In this episode of Inside the Vatican, Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell discuss the 2025 Jubilee Year, beginning on Christmas Eve 2024 and ending in January 2026.

Pope Francis prayed that the Jubilee Year may become “a season of hope” and reconciliation in a world at war and suffering humanitarian crises as he opened the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve.

‘If God can visit us, even when our hearts seem like a lowly manger, we can truly say: Hope is not dead; hope is alive and it embraces our lives forever!’

Inspired by his friend and mentor Henri Nouwen, Metropolitan Borys Gudziak, leader of Ukrainian Catholics in the U.S., invites listeners in his Christmas Eve homily to approach the manger with renewed awe and openness.

A Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, by Father Terrance Klein

While Chesterton wrote on a vast number of subjects, Christmas was a favorite.

To God, who gives joy to my youth. Say it! Say it now...

A Reflection for the Nativity of the Lord, Mass at Dawn, by Sam Sawyer, S.J.

The Irish tradition has long been that on Nollaig na mBan, this final day of the busy Christmas season, women get to put their feet up and enjoy a day of socializing. In some versions of the tradition, men take over the household chores.

For the second straight year, Bethlehem’s Christmas celebrations will be somber and muted, in deference to ongoing war in Gaza.

Bell ringing has a rich history, integrated into daily and liturgical life year-round, a tradition being rediscovered and appreciated by anthropologists, academics, musicians and an increasing number of ordinary people.

That idea of “keeping Christmas” is an invitation and a challenge to consider what Christmas really means to us.

President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment.

No one can manufacture Christmas, make Christmas magic. Christmas is not compelled by effort or technique. No, there is only Christmas grace.

Peace among nations is a necessary precondition for any solution to the climate change crisis. Instead, we have a renewed arms race and a mad dash for exhaustible natural resources.

The eyes of faith allowed us to see the people we served as people who shared in the purpose of life we all have been tasked with: to love and be loved.

Looking at the Van Goghs we see a few parallels with the Holy Family, who knew humiliation and repudiation.

150 years after the birth of Impressionism, two dazzling shows have been mounted.

When we remember John R. Donahue, S.J., prominent themes that come to mind include his passions for Catholic biblical scholarship, social justice and teaching.