By David Warren, The Catholic Thing – One of the most encouraging aspects of contemporary life is the sudden drop in university enrolments. This is unambiguously an improvement in human affairs, at least in the United States… The steep decline – “very large and very discouraging,” according to Mr. Bill DeBaun, senior director of the National College Attainment Network – reverses all signs of recovery from the Batflu (“COVID”) infestation, in which students were actually shut out of residences, and deprived of “services” for which they had paid.

The Editors, National Catholic Register – The days are drawing nigh on the end of the political careers of Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, once the two most powerful Catholic politicians in the world… Given the scandal they’ve caused over the years by repeatedly distorting and openly defying some of the fundamental principles of their common faith, one might say the days can’t draw nigh soon enough… If cafeteria Catholicism were a real denomination, Biden and Pelosi would already be on a path to canonization.

By Edward Pentin – The first interactive online resource of its kind, 40 cardinals are profiled in-depth revealing who they are and where they stand on various issues, along with summary profiles of the remaining 200 plus members of the Sacred College including the 21 who received the red hat last week… Working with an international team of Catholic journalists and researchers, both Vatican journalist Diane Montagna, the project’s executive director, and I have endeavored to provide a fact-based and reliably sourced database of information on the largest and most diverse College of Cardinals in the Church’s history.

By Kennedy Hall, Crisis Magazine – The holiday season fast approaches, or we might say it has already begun in an unofficial sense, what with work Christmas parties and Santa Claus parades happening throughout December. And, with all the merriment and excitement that comes with the season, there is always an element of sadness or melancholy in the lives of some; or perhaps there is a bit of it in each of us, only it is more or less acute.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Matthew 11:16-19 – 16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates, 17 `We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, `He has a demon’; 19 the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, `Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

Dr. R. Jared Staudt, Catholic World Report – Where would we be now without the first Christmas?… 2025 years ago, God became man, and it changed everything. We take the beloved manger scene for granted, but what if there was no creche with its shepherds and wise men? We might survive the absence of eggnog and mistletoe, but what about Emmanuel, the one who makes God to be “with us”?

By Elise McCue, The Daily Signal – President Joe Biden released a list of 39 pardons and 1,499 commutations of sentences Thursday, setting the record for presidential clemencies in a single day… The White House described the majority of those pardoned as having committed “nonviolent drug offenses.” The list did not go into detail on specific crimes.

By Matt McDonald, CNA – A Satanic display erected near a Christmas Nativity scene on city property near the New Hampshire State House has been removed after sustaining damage in multiple attacks… It wasn’t clear mid-week whether organizers will erect a similar display again… “I think they probably should because I think the vandalism and the hatefulness shouldn’t go without a response. But it’s up to them,” said state Rep. Ellen Read, a Democrat from Newmarket.

DC Rosary Rally, Rorate Caeli, (LifeSiteNews) – Crippling financial woes in the Archdiocese of Washington have only multiplied following Cardinal Wilton Gregory’s restrictions on flourishing Traditional Latin Mass parishes, with annual deficits tripling to $10 million… Two years ago, the Archdiocese of Washington decided to end the TLM at Old St. Mary and five other parishes… But through it all, the seven parishes with the TLM were among its most thriving and generous in the archdiocese.

By Cristina Laila, Gateway Pundit – New York City Mayor Eric Adams stunned a room full of liberal reporters on Thursday after meeting with Trump’s incoming Border Czar Tom Homan… Adams met with Tom Homan on Thursday to discuss the Trump Administration’s plan to deport criminal aliens… “We’re not going to be a safe haven for those who commit repeated violent crimes against innocent migrants, immigrants and long-standing New Yorkers” …

By Franciscan Media – .. The single fact survives that a disappointed suitor accused Lucy of being a Christian, and she was executed in Syracuse, Sicily, in the year 304. But it is also true that her name is mentioned in the First Eucharistic Prayer, geographical places are named after her, a popular song has her name as its title, and down through the centuries many thousands of little girls have been proud of the name Lucy.

By Daniel B. Gallagher, Catholic Exchange – We read in the Catechism: There is no surer pledge or clearer sign of this great hope in the new heavens and new earth . . . than the Eucharist. Every time this mystery is celebrated, “the work of our redemption is carried on” and we “break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ.” (1405)

By Sean Fitzpatrick, Crisis Magazine – Our Lady of Guadalupe was there at Lepanto, hearkening to the Rosary recited by the soldiers processing round the decks, her quiet, pregnant power blazing at that apocalyptic battle with all the splendor of the star-crowned Woman of Revelation… Most Catholics wouldn’t consider the motherly image of Our Lady of Guadalupe a martial image. The serene, pregnant Virgin—signified by the black sash expectant Aztec women wore—appeared to St. Juan Diego and upon his cactus-fiber tilma in 1531, a decade after Christianity came to the Mesoamerican people. …

By Jonah McKeown, CNA – The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on Monday launched a campaign urging Catholics to contact outgoing President Joe Biden and ask him to commute the death sentences of the 40 men currently on federal death row to life in prison… “President Biden has an extraordinary opportunity to advance the cause of human dignity by commuting all federal death sentences to terms of imprisonment and sparing the lives of the 40 men currently on federal death row,” the bishops wrote on a webpage that provides a contact form for Biden.

By Bradley Devlin, Politics editor, The Daily Signal – President-elect Donald Trump will inherit a far more unstable world than the one he left President Joe Biden just four years ago. The war between Russia and Ukraine continues to grind on, escalating at the behest of the Biden administration. The situation in the Middle East, with the fall of the Assad government in Syria, only becomes more precarious by the day… While the experts in Washington will never say we’re already in the midst of World War III, these conflicts span two continents and are deeply intertwined. …