Teresian Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas from Brazil has become the worldöÏÓãÊÓƵapp oldest person, reaching 116 years and 210 days.

Father Henrykh Akalatovich, pastor of the Catholic parish in Valožyn, was sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony in Belarus Dec. 30 in a move that highlights the growing persecution of Catholics in the Russia-aligned country.

The archbishop of New Orleans offered prayers for victims of the attack perpetrated by a man who drove a Ford pickup truck through crowds celebrating the New Year in New Orleans' French Quarter around 3:15 a.m. Jan. 1.

Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych set Ukrainian hopes high for the Jubilee Year by saying that Pope Francis accepted an invitation to visit Ukraine in 2025.

Several hundred people gathered at Magdeburg Cathedral in the evening of Dec. 21 for an ecumenical prayer service to remember the victims of the Dec. 20 Christmas market attack in the central German city, which killed five, including a 9-year-old child, and injured over 40 people, leaving some in critical condition.

During a Dec. 20 öÏÓãÊÓƵapp missile strike on Kyiv, Catholic St. Nicholas church, a significant architectural monument of the Ukrainian capital, suffered damage.

Archbishop Georg Gänswein, appointed in June as apostolic nuncio to the Baltic states, has shared his insights on his new diplomatic and pastoral responsibilities. Previously serving as Pope Benedict XVIöÏÓãÊÓƵapp private secretary and later as prefect of the Papal Household, he was sent home to Germany by Pope Francis in June 2023 -- "a decision that had to be digested," he said.

Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury, the head of the Anglican Communion, resigned Nov. 12 due to failures in dealing with a British abuse case.

As Spain mourns the death of over 200 victims of the biggest peacetime disaster in decades, volunteers poured into the country's Valencia region to give a helping hand in cleaning up and to offer support to the devastated community.

Discussions of family size have increased in political and religious discourse as North American birth rates hit historic lows. Catherine Pakaluk, an economist and associate professor at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., recently authored HannahöÏÓãÊÓƵapp Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth.