Today is the Second of the O Antiphons, O Adonai (O Almighty God/O Lord and Ruler). As Moses approached the burning bush, so we approach the divine Savior in the form of a child in the crib, or in the form of the consecrated host, and falling down we adore Him. "Put off the shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground . . . I am who am."

Confirming widespread reports, Pope Leo XIV has named Bishop Ronald Hicks of Joliet, Illinois, to succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan as Archbishop of New York.

In a Vatican News interview, Bishop Hicks said: “All I want to do is God’s will, and however God moves me to be a leader in New York, I want to follow that and just give all of my mind, heart, and soul.”

New York’s Governor Kathy Hochul has announced that she will sign into law a bill making assisted suicide legal.

The Catholic bishops of New York quickly responded with a statement saying that assisted suicide is a “grave moral evil,” and “in direct conflict with Catholic teaching on the sacredness and dignity of all human life.”

Governor Hochul, a graduate of Catholic University, said that her choice to sign the legislation—making New York the 13th state to allow assisted suicide—was “an incredibly difficult decision.”

"Home Alone" subtly mirrors a central truth of the Catholic faith: our need for healing, mercy, and reunion through the Sacrament of Confession.

Amid the busyness that often defines December, this priest provides three Advent customs families can embrace as they prepare for the coming of Jesus.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In today's fast-paced world with pressures for results and efficiency, Pope Leo XIV said many have been stripped of their serenity and ability to live.

"The authentic approach of the heart does not consist in possessing the goods of this world, but in achieving what can fill it completely; namely, the love of God, or rather, God who is love," the pope said in the Dec. 17 weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

Furthermore, he said one can feel restless despite completing countless tasks, "because we are not machines, we have a 'heart'; indeed, we can say that we are a heart."

In the final weeks of the Jubilee year, he spoke facing the 82-foot-tall decorated Christmas tree and newly unveiled Nativity scene near the obelisk in the center of the square. Because of the unpredictable weather, sick children and their families, along with elderly and disabled people, sat in the Paul VI Audience Hall where Pope Leo greeted them individually before arriving in the popemobile and waving to the crowd in the square. 

Continuing his series of audience talks on "Jesus our hope," the pope focused on turning toward God and his love as the answer to this restlessness. Jesus' incarnation, passion, death and resurrection give us a foundation of hope, the pope said.

"Dear friends, here is the secret of the movement of the human heart: returning to the source of its being, delighting in the joy that never fails, that never disappoints," the pope said. "No one can live without a meaning that goes beyond the contingent, beyond what passes away. The human heart cannot live without hope, without knowing that it is made for fullness, not for want."

To overcome the "vortex that overwhelms us," Pope Leo pointed to St. Matthew, saying that life's true treasure is the heart rather than achievements or the goods of this world. 

"It is therefore in the heart that true treasure is kept, not in earthly safes, not in large financial investments, which today more than ever before are out of control and unjustly concentrated at the bloody price of millions of human lives and the devastation of God's creation," he said in his main catechesis in Italian.

He went on to refer to St. Augustine, who said that hearts will remain restless until they are with the Lord.

"That restlessness is not arbitrary and disordered; it is oriented toward heaven, whose doors are open to us thanks to the incarnation, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ," the pope said in his English-language remarks. "If we enter into the dynamism of his love and grace, he will be victorious in us -- not just at the hour of our death, but also today, right now and every day hereafter."
 

WASHINGTON – Pope Leo XIV has appointed as Bishop of Monterey, the Most Reverend Ramón Bejarano, currently Auxiliary Bishop of San Diego. The appointment was publicized in Washington, D.C. on December 17, 2025, by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The Diocese of Monterey is comprised of 21,916 square miles in the State of California and has a total population of 1,042,464, of which 368,150, are Catholic.

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December 17 marks the beginning of the O Antiphons, the seven jewels of our liturgy, dating back to the fourth century, one for each day until Christmas Eve. These antiphons address Christ with seven magnificent Messianic titles, based on the Old Testament prophecies and types of Christ. The Church in these following Golden Nights travels through the centuries recalling the longing for the Redeemer. Today begins with O Wisdom (O Sapientia).

Using 5,000 drones, the company Sky Elements lit up the night sky over Mansfield, Texas, recreating the image of the Holy Family.

"I experienced God’s presence in a way I hadn’t before—not just in sacred places, but in sacred people.”