St. Mary's Church

La Virgen de Guadalupe ha sido inspiración para innumerables cantantes, desde figuras del pop hasta íconos de la música mexicana, quienes le han escrito alguna canción para agradecerle u honrarla.

Mientras pensamos en cenas y regalos, miles viven la Navidad en pobreza, soledad o persecución. En este artículo encontrarás 4 caminos muy concretos para que tu ayuda llegue a quienes más la necesitan y tu fe se traduzca en obras.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 12, 2025 / 20:02 pm (CNA).

The EWTN Global Catholic Network presented the 2025 Mother Angelica Award to its longtime former president, Doug Keck, in recognition of his decades of service, faithful leadership, and tireless commitment to the mission of evangelization.

Following a 29-year career at EWTN, Keck retired from his duties as EWTN president and chief operating officer in June. He subsequently assumed the honorary title of president emeritus and continues to host his signature series “EWTN Bookmark” as well as serve as co-host of “Father Spitzer’s Universe.”

The Mother Angelica Award, which was presented to Keck during a special ceremony broadcast globally, is the highest honor bestowed by the network to recognize individuals whose lives reflect the spirit of faith, courage, and evangelistic zeal embodied by EWTN’s foundress, Mother Angelica.

“On behalf of the entire EWTN family around the globe, I want to thank Doug for keeping the mission of EWTN our No. 1 priority over the years and never compromising on sharing the truth of the Gospel for views or clicks,” said EWTN Chairman of the Board and CEO Michael Warsaw.

“He is more than deserving of this award,” Warsaw added.

Keck joined EWTN in 1996 after a highly successful career in cable television in New York City, where he contributed to the growth of networks such as Sports Channel, Bravo, AMC, and CNBC.

Over the years at EWTN, Keck helped develop and launch numerous flagship programs, including “Life on the Rock,” “The Journey Home,” “EWTN Bookmark,” and “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo,” playing a central role in the network’s expansion across television, radio, and digital platforms.

In 2009, Keck became the network’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, and in 2013 he was named president and chief operating officer. Under his leadership, EWTN grew to become the largest global Catholic media organization, reaching millions of households worldwide and offering content across multiple languages and media channels.

“Mother Angelica always said our job is to soak the earth with the truth of the Gospel and the Catholic Church. That’s been EWTN’s No. 1 priority, and I’ve been proud to be a part of it alongside so many other dedicated people,” Keck said.

Reflecting on how God called him out of his career in secular media, Keck’s message to any Catholic is to consider how God might be calling him or her to put their talents to the service of the Gospel.  

“That’s what we’re called to do, really,” he said. “You don’t bury what you’ve been given. You give your talents over to him.” 

The full award ceremony, including tributes from those whose lives have been touched by Keck, will be available for viewing on EWTN On Demand at www.ondemand.ewtn.com.

Keck now joins previous distinguished recipients of the Mother Angelica Award including Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap; former New Orleans Saints wide receiver and football coach Danny Abramowicz; and co-founders of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) Curtis and Michaelann Martin.

Inaugurated in 2021 on the 40th anniversary of EWTN’s founding, the Mother Angelica Award honors recipients for their extraordinary contribution to the Church and the new evangelization — serving as witnesses to God’s providence through their ministry and leadership.

The largest Catholic media organization in the world, EWTN’s 11 global television channels broadcast in multiple languages 24 hours a day. The network also operates radio services via SiriusXM, iHeartRadio, and hundreds of AM/FM affiliates as well as one of the most visited Catholic websites in the U.S., a publishing division, and a robust global news operation.

The network’s diverse range of programming includes catechetical series, devotions, news, talk shows, documentaries, and live coverage of major Church events — reaching hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide.

El P. Pablo Abreu, delegado de comunicación para los salesianos en Las Antillas, advirtió que la inteligencia artificial (IA) puede ser como un cuchillo en la vida de las personas, ya que puede ser bien o mal utilizado.

Este 12 de diciembre se celebró en la Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe la tradicional Misa de las Rosas, que recuerda la última aparición de la Virgen a San Juan Diego. Durante el acto litúrgico, se elevó una oración para pedir su intercesión “a fin de encontrar los caminos de reconciliación y alcanzar la paz social”. 

CNA Staff, Dec 12, 2025 / 16:52 pm (CNA).

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law an assisted suicide bill that Catholic leaders have ardently opposed.

