The Catholic residents of Munabam, a fishing village in southwestern India, called off a 414-day relay hunger strike after a court temporarily recognized their property rights.

Despite the villagers’ deeds, a state board had declared their property to be Muslim religious land, and the state had stopped accepting property tax from Catholic and Hindu residents. The Hindu residents are continuing their protest until their full property rights are restored.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has published the Catholic Campaign for Human Development’s grant awards for 2026.

The bishops’ Subcommittee for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, together with local bishops, approved 89 grants, totaling $3,498,000, for 2026. The 87 grants for 2025 totaled $2,165,000.

In a statement for the December 28 general election, the bishops of the Central African Republic said that “it is our sacred duty not to leave future generations a burden of endless crises, unrest, and chaos, but a true paradise of peace and prosperity.”

The bishops described the nation as a “work in progress” because of “challenges in the areas of health, education, security, promoting civic engagement, respecting human dignity and a culture of human rights, as well as combating exclusive ethnocentrism, nepotism, corruption, mismanagement, and the misappropriation of public funds.”

The nation of 5.7 million (map) is 76% Christian (44% Catholic), 14% Muslim, and 10% ethnic religionist. Pope Francis made an apostolic journey there in 2015.

Gunmen attacked a Protestant church in a Nigerian village on November 30 and kidnapped 12 people, including the pastor and his wife.

The Cherubim and Seraphim Church is located in Ejiba, a village in Nigeria’s Kogi State.

Accompanied by civil officials, the custos (Franciscan provincial) of the Holy Land made his traditional solemn procession into Bethlehem for the beginning of Advent.

“The return of the solemn entrance is not only the recovery of a tradition but the announcement of a possible new beginning,” the Custody of the Holy Land said in a statement. At a time when the wounds of war are still open, the celebration becomes a declaration of resilience, a choice of light against the temptation of discouragement.”

In the 14th century, the Holy See entrusted the care of the holy sites in the Holy Land, including the sites in Bethlehem, to the care of the Franciscan order.

Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication, reflected on Pope Leo’s call, issued during his apostolic journey to Turkey, for an ecumenical gathering in Jerusalem in 2033 to commemorate the 2000th anniversary of the Redemption.

“The Successor of Peter addressed this humble and courageous invitation to all, inviting Christians to go beyond Nicaea and return to the origins of the faith, to the place where everything began,” Tornielli wrote in an editorial. “The invitation to Jerusalem in 2033 is thus an invitation to meet again humbly, as brothers united in service to one another, so as to repeat together the words of the Fisherman of Galilee: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!’”

Pope Leo XIV called upon participants in the 2025 Australian Catholic Youth Festival to “listen to what God is calling you to be and do,” rather than imitate others.

“As you know, the only way to hear our Heavenly Father’s voice is to grow closer to him, especially through prayer and the sacraments,” Pope Leo said in his video message, which the Vatican released yesterday. In his message, the Pontiff cited Pope Benedict XVI, St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Carlo Acutis.

In a video associated with the December papal prayer intention (for Christians in areas of conflict), Pope Leo prayed for “Christians living amidst wars and violence.”

“Holy Spirit, source of hope in the darkest times, sustain the faith of those who suffer and strengthen their hope,” the Pope concluded. “Do not let us fall into indifference, and make us builders of unity, like Jesus. Amen.”

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