in the face of death. They are deeply touched by the message of Montligeon.”

Denizot said those coming to Montligeon are diverse — practicing Catholics, the non-baptized, “lapsed” believers, tourists, and organized pilgrimages — many of whom carry grief. 

“I think there are two main reasons for today’s youths’ return to the Catholic Church,” he said. “First, a need for identity, for roots in an ever-changing world where family isn’t always a safe space to grow. Second is a need for hope. A lot of people go back to Church following the death of a loved one.”

“Believing that there is a way for them to help their deceased through prayer brings them hope in a seemingly hopeless world.”

While pilgrims seek consolation within, the basilica’s exterior is undergoing major restoration. The project — expected to take another three years — includes replacing the roof and repairing the stained-glass windows in the choir at an estimated cost of 3.6 million euros (about $4.2 million), much of it funded by the shrine itself.

“I was pleasantly surprised that so many people, rich or poor, came together to support this project,” Denizot said.

“People feel responsible for the basilica because they feel at home there. We’ve had support from many different countries.”

Montligeon’s local experience echoes a broader development in France: a notable rise in adult baptisms. 

At Easter 2025, more than 10,384 adults were baptized across the country — a 45% increase over the previous year and the highest figure in decades. Many catechumens are in their late teens or 20s, often discovering the faith through personal exploration and contact with vibrant Catholic communities.

Every November, the month the Church dedicates to prayer for the dead, Montligeon hosts its annual pilgrimages to commend the departed to God’s mercy. Denizot encourages the faithful to see this intercession as both a duty of charity and a source of hope.

For many burdened by loss, the shrine dedicated to the dead has become a place where the living encounter renewed faith.

Archbishop Georg Gänswein, former secretary of Pope Benedict XVI. / Credit: Alan Holdren/EWTN News

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 8, 2025 / 16:28 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Georg Gänswein, former secretary of Pope Benedict XVI, said he hopes the beatification process will begin soon for the German pontiff, who died on Dec. 31, 2022.

“Personally, I have great hopes that this process will be opened,” the archbishop and current apostolic nuncio to Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia said in an interview with the television channel K-TV, which aired Dec. 7.

According to current Church regulations, a potential beatification process for Pope Benedict XVI could only begin five years after his death unless the current pope grants special authorization before then, as Joseph Ratzinger himself did with John Paul II, waiving this waiting period.

In the excerpt from the interview, published by the German Catholic media outlet Katholisch, Gänswein emphasized that one of Pope Benedict’s essential qualities for understanding the faith was joy.

The archbishop noted that, for the German pontiff, if faith does not lead to joy, “something is not right in one’s life of faith. Ratzinger, Benedict XVI, is a theologian of joy.”

Gänswein also said that another important lesson from the late pope is that “we must not compromise on the essentials; rather, we must allow ourselves to be shaped by the Lord, by the faith of the Church.”

In the interview, Gänswein also spoke about the tensions that arose after the publication of the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes — with which Pope Francis restricted the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass — and encouraged efforts to overcome these tensions.

In 2007, Pope Benedict liberalized the opportunities to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass with his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum.

“I believe that Pope Benedict’s wise decision was the right one, and this path should be continued without difficulty or restriction,” Ratzinger’s former secretary said. 

On Oct. 25 of this year, Cardinal Raymond Burke, prefect emeritus of the Apostolic Signatura, celebrated a solemn Traditional Latin Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, an event that seemingly demonstrated Pope Leo XIV’s openness to this rite.

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

Sister Lucia of Fátima, left, and Dr. Branca Pereira Acevedo, her doctor for 15 years. / Credit: Sanctuary of Fatima/ HM Television/Home of the Mother

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 8, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

“I was her doctor for her body, but she was my spiritual doctor,” said Dr. Branca Pereira Acevedo while describing her relationship with Sister Lucia dos Santos, one of the visionaries of Our Lady of Fátima, whom she cared for during the last 15 years of Sister Lucia’s life.

Lucia — the only one of the three shepherd children still alive at the time — moved in 1925 to the Spanish city of Tui in Pontevedra province, where she lived for more than a decade before returning to Portugal and professing her vows as a Carmelite nun in 1949. In this city in northwestern Spain, the visionary received “a new visit from heaven” with apparitions of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus.

Dec. 10 marks the centenary of these apparitions, an occasion for which the Holy See has granted a jubilee year in the place where they occurred, the “House of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,” in reference to the devotion that the little shepherdess of Fátima promoted until the end of her days.

A witness to that fervent testimony was her physician, Pereira, who shared her experiences Nov. 29 at the presentation of the short film titled “The Heart of Sister Lucia” at the archbishop’s palace in Alcalá de Henares. This film is a project of HM Television.

Pereira accompanied Sister Lucia at the Carmelite convent in Coimbra, Portugal, until her death on Feb. 13, 2005, at the age of 97, a time during which she experienced a profound conversion thanks to the example and witness of her patient. “It was a period of my life that is difficult to explain, due to the intensity of the experiences I had with her,” the Portuguese doctor said.

Sister Lucia’s humility and good humor

Pereira described the visionary’s personality in detail, like someone describing a dear childhood friend: “She was a person just like all of us; those who didn’t know her wouldn’t have distinguished her from anyone else. There was nothing proud or vain about her; she used to say that she was simply an instrument of God.”

The doctor particularly emphasized her humility and obedience, especially to God and to the Carmelite order, “which she loved so much.”

At that time, Pereira said her faith had grown cold: “I didn’t go to Mass, I didn’t receive the sacraments… my career, my work, and my family took up all my time, and I used that as an excuse not to go to church,” she explained.

Serenity and steadfastness in difficulties

“She taught me that through God and through the Church, we can do everything well. I experienced very close moments with her, I think even closer than with the sisters she lived with,” the doctor said.

