NATION/WORLD

Ed Kirschner knows there's one thing he can count on when people visit his small shop where he creates Nativity stables. Before long, the visitors will start sharing stories about Christmases from their past, focusing on memories of the Nativity sets that their parents and grandparents displayed through the years.

The apostolic visitation of U.S. communities of religious women, though initially met with some resistance, ended up promoting a greater sense of unity in the church and helped the women become more aware of how God is working in their lives, said the prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

A massive, detailed Vatican-ordered investigation of U.S. communities of women religious ended with a call to the women themselves to continue discerning how best to live the Gospel in fidelity to their orders' founding ideals while facing steeply declining numbers and a rapidly aging membership.

Hell has touched Sydney, but the darkness let loose on a terrorized city cannot overcome the light of Christ, the city's archbishop said at a special Dec. 16 Mass after a lone gunman took 17 people hostage in a cafe, killing two before being shot by police.

Nicole Hockley's message from Newtown, Connecticut, to people at two different venues in the Dubuque area was clear: "Our hearts are broken, but our spirit is not."

The only city officially announced for a September visit by Pope Francis is Philadelphia, but other cities are still making their bid to be part of a papal itinerary.

One of Rome's best-kept secrets is the collection of 100,000 ethnological artifacts housed in a special section of the Vatican Museums.

The October extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family was not the scene of "a clash between factions, but of a debate among bishops," a work that will continue with the 2015 general synod "for the good of families, the church and society," Pope Francis said.

For those who have never been inside any of the Vatican Museums, seeing a documentary about them done with a 3-D effect on the big screen could be a real treat.

Aid to Women Center, whose work surrounds the Arizona State University community, became the 125th member of American Life League's Associate Program.