St. Mary's Church

La Novena de Navidad 2025 comienza el 16 de diciembre y termina el 24 de diciembre.

Santa Adelaida trabajó incansablemente por los más pobres, por construir iglesias y monasterios, financiar misioneros y solventar la vida religiosa en general. En la parte final de su vida vivió como monja -aunque nunca profesó como tal-, dedicada a la oración y la vida espiritual.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 15, 2025 / 18:06 pm (CNA).

The 14-year legal battle against federal contraceptive mandates will continue, with Little Sisters of the Poor and the federal government seeking to reinstate moral and religious exemptions that were established in 2017.

Little Sisters of the Poor have already won religious freedom cases on this subject twice at the Supreme Court level. The high court ruled in 2016 that the federal government must protect religious freedoms for those who oppose the contraceptives and in 2020 ruled that the federal government had the legal authority to adopt the broad exemptions established in 2017.

Those exemptions fully covered employers that had religious or moral objections to providing the contraceptives, some of which can be abortifacient. Under the rules, those employers were not required to include any contraceptive coverage in their insurance plans for employees.

In spite of the prior Supreme Court wins, a federal court in August 2025 struck down the 2017 exemptions on grounds that the Supreme Court had not yet ruled on.

Because the Supreme Court left some questions open, the attorneys general in two states that disapprove of the exemptions — Pennsylvania and New Jersey — continued their legal battle on different grounds. Those legal arguments allege that the adoption of the rules did not comply with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which the Supreme Court had not ruled on. 

In the August ruling, Judge Wendy Beetlestone found that the rules did not comply with the APA, ruling instead that the rules are arbitrary and capricious. 

“The agencies’ actions in promulgating the rule were arbitrary and capricious — in that they failed to ‘articulate a satisfactory explanation for [their] action[s] including a ‘rational connection between the facts found and the choices made,’” Beetlestone wrote in her opinion.

Little Sisters of the Poor are represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, whose lawyers say the appellate court should overturn that decision and bring the legal dispute to an end.

“The 14-year legal crusade against the Little Sisters has been needless, grotesque, and un-American,” Mark Rienzi, president of Becket and lead attorney for the sisters, said in a statement. 

“The states have no business trying to take away the Little Sisters’ federal civil rights. The 3rd Circuit should toss the states’ lawsuit into the dustbin of history and uphold the protection the Little Sisters already won at the Supreme Court … twice,” he said.

In the appeal, the lawyers cite the legal precedent from the 2016 and 2020 cases that required religious exemptions and upheld the rules. They warn that the August 2025 ruling could create a “constitutional conflict” because the original mandate cannot legally be reimposed. 

“The appellee states maintain that state governments somehow have an interest in forcing the federal government to force religious objectors to comply with the federal contraceptive mandate — even though the federal government need not have any contraceptive mandate at all, and even though the states themselves have chosen not to have such mandates of their own,” the lawsuit notes. 

Tras un tiroteo ocurrido el fin de semana en la Universidad Brown, en el estado de Rhode Island (Estados Unidos), el obispo de Providence, Mons. Bruce Lewandowski, emitió un comunicado en el que pidió la guía de Dios y expresó su dolor ante la tragedia.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 15, 2025 / 17:36 pm (CNA).

United Airlines reached a settlement with a flight attendant who alleged that the airline fired him for endorsing Catholic teachings on marriage and gender identity.

The former employee, Ruben Sanchez, of Anchorage, Alaska, alleged that United Airlines investigated his social media history after someone reported a private in-flight conversation he had with another Catholic flight attendant.

“Sanchez and his colleague discussed their working conditions and everyday life. As they were both Catholic, their discussion turned to Catholic theology and then, with United’s ‘Pride Month’ activities set to start on June 1, Catholic teachings on marriage and sexuality,” Sanchez’s complaint states.

The Catholic Church makes a distinction between homosexual orientation and homosexual activity. Same-sex attraction itself is not considered morally wrong, and homosexuals “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2358), with unjust discrimination avoided. The Church teaches that God’s design for sexuality is entwined with marriage and family life and is characterized by the exclusive, indissoluble covenant of marriage.