One of the most significant moments she experienced alongside Sister Lucia was the publication in 2000 by the Vatican’s Secretary of State at the time, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, of the third part of the secret of Fátima, revealed on July 13, 1917, to the three shepherd children in Cova da Iria and transcribed by Sister Lucia in 1944.

The doctor witnessed what she called the seer’s serenity and steadfastness in the face of the insistence of those who claimed that part of the secret still remained to be revealed. “She told us that what mattered most was written in the word of God, in the Bible. She encouraged us to obey God, which was what was truly important, and that everything else was secondary.”

Even at these times, the doctor revealed, Sister Lucia maintained a cheerful disposition. “Her good humor was very constant. She lived in faithfulness and truth. And she remained that way, lucid and faithful until the hour of her death, at which I was present.”

“She received many insulting letters at the Carmelite convent, from various parts of the world. But she said that there was no problem, that we had to pray for those people, that they were children of God, so that they would convert,” she commented.

A beacon of light that illuminates all of humanity

Pereira shared that Sister Lucia prepared for the beatification of her cousins, the shepherd children Jacinta and Francisco Marto, “with an intensity and an indescribable joy.” Since that ceremony in 2000, presided over by Pope John Paul II in Fátima, Sister Lucia seemed “more joyful and more transcendent” than ever. “She was always aware of her physical limitations and fulfilled her duties, but she seemed totally detached from this world,” her doctor related.

In the final stages of Sister Lucia’s life, Pereira recounted, the visionary always remained cheerful, never ceasing to be attentive to those around her, despite her suffering. Up to her last days, she noted, Sister Lucia lived a life of prayer and penance “to spread the message that Our Lady had asked of her: the consecration to her Immaculate Heart on the first five Saturdays of the month.”

“The Virgin asked her to make reparation for offenses and outrages and that her Immaculate Heart be venerated,” the doctor recalled. She also had the mission of praying for the Holy Father: “She shared a very intense friendship and a real intimacy with St. John Paul II,” Pereira noted.

“The Heart of Sister Lucia” will premiere in Spanish on YouTube on Dec.10, the centenary of the apparitions in Pontevedra, at 9:30 p.m. local time in Spain. The film shows how the simple woman led an intense battle in which there was no shortage of adversities, “becoming for the popes and for the entire Church a beacon of light that will illuminate all of humanity.”

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

Statue of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of Bari, Italy, at the Pontifical Basilica of St. Nicholas. / Credit: Veronica Giacometti/ACI Stampa

ACI Stampa, Dec 6, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The people of Bari, a city in southern Italy, have a deep devotion to St. Nicholas, their patron saint and beloved protector.

“How can you not love St. Nicholas? And how can you not feel loved by St. Nicholas?” Father Giovanni Distante, the rector of Bari’s Pontifical Basilica of St. Nicholas, told ACI Stampa, CNA’s Italian-language news partner.

“The relationship between the people of Bari and St. Nicholas is one of love,” the rector continued, “a relationship that began in 1087 and continues to this day.”

It all began in 1087 when 62 brave sailors managed to rescue the relics of St. Nicholas, bringing them from the city of Myra in Asia, St. Nicholas’ hometown, to their beloved city in southern Italy, Bari, in Puglia. The Basilica of St. Nicholas was built to hold the relics, which it still does today. Every year, countless pilgrims continue to pay homage at the tomb of St. Nicholas, the saint of Christmas, who is loved by adults and children alike.

St. Nicholas is also an important figure in ecumenical dialogue, uniting Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and Protestants.

“St. Nicholas, as bishop of Myra, naturally influenced millions of faithful in the East and West, not only as bishop of Myra but also as patron, if we may say so, of Eastern and Western Christianity.  So much so that St. Nicholas is venerated as the ‘Saint of Ecumenism,’ because he manages to unite the two realities, the two Christian traditions, both Eastern and Western,” Distante said.

St. Nicholas occupies a special place in everyone’s hearts in December. Considered the saint of Christmas and remembered for his care for children, he was much loved for the protection he offered them. Many miracles are attributed to his intercession, particularly for the benefit of young women and children.

“St. Nicholas intervenes where concrete action is needed in love, practicality, justice, and, of course, sharing,” Distante explained.

St. Nicholas is celebrated twice a year in Bari: on Dec. 6 and on May 9.

“Dec. 6 is the liturgical feast of the saint, commemorating the day of his death, which becomes the new birth of St. Nicholas in heaven,” the rector of the Basilica of St. Nicholas explained. 

On May 9, he continued, “we celebrate the event of the transfer of St. Nicholas’ relics to Bari with a large procession by sea.”

On Dec. 6, Bari is filled with “illuminations,” a choreographed display of lights in the narrow streets of the city that are lit up for the feast of St. Nicholas and also for Christmas. This year’s program is once again full of events and celebrations.

The Pontifical Basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari opened at 4 a.m. on Dec. 6. At 5 a.m., the first Mass was celebrated, presided over by Distante, and followed by five more Masses throughout the morning.

The start of the first Mass was preceded, at 4:30 a.m., by the sounding of reveille and the arrival of the St. Nicholas torchlight procession. In the early hours of the day, a group of bagpipers will enliven the alleys of the old town around the basilica. At 6 p.m., there will be a solemn Mass celebrated by Archbishop Giuseppe Baturi of Cagliari and Archbishop Giuseppe Satriano of Bari-Bitonto. At the end of Mass, the procession with a statue of the saint will pass through the streets of the old town. In the evening, at 8:30 p.m., there will be a fireworks display from the Sant’Antonio pier.

One of the essential customs of the feast of St. Nicholas for the people of Bari is hot chocolate, enjoyed in the alleys of old Bari to warm up after Mass in the basilica.

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