Jeanie Hannaman

By Michele Chabin, National Catholic Register - Following two years of subdued Christmas celebrations due to the ongoing Hamas-Israel war, this year the holiday will be celebrated in the Holy Land in all its splendor, especially in Bethlehem... “The tree is already up and employees are working 24 hours a day to prepare for Christmas,” Bethlehem Deputy Mayor Lucy Talgieh told the Register. “After five years of COVID closures and then the war, we want to celebrate.”... The festivities will include a tree-lighting ceremony at Manger Square, and the streets leading to the square and the Church of the Nativity will be full of decorative lights. ...

By Frances Martel, Breitbart - (In Beirut Pope Leo) addressed the crisis of countries struggling with peace and prosperity losing significant percentages of their population to migration, particularly the young... He noted that, while Catholics are “concerned about the dignity of those who move away from their own countries,” the Church also “does not want anyone to be forced to leave their country.”... “Moreover, the Church wants those who wish to return home to be able to do so safely,” he expressed. “While human mobility represents an immense opportunity for encounter and mutual enrichment, it does not erase the special ties that unite each person to certain places, to which they owe their identity in a very special way.”

By Garrett Johnson, Catholic Exchange - As I sit before the Tabernacle this morning in prayer, I repeat the Jesus Prayer slowly to myself: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. As I do, questions I often ask myself circulate in the background of my mind: What is mercy? What does it mean to ask Jesus to be merciful to me in my times of difficulty and struggle? What does it mean for me as a Catholic to be merciful to my fellows who struggle with addiction, same-sex attraction, and sexual identity confusion?