We continue celebrating the Christmas season, focusing on the Epiphany.

"My mother, Jane, was buried as a Dominican to the Third Order," he revealed. "A lot of people don't know that."

These moments revealed the heart of SEEK 2026.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The teachings of the Second Vatican Council are still "the guiding star" the Catholic Church is meant to follow, Pope Leo XIV said.

Rereading all of its teachings "is a valuable opportunity to rediscover the beauty and the importance of this ecclesial event," he said Jan. 7, and because its work remains "a guiding principle for us today."

"We have yet to achieve ecclesial reform more fully in a ministerial sense and, in the face of today's challenges, we are called to continue to be vigilant interpreters of the signs of the times, joyful proclaimers of the Gospel, courageous witnesses of justice and peace," he said. 

Speaking to visitors gathered in the Paul VI Audience Hall for his weekly general audience, the pope said that with the conclusion of the Holy Year Jan. 6, he was beginning a new series of talks dedicated to the Second Vatican Council.

The council, which convened for four sessions from 1962 to 1965, produced 16 documents, addressing everything from liturgy to Scripture, missionary activity to ecumenism and interfaith relationships, and the functions of clergy and laity to religious freedom.

"Vatican Council II rediscovered the face of God as the Father who, in Christ, calls us to be his children," he said in his talk.

The council looked at the Catholic Church "as a mystery of communion and sacrament of unity between God and his people; it initiated important liturgical reform, placing at its center the mystery of salvation and the active and conscious participation of the entire people of God," he said.

"At the same time, it helped us to open up to the world and to embrace the changes and challenges of the modern age in dialogue and co-responsibility, as a Church that wishes to open her arms to humanity, to echo the hopes and anxieties of peoples, and to collaborate in building a more just and fraternal society," he said. 

For the past six decades, the popes have repeatedly underlined the importance of Vatican II, its teachings and its fuller implementation.

However, since the council was held so long ago, that means that "the generation of bishops, theologians and believers of Vatican II is no longer with us," said the pope, who would have been 10 years old when the council ended in December of 1965.

"It will be important to get to know it again closely, and to do so not through 'hearsay' or interpretations that have been given, but by rereading its documents and reflecting on their content" directly, he said.

"Indeed, it is the Magisterium that still constitutes the guiding star of the Church's journey today," he said.

Catholic News Service produced a significant documentary in 2015 called, "Voices of Vatican II," in which twelve men who took part in the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) look back at that historic event. It features abundant archival footage of the council, much of it rarely seen, and exclusive interviews with those who recount the history they witnessed and helped to make.

All the voices heard in this film are of bishops and priests --including the late-Pope Benedict XVI-- who participated in Vatican II and who, in most cases, have played important roles in the life of the Catholic Church over the subsequent decades.

Length: 49 mins.

WASHINGTON - In response to discussions in Congress regarding healthcare affordability, Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, affirmed the importance of the Hyde Amendment:

“Authentic health care upholds the dignity of all human life, and health care policy must not violate this dignity. In upholding this core principle, the U.S. bishops have long opposed any proposals to expand taxpayer funding of abortion and will continue to do so, including, if necessary, in the current debates in Congress over health care affordability plans. We urge Congress to work creatively to enact legislation that does not compromise the dignity of the human person and that ensures access to authentic, life-affirming care.”

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WASHINGTON – Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Most Reverend Salvatore R. Matano, 79, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Rochester, and has appointed Most Reverend John S. Bonnici, currently auxiliary bishop of New York, as his successor. 

The resignation and appointment were publicized in Washington, D.C. on January 7, 2026, by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The Diocese of Rochester is comprised of 7,107 square miles in the State of New York.

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“Please, don’t give up, and thank you for claiming your spiritual motherhood and your authority as a daughter of the King.”

Many social media users interpreted the moment as a “divine response” to her innocent prayer.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With rain-slicked coats and rain-soaked feet, last-minute visitors did not let Rome's infamous winter deluges and damp stop them from their goal: to pray and pass through to the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica.

With just a few hours to go before it closed to the public late Jan. 5, hundreds of pilgrims streamed nonstop into the basilica, pushing the final tally to well past 33 million people who visited the Vatican during the Holy Year that Pope Francis opened on Christmas Eve in 2024.

"Avanti! No stop! Vámonos!" one basilica employee manning the Holy Door told the stream of people. 

It was clear by "looking at their eyes" who was coming to the door out of pious devotion, and who experienced it as just one more stop on a busy day, one guard told Catholic News Service.

In fact, people often looked awestruck, jubilant or a bit dazed by the brilliant light bouncing off the white and gold interior of the church after weaving through the darkened square. The majority of visitors held their cell phones high, seeing the scene through the screen or taking selfies and posing as a family or a couple at the door.

Those visitors who stopped to rest their heads against the depiction of the crucified Christ on the door or reverently touch the other panels were allowed to linger longer. And men and boys who forgot to pull off their hats or hoodies were given a stern look and a curt gesture by guards to remove their headwear.

The only ones who looked tired by early evening were the children -- many slung over a loved one's shoulder or snuggled in a baby sling. 

Touching one of the bronze panels of the Holy Door became a moment of catechesis for some parents as they explained to their children how to make the sign of the cross or kiss one of the bas-relief depictions of Jesus.

One father bent down to his small son, explaining how the door "will only be open again when you're 28 years old!" calculating the next Holy Year to be in 2050. However, one is expected to be declared for the 2000th anniversary of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in 2033.

The last official pilgrim group through the door was led by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, which organized the different Jubilees during the Holy Year. 

He held the Jubilee cross as he walked through the Holy Door, leading members of the dicastery and scores of Jubilee volunteers who had endured the extremes of Rome's weather all year, welcoming pilgrims at all four major basilicas and manning the special corridor from Castel Sant'Angelo to St. Peter's Basilica. The volunteers wore their bright lime-green jackets and bibs, and some proudly held their country's flag in their hands.

No more pilgrim groups were allowed to leave from Piazza Pia after 5:30 p.m., and the last wave of individuals was let in after 6 p.m. By 6:40 p.m., the square was barricaded, and latecomers negotiated or pleaded with police to let them in.

"I came from Finland," said Anton, 22, an Orthodox Christian from Helsinki, who lingered at one barricade, musing about the "bad timing."

He and his friend told CNS that they had come to Rome to enjoy the food and sights, but Anton had wanted to go through the Holy Door as part of an act of spiritual purification and strengthen his desire to do something "for the greater good of God."

"Perhaps we could break in," the young men joked when considering a contingency plan. 

One young mother parked a stroller along the perimeter of the square with her two small children and her father and mother. They had taken a two-hour train and subway ride from a small town just 11 miles away, and missed their chance to get through the door, too.

"We wanted to take our picture," she said, adding that they had managed to pass through the Holy Doors of St. Paul Outside the Walls and St. John Lateran, which had both closed in late December.

Andrea, a man in his 60s, said he got to the square just when it closed. Traveling directly from Florence, he said he couldn't come earlier "because of work."

He told CNS he had been looking forward to the spiritual significance of passing through the Holy Door and the experience of "a kind of purification."

"But I did make it through in 2000," he said, recalling the very long lines to get to the door. "Let's just hope (the graces from that year) will last me another 25 years."