Pritzker, who met with Pope Leo XIV on Nov. 19, cited “freedom,” “choice,” and “autonomy” as his reasons for signing the bill, which allows doctors to give terminally ill patients life-ending drugs if they request them. According to the law, patients must be mentally capable and have a prognosis of six months or less to live. 

Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago and other Illinois bishops had urged Pritzker to veto the bill. The Catholic Conference of Illinois, which speaks for the Catholic bishops in the state, condemned the law, calling it a “dangerous and heartbreaking path.” 

Other jurisdictions with assisted suicide laws include: California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia. The Illinois law, Pritzker said in a Dec. 12 statement, “enables patients faced with debilitating terminal illnesses to make a decision, in consultation with a doctor, that helps them avoid unnecessary pain and suffering at the end of their lives.” 

Pritzker said he was “deeply impacted” by stories of the suffering of terminally ill patients and their families who argued in favor of the bill. 

“I have been moved by their dedication to standing up for freedom and choice at the end of life in the midst of personal heartbreak,” Pritzker said.  

Pritzker signed the measure into law on the beloved feast day for Catholics in North America of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who is known as the patroness of the pro-life movement. 

Concerns for the vulnerable 

Opponents of assisted suicide say that assisted suicide is not “true compassion” and constitutes “abandonment” of patients in need of care. 

“This law ignores the very real failures in access to quality care that drive vulnerable people to despair,” according to the Catholic Conference of Illinois’ statement. “It does nothing to ensure patients are offered services, protected from coercion, or surrounded by loved ones when they kill themselves.” 

“Rather than investing in real end-of-life support such as palliative and hospice care, pain management, and family-centered accompaniment, our state has chosen to normalize killing oneself,” the statement continued. 

The conference called the passage “alarming,” saying that “by enacting this law, Illinois is endorsing the death option while claiming compassion.” 

Matt Vallière, who heads the Patients Rights’ Action Fund, said that by signing the bill, Pritzker “has endangered the rights and lives of vulnerable patients.”

The Patients Rights’ Action Fund opposes assisted suicide, saying it is discriminatory against patients with terminally-ill diagnoses. 

“By signing the bill to legalize assisted suicide, he has cracked the ice beneath patients whose care is already fragile,” Vallière said in a statement shared with CNA. 

“Assisted suicide plunges Illinoisans with disabilities and other vulnerable people into conversations about death instead of the care and support they deserve from their medical teams,” Vallière said.

Thomas Olp — a spokesman for Thomas More Society, a Catholic law firm defending life and family — said the law “places vulnerable lives at risk.”

“When the state signals that some lives are no longer worth living, the most vulnerable pay the price,” Olp said in a statement shared with CNA. 

“State law should never endorse the idea that suffering or sickness makes a life disposable,” he continued.

“Instead of offering true compassion, support, and care, this law offers a fatal prescription,” Olp concluded. “That is not mercy. It is abandonment.” 

Cultural effect 

The Catholic Conference of Illinois raised concerns about the cultural implications of legalizing a form of suicide. 

“This message will be heard by vulnerable groups not as a balm for the dying but as a societally acceptable alternative to living,” the conference said. 

“Indeed, studies show that where assisted suicide has been made legal, the number of all suicides has risen,” the conference statement continued. “How can we urge teens and young adults — knowing suicide is the second-leading cause of death in their age group — not to choose death, while our own laws say that suicide can be a ‘medical option’?”

“We may fund suicide prevention hotlines, expand suicide prevention programs, and train communities, but those efforts are hollow when we are simultaneously signaling that some lives are too burdensome or too expensive to save,” the statement continued. “Can we depend on distressed youth and others to understand the difference between their pain and that of the dying?”

Conscience rights concerns 

Olp, whose law firm helps defend conscience rights, said the new law “erodes the foundational conscience rights of medical professionals and religious medical practices.”

The law requires doctors who are morally opposed to assisted suicide to refer patients to a practitioner who will provide patients with life-ending drugs.

“The state is forcing doctors to become active participants and cooperators in a patient’s suicide — no matter if their faith, ethics, or Hippocratic Oath forbid it,” Olp said.

“This is unconscionable coercion, plain and simple,” he continued. “No doctor should be ordered by the government to participate directly or indirectly in a process that deliberately ends a human life.”

“We will defend the right of every health care professional to practice medicine consistent with their conscience and oath, and we will fight any state effort to force religious health care institutions to violate their beliefs,” Olp said.

