The Catholic Sun

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Exchanging Christmas gifts and organizing holiday parties are all well and good, but Christians should contemplate the scene of Jesus' birth to recover what is truly important during the Christmas season, Pope Francis said. At his weekly general audience Dec. 20, just five days before Christmas, the pope told people that "the risk of losing what matters in life is great, and paradoxically increases at Christmas."

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When St. Francis of Assisi staged the first Nativity scene 800 years ago, he did so to remind people of the powerful, awe-inspiring truth that God became human in Jesus, Pope Francis said. Nativity scenes are not simply works of art or folk art, the pope told hundreds of people involved in staging a live Nativity scene at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome Dec. 16.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis advanced eight sainthood causes Dec. 14, including the cause of St. Gianna Beretta Molla's brother, Capuchin Father Alberto Beretta, who died three years before St. John Paul II canonized his sister. Father Beretta, who died in 2001, was a physician like both St. Gianna and their only surviving sibling, Canossian Sister Virginia Beretta. He was a missionary in Brazil for 20 years until partial paralysis from a stroke led the Capuchins to bring him back to Italy.

On Feb. 10, Bishop Eduardo Nevares will celebrate the annual healing Mass for the World Day of the Sick at St. Bernadette Parish in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Mass will also be broadcast on EWTN. Knights and Dames will be on hand to assist with getting to and from the pews before and after Mass, as well as during communion and anointing. After the Mass a Catholic Fair will be hosted in the parish hall featuring local Catholic ministries and businesses from throughout Ariz.

PHOENIX -- The Diocese has marked the first year of an unprecedented outreach to individuals and those around them struggling with mental illness, seeing broad progress in expanding the historic initiative. In what has become the signature program of Bishop John P. Dolan’s young episcopate, the Diocese of Phoenix has grown its Office of Mental Health Ministry from a singular physical site and web resource to 15 parish-level offices. A total of 138 individuals --- including priests, women religious and laity --- have been trained in Mental Health First Aid, a course that equips graduates to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illness and substance-use disorders.

Usually, they’re on the receiving end, but children at St. Mary-Basha Catholic School in Chandler had a chance to play Santa themselves. Hosted by...

For many Catholics, Advent means the glow of candles, a penance service at the parish and celebrations centered on the Blessed Virgin Mary. Family gatherings with loved ones, decorating the Christmas tree and wrapping gifts make it a festive season that spreads warmth and joy. For inmates at Kingman Correctional Facility, the dark days of December are a different story. Marianne Meyer and Ray Martin of St. Mary’s Parish in Kingman have been visiting inmates housed at the prison during the last six months, praying with inmates, bringing them the Eucharist and encouraging them.

Dr. Beverly Thomas remembers the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., visiting her house in Selma when she was a child — her mother was a first cousin of the famed Civil Rights leader. “I remember him. He had a couple little speeches for the community to pull everything together before the march,” she said, recalling the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches. “My mom took us with her when they had the community gatherings. He was such a very nice, gentle soul, but at the same time he was determined to get equality among the people and bring everyone together.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican Museums has launched an initiative to give visitors -- online and in person -- a "backstage" peek into the secrets, curiosities and insights discovered by their art restorers. When cleaning, repairing and analyzing major works of art up close or with X-rays or infrared radiation, experts often find unexpected and hidden details. The new yearlong initiative lets visitors learn more about some of the discoveries and view details concealed or hard to see in some 36 masterpieces.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Millions of pilgrims flock to Rome every 25 years to mark a Holy Year, or jubilee, the Catholic Church's more modern celebration of an ancient Jewish practice of forgiveness. And through partnerships with prisons and incarcerated persons, the Vatican hopes to show those visitors that the spirit of forgiveness remains front and center of the church's long tradition of celebrating Holy Years.