European Politics

Pope Francis said he has decided to be buried in Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major instead of in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican and that he has simplified the rites for a papal funeral.

When Ukraine's embattled citizens gather this Christmas, their rich festivities will feel symbolically different -- as the festival is celebrated for the first time on Dec. 25, in line with the Western calendar.

The council of the Synod of Bishops will ask Pope Francis to authorize studies on the need to update canon law, revise the rules for priestly formation, deepen a theological reflection on the diaconate -- including the possibility of ordaining women deacons -- and consider revising a document that provides norms for the relationship of a bishop with members of religious orders in his diocese.

The Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has upheld a rule mandating that the ashes of the deceased be preserved in a consecrated place, but it also said family members could request "a minimal part of the ashes" be kept in a sacred place "of significance for the history of the deceased person."

The Vatican Museums has launched an initiative to give visitors -- online and in person -- a "backstage" peek into the secrets, curiosities and insights discovered by their art restorers.

A Nebraska priest has died after being attacked in the rectory of his parish in the early morning before he was to celebrate Mass for the Second Sunday of Advent.

An early Christmas gift arrived Nov. 30 for the people of Cumberland, P.E.I, a county municipality devastated by post-tropical storm Fiona in September 2022.

Lala Mbabazi, who is three months pregnant, sat on a sofa in her one-bedroom mud house on the outskirts of Soroti, a town in eastern Uganda.

Graydon Nicholas, the Wolastoqey Indigenous elder, chancellor of St. Thomas University and member of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Circle, will deliver a presentation about the patroness of Indigenous peoples in North and South America on Dec. 12 at Saint Mary’s Cathedral in Halifax.

Senate Republicans Dec. 6 blocked an emergency spending bill to provide billions of dollars in wartime aid to Ukraine and Israel while calling for strict new policies at the U.S.-Mexico border opposed by some Catholic immigration advocates.