Vallière noted that the American Medical Association (AMA) continues to oppose assisted suicide, saying it is in opposition to the role of healer.

“The AMA Code of Medical Ethics continues to state that ‘Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks,’” he said.

Looking ahead

The law is set to go into effect in September 2026.  

“This legislation will be thoughtfully implemented so that physicians can consult patients on making deeply personal decisions with authority, autonomy, and empathy,” Pritzker said.

Opponents said they are planning to continue defending human life.

“Gov. Pritzker and legislators who supported this legislation had a choice to build a future in which every person, especially the sick and vulnerable, is cared for with dignity, love, and support — or to open the door to a system where death becomes a permissible alternative,” the Catholic Conference of Illinois’ statement said.

“With SB 1950 now law, we must speak even more strongly that true compassion means helping people live, not helping them die,” the statement concluded.  

“We urge Illinoisans, people of faith, dedicated medical professionals, and all who cherish human life to stand with us in fighting to defend the vulnerable and protect fundamental freedoms,” Olp said.

El Papa León XIV afirmó que “la música es una vía privilegiada para comprender la altísima dignidad del ser humano”, al concluir el concierto de Navidad al que asistió en el Aula Pablo VI, donde entregó el Premio Ratzinger a Riccardo Muti, famoso director de orquesta italiano.

Este 12 de diciembre, la Iglesia Católica recuerda las apariciones de la Virgen de Guadalupe al indígena San Juan Diego, un acontecimiento que marcó la historia espiritual y cultural de México y el continente americano, y que dio un impulso decisivo a la evangelización en el siglo XVI.  

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 12, 2025 / 15:18 pm (CNA).

Here is a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed:

Syrian Christians face ‘insecurity’ 1 year after political change

On the one-year anniversary of the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s Christians find themselves outside the scope of systematic persecution but still living in profound fragility, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, ACI MENA, reported.

While freedom of worship remains protected and some positive signs have emerged — such as the end of mandatory military service, restoration of Christian properties, and limited political representation — the overall environment remains unstable.

Christians continue to face insecurity marked by killings, kidnappings, and vandalism along with several major incidents including attacks on churches in Sweida and the bombing of St. Elias Church in Damascus.

Economic hardship persists despite the easing of Western sanctions, driving ongoing emigration and rising fears of continued demographic decline.

VP of Haitian bishops’ conference calls for ‘new moral leadership’

Haitian Bishops’ Conference Vice President Bishop Pierre-André Dumas of Anse-à-Veau-Miragoâne is calling for “new moral leadership” in the country plagued by violence and instability. 

Haitians are afflicted by “wounds of poverty, gang violence, insecurity, and the fragility of institutions that should be rebuilt,” the bishop said in an interview with Vatican News.

Dumas is currently living in the U.S. while recovering from wounds he incurred during an explosion in Port-au-Prince in February 2024. 

Asian bishops gather in Hong Kong to discuss pastoral impact of AI

Asian bishops gathered in Hong Kong for the Bishops’ Meet 2025 to discuss the pastoral impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) and its use within the Church. 

The Dec. 11–12 meeting kicked off with an opening Mass celebrated by Cardinal Stephen Chow, SJ, bishop of Hong Kong, who encouraged bishops and communications leaders to embrace AI, stating: “I think AI is not from the devil. AI comes from God, who helps us,” according to Vatican News. 

Chow urged participants in the conference, organized by the Office of Social Communications of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, to discern AI with hope and moral clarity. 

“Otherwise, how can we call ourselves Catholic media?” he said. “When we put our hope in the Lord, we must first honor him, not funding agents or ideologies. We need to discern God’s will for our mission in this shifting context.”

Philippines bishop speaks out against societal breakdown and human rights violations

Caritas Philippines President Bishop Gerardo Alminaza is sounding the alarm over increased societal breakdown and human rights violations in the Philippines.

“Human rights violations and shrinking civic space in the Philippines are converging into one moral emergency,” he said, according to a local report, noting that “defending life, dissent, environmental stewardship, and democratic participation is becoming increasingly dangerous.” 

He continued: “As [the] Church, we affirm that human rights and civic space are sacred: We cannot preach peace and justice while ignoring the silencing of communities, the killings of organizers, the disappearances of activists, or the harassment of journalists.”

New Catholic church to be built in growing Australian diocese

The Diocese of Parramatta in Western Sydney has announced that it will build a new Catholic church and precinct in the heart of the rapidly-growing city of Blacktown, where a $2 million development called the Blacktown Quarter is also taking place. 

