Armed men attacked an evangelical church in Nigeria during a Sunday service, killing one person and abducting 13 worshippers.

The December 14 attack on the Evangelical Church Winning All was the second such attack on a church in the area in the past two weeks. The church is located in Aaaaz-Kiri, in Nigeria’s Kogi State.

The bishop of Hong Kong dismissed claims of religious persecution there.

Recalling a journalist’s question during a trip to Australia, Cardinal Stephen Chow, SJ, said that “I don’t perceive any religious persecution here.”

“We can freely attend church, regardless of age; Catholics can run schools in Hong Kong and talk about religion in schools; Caritas Hong Kong offers a variety of services to citizens, many of which are funded by the government,” added Cardinal Chow, appointed Hong Kong’s bishop in 2021.

Amid bankruptcy proceedings, the Diocese of Oakland, California, has offered $242 million to settle lawsuits filed by 350 people who allege they were sexually abused by clergy.

“Everyone knows it’s not fair, everyone knows it’s not morally right, and everyone knows it is just plain inadequate,” said Rick Simons, attorney for the plaintiffs, who had previously rejected a $165-million settlement offer.

The pastor of Gaza’s sole Catholic parish said in a new video that people there are “very depressed.”

“There are no more widespread bombings, but unfortunately the war is continuing,” said Father Gabriel Romanelli, IVE. “We still hear bombs today,” and most Gaza residents have are without electricity and drinking water, “which is why many gastrointestinal diseases are developing and spreading.”

“We try to continue with our lives, and we continue to pray, usually for three hours a day, with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Rosary, Mass and other prayers,” he added. “Every day we pray for peace.”

A court in Spain’s Basque Country acquitted 21 peaceful pro-life protestors of harassment charges.

The participants in the prayer vigil, who took part in a 40 Days for Life campaign, stood 50 feet from an abortion clinic and displayed posters with messages like “you are not alone, we are here to help you.”

The court ruled that the protestors had “done nothing more than exercise their free right of assembly” and behaved in an “exquisitely peaceful manner.” Prosecutors had sought five-month prison sentences.

Father Renato Kizito Sesana, a Comboni missionary, described recent attacks on civilians in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains as the fighting in the nation’s civil war spreads there.

Quoted in the most prominent article in the Vatican newspaper’s December 16 edition, Father Sesana spoke of drone attacks on “a small clinic, near a school, where training sessions are occasionally held for boys and girls who provide health services in the villages.”

The missionary recounted:

The first drone struck suddenly, killing many people instantly. However, a second attack, which occurred a few minutes later, made the massacre even worse. Between the first and second attacks, other students, children from the nearby school, and people who had rushed to help the wounded had arrived. The second drone struck them as well.

Christian Solidarity International reported that the nation’s army was responsible for the attack.

Sister Raffaella Petrini, president of the Governatorate of the Vatican City State, presided at the inauguration of the Christmas tree and Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square on the evening of December 15 (video).

The tree comes from the northern Italian Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone; the Nativity scene comes from the southern Italian Diocese of Nocera Inferiore-Sarno.

In a foreword to a new book on the Second Vatican Council, a former director of the Holy See Press Office praised the authors for “rekindling the desire to personally read the Council documents in their original and complete text.”

Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, president of the Joseph Ratzinger—Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation, said that the conciliar documents “are not hermetic writings for specialists ... In fact, we probably understand them better if we read them ourselves rather than having them explained to us by others.”

Father Lombardi also praised the authors—Dariusz Kowalczyk and Enrichetta Cesarale, who teach at the Pontifical Gregorian University—for avoiding polemics. “It is right to avoid, indeed to reject without hesitation, a ‘hermeneutic of rupture,’ in order to share that of ‘reform in continuity,’” wrote Father Lombardi, citing Pope Benedict XVI’s 2005 Christmas address to the Curia.

Pope Leo XIV received Prime Minister Robert Abela of Malta on December 15.

“Marking 60 years of diplomatic relations between Malta and the Holy See, we discussed peace, climate change, humanitarian challenges, and our shared commitment to dialogue and human dignity,” Prime Minister Abela said in a social media post about the “meaningful meeting.”

Following the audience, the prime minister met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of His Holiness, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations. The parties discussed Church-state relations, migration, the Middle East, and Ukraine, according to a Vatican statement.

Catholicism is the state religion of the Mediterranean nation of 470,000 (map). 92% of residents are Christian (90% Catholic), and 3% are Muslim.

Responding to a psychologist’s letter for a message that can “touch the hearts” of young people, Pope Leo XIV spoke of “the importance of Christian witness as a way to help young people encounter Christ: a simple, authentic witness, matured in prayer, in community life, and in the awareness of being ‘continuously loved by God,’” according to a summary of the letter published by Vatican News.

The Pontiff then invited the young to show “concrete charity” at Christmas: “let us invite a poor family or even just a lonely person to Christmas dinner.” He also advised young people to turn to the example of St. John Henry Newman, who can help combat “the darkness of nihilism” and build a true “civilization of peace.”

The exchange was published in the December issue of Piazza San Pietro, a magazine published under the Vatican basilica’s auspices. Pope Leo has continued his predecessor’s custom of answering one letter in each issue.