The complaint said a passenger report led United Airlines to look into posts on Sanchez’s X account, some of which were more than a decade old. He said the airline took issue with 35 of the more than 140,000 posts on the social media platform before firing him.

Sanchez filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against United Airlines and the union he belonged to — the Association of Flight Attendants — for refusing to represent him.

He received legal assistance from X, which helped broker the settlement.

“We are pleased that X was able to help Ruben Sanchez amicably resolve his dispute with United Airlines and the Association of Flight Attendants,” X’s Global Government Affairs Team posted on X.

“X stands firm in its commitment to defend free speech on its platform,” the post added.

Most of the details about the settlement have not been publicly released, except that both parties will pay their own costs and attorneys’ fees and the complaint cannot be refiled.

CNA reached out to both X and United Airlines for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

United Airlines has been accused of discrimination against Christian employees in other cases.

The company is battling a separate lawsuit from two other former employees — Lacey Smith and Marli Brown — who accuse the airline of firing them for criticizing the company’s support for the Equality Act, based on religious concerns.

The Equality Act, which has not been passed into law, would add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes under federal civil rights laws. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is against the proposed law, which they warn would jeopardize religious liberty and force Catholic hospitals to “perform and promote life-altering gender ‘transitions.’”

Smith and Brown are represented by First Liberty Institute. A federal district court sided with the airline, and the case is being considered in an appellate court, which heard oral arguments in August.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 15, 2025 / 16:36 pm (CNA).

The Virgin Mary’s role as comforter to all was specially highlighted during a pilgrimage through the streets of Washington, D.C., Saturday morning. 

“Our Lady of Guadalupe is the mother of all. She envelops each one of us with the same tenderness and the same love, no matter our country of origin or language,” Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjívar said during his homily at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. 

The words from the bishop, who was born in El Salvador, came after the Archdiocese of Washington’s annual “Walk with Mary” procession that began at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart, a Hispanic Catholic parish. Participants also prayed a rosary upon arriving at the basilica, which holds 2,500 people and was filled to capacity, according to the archdiocese. 

The archdiocese billed this year’s celebration of the pilgrimage honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe on her feast day as “highlight[ing] a call to accompany and pray for migrants and refugees, reflecting the Church’s mission of compassion, solidarity, hope, and peace.” 

“For more than a decade, thousands of pilgrims from diverse cultures and backgrounds have walked side by side, lifting their voices in prayer and songs of praise,” the archdiocese said. “Along the way, participants celebrate the archdiocese’s rich cultural diversity and unity in Jesus Christ, while reflecting on the appearance of the young mestiza Virgin of Guadalupe to the peasant St. Juan Diego on a hilltop near Mexico City in 1531.”

The Mass, which included a reenactment of the story of Mary’s apparition to St. Juan Diego, was celebrated by Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington; Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States; and Auxiliary Bishops Menjívar, Juan Esposito, and Roy Campbell.

Menjívar interspersed his homily, which was mostly in Spanish, with reflections in English on the Virgin Mary and the Church’s role in accompanying poor and marginalized communities, particularly migrants.

“Let me say this in English because I believe it is very important for us to understand Mary reflects what the Church is called to be,” Menjívar said. “In the apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te [“I Have Loved You”] Pope Leo affirms the Church, like a mother, accompanies those who are walking. Where the world sees threats, she sees children. Where walls are built, she builds bridges.”

The Virgin Mary, he said, regards “every rejected migrant” as “Christ himself, who knocks at the door of the community.” 

Reflecting on the significance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Menjívar noted that Mary “did not manifest herself to a powerful or well-educated person.” 

“She appeared to Juan Diego, a simple, poor, Indigenous man, marginalized by the systems of his time,” the bishop said. “With this, God proclaims another truth. He takes the side of the little ones, the despised, the ones who do not count.” 

“So the good news,” he concluded, “is this: For God, we do count, and a lot, because we are his sons and daughters.”

La presidenta de México, Claudia Sheinbaum, aseguró que el Papa León XIV “tiene mucho interés en venir”. Asimismo, expresó interés del Pontífice en las iniciativas que la Iglesia Católica impulsa en conjunto con el gobierno mexicano en favor de la paz.  

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 15, 2025 / 16:06 pm (CNA).

About half of American adults who were raised Catholic and stayed in the Church said the faith continues to “fulfill their spiritual needs,” according to a Pew Research Center report.

The Dec. 15 report, “Why Do Some Americans Leave Their Religion While Others Stay?”, examines the religious switching of U.S. adults. It looks into the reasons why people stay or leave their childhood faith, addressing the social and demographic factors associated with the changes.

The report includes findings from a survey of 8,937 U.S. adults who are part of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP). The survey was conducted May 5–11 and its overall margin of error is 1.4 percentage points. It also uses information from the center’s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS), a survey of 36,908 U.S. adults conducted from July 17, 2023, to March 4, 2024, with an overall margin of error of 0.8 percentage points. 

While the report revealed many U.S. adults (35%) have left the religion they grew up in, the majority of Americans (56%) still identify with their childhood religion. Another 9% weren’t raised in a religion and still don’t have one today. 

Of the U.S. adults who still identify with their childhood religion, 64% credited their belief in the religion’s teachings as an “extremely important” or “very important” reason as to why they stayed. Another 61% said their religion fulfills their spiritual needs, and 56% said their religion gives life meaning.

Other attributions included a sense of community (44%), familiarity (39%), traditions (39%), and the religion’s teachings on social and political issues (32%).

The research found 46% of Americans who have left their childhood religion said the extremely or very important reason behind their decision was that they stopped believing in the religion’s teachings; 38% said it wasn’t important in their life; and 38% said they gradually drifted away. 

Why Americans choose to remain Catholic or leave the faith 

Among the Catholics who have kept their religious identities, 54% said a key reason they are Catholic today is because it fulfills their spiritual needs. About 53% credited belief in the religion’s teachings, and 47% said it’s because Catholicism gives their life meaning.

The survey found that adults who were raised in “highly religious” households are more likely to have remained in their childhood religion (82%) than those who grew up in households with “medium-high” (77%), “medium-low” (62%), or “low levels” of religiousness (47%).

The majority of lifelong Catholics reported they had a “mostly positive experience” with religion when growing up (73%).

According to Pew’s RLS, an estimated 19% of U.S. adults are Catholic including 17% who were raised Catholic and are Catholic today, and 2% who are Catholic today after they were raised another way.

Of the adults surveyed in the RLS who left the Catholic faith, 14% are now Protestant, compared with 1% of Americans raised Protestant who are now Catholic.

The RLS found that 13% of U.S. adults are former Catholics, including 6% who were raised Catholic but now identify in another way and 7% who are religiously unaffiliated. Of the religious “nones,” 81% said an extremely or very important reason they left is because they believe they can be moral without religion.

Americans cited other reasons including they question a lot of religion’s teachings (67%), they don’t need a religion to be spiritual (57%), they don’t like religious organizations (53%), and they distrust religious leaders (52%).

Social and demographic reasons for switching 

The RLS found that 73% of Republicans and independents who lean Republican still identify with the religion in which they were raised, compared with the 56% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults.

Democrats who were raised in a religion are also more likely to be religious “nones” today than Republicans who were raised in a religion.

The RLS also found that age affected patterns. Among adults ages 65 and older who were raised in a religion, 74% still identify with that religion. Of the adults under 30, 55% still identify with their childhood religion.

Americans who switch religions tend to do so while they are still young. It found that 85% who have switched did so by the age of 30, including 46% who switched as children or teenagers.

El sábado la Arquidiócesis de Bogotá celebró la Navidad Jubilar 2025 con los niños, ancianos, prostitutas, recicladores e indigentes de cuatro zonas vulnerables de la capital colombiana. 

La reliquia del brazo de San Judas Tadeo, que desde 2024 peregrinó por México, fue recibida con alegría y en medio de una celebración de la Misa el sábado 13 de diciembre, a su regreso al Santuario de San Salvatore in Lauro en Roma (Italia).