In a Dec. 8 pastoral letter announcing the decision, Bishop Vincent Long, OFM Conv, revealed the diocese purchased land within the Blacktown Quarter, “with a view to creating a Catholic presence.” 

It will include a new church called Mary Queen of the Family Parish situated in the heart of the Blacktown shopping precinct that will consolidate two preexisting parishes. “Being in the center of civic life is a providential opportunity for evangelization, mission, and service,” Long said. 

Christian group in India joins protest against designation of major religions as tribal 

The United Christian Forum of Dima Hasao in India has joined a tribal students’ group in protesting against the provincial government in the northeast state of Assam for designating six dominant religions as having ethnic tribal status. 

Rev. D.C. Haia Darnei, president of the forum, said the decision would “certainly prove a setback for genuine tribal people, including those who are Christians,” according to a UCA News report. 

“We are with the tribal students’ organization and other tribal groups as their demand is genuine, and we want betterment of the real tribal people in the state,” he said. According to the report, Christians make up about 3.74% of the state’s 31 million people, while tribal groups make up roughly 20%.

Pauline Sisters in Nairobi launch children’s literary event to foster love of reading

Members of the Pious Society of the Daughters of St. Paul (FSP/Pauline Sisters) in Africa are organizing their first-ever children’s literary event as they seek to nurture knowledge and foster a love for reading among children, ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, reported. 

In an interview with ACI Africa ahead of the event scheduled to take place on Dec. 13 at the Daughters of St. Paul premises in Westlands, Nairobi, the directress of Paulines Publications Africa, Sister Praxides Nafula, said: “We are including all children because we aim to nurture knowledge and a love for reading.” 

“We want the pages of the book to come alive, as if the book is talking to the children,” she said.

The event will cater to children from underprivileged communities throughout the Archdiocese of Nairobi, with some refugee children from Tanzania expected to attend.

CNA Staff, Dec 12, 2025 / 14:33 pm (CNA).

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.

Proposed U.S. law would require fathers to financially support pregnant moms

A Republican U.S. representative is sponsoring a bill that would require fathers to cover half of pregnancy-related costs for mothers carrying their children. 

Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, is sponsoring the Supporting Healthy Pregnancy Act, Fox News Digital reported. 

The bill would require the father of a child to pay for at least half of out-of-pocket medical expenses involved with pregnancy and delivery. This would become a legal requirement only after the mother puts in a request.

Hinson said she is working to “expand access to maternal care” and to “ensure women have resources throughout pregnancy and beyond.” 

Hinson has introduced other maternity-related bills including a bill requiring colleges to inform pregnant students of their rights and the resources available to them in their schools.

“I’m a mom on a mission to make life easier for my fellow moms and families,” Hinson said in a post on X. 

Lawmakers call on Congress to stop abortion funding for staff 

Two dozen U.S. legislators recently called on Congress to stop abortion funding for federal staffers. 

In a Dec. 5 letter addressed to Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor, various Congress members and senators urged Kupor to stop using health insurance plans “that cover elective abortion.”

The letter argues that the insurance plans are a violation of the federal Smith Amendment, which prohibits funding for abortion in the U.S. Federal Employee Health Benefits Program.

The lawmakers said the office is using an “accounting gimmick” to cover abortions in health care costs and that “only two health plans” offered to them do not cover abortion.

The letter requested “swift action” by Kupor and his office to ensure no health insurance plan offered to U.S. legislators is funded by taxpayer dollars.

Signees included Rep. Christopher Smith, R-New Jersey; Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; and others.

South Dakota attorney general orders abortion pill company to stop alleged false advertising

The South Dakota attorney general is ordering an abortion pill company to cease “deceptive” advertising or else face the threat of a lawsuit.

Attorney General Marty Jackley sent a Dec. 10 cease and desist to abortion pill advocate Mayday Health after South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden ordered an investigation into the company.

In a Dec. 10 statement, Jackley said that Mayday Health was instructing women to not seek medical care after taking the abortion pills, while also implying that the pills were legal in South Dakota. Abortion pills are illegal in that state with limited exceptions.

“Your advertisement directs South Dakota consumers to resources that insinuate abortion-inducing pills are legal in South Dakota, while also urging women not to seek medical care after taking abortion pills and to keep their abortion a secret,” Jackley wrote in the letter.

If South Dakota files a lawsuit, Mayday Health could face felony criminal consequences or a