In this Dec. 24, 2013 CNS file photo, Polish miners and their families gather for Christmas Eve Mass at the Wieliczka Salt Mine. CNS photo/Jacek Bednarczyk, EPA ...read more

A woman prays during Christmas Eve Mass at Lai Yen Catholic Church in Hanoi, Vietnam, Dec. 24, 2013 CNS photo/Kham, Reuters ...read more

After months of patient planning and preparation, two new statues have finally been unveiled in the front yard of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Hamilton, Ontario. The bronze sculptures of St. Patrick and Jesus as a homeless man, now stand in what has been dubbed the church without walls.  At the ceremony, Father Tony O’Dell, ...read more

Children dressed as angels carry candles as they attend Christmas Mass at a Catholic church in Beijing Dec. 24. CNS photo/Kim Kyung-Hoon, Reuters ...read more

Pope Francis Issues message for the World day of Peace And religious leaders speak about religious persecution in the Middle East ...read more

This morning the Vatican promoted the cause of American Hospitaller Brother William Gagnon, who died ministering in Vietnam during war: The heroic virtue of the Servant of God William Gagnon, professed Religious of the Hospitaller Order of St John; born in Dover, USA, 16 May 1905 and died in Hô Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), ...read more

A girl sits near Christmas decorations in a basement used as a bomb shelter in Donetsk, Ukraine. CNS photo/Igor Tkachenko, Reuters ...read more

Navy Reserve Petty Officer Jesus Benitez talks with his son, Maddox, after surprising him and his sister, Mia, at St. Joan of Arc School in Aberdeen, Md., Dec. 18, 2014. His children did not know he was able to come home for the holidays. Benitez is in the middle of a yearlong deployment in Djibouti, ...read more

It has been a big week in the church: the Jubilee for Mercy officially started, holy doors and doors of mercy opened around the world, and we’re gearing up for the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Here is just some of what has been going on across the country this week: Vancouver has ...read more

Nigerian Christians pray in the grotto of the Church of Nativity on Christmas Eve in Bethlehem, West Bank. CNS photo/Debbie Hill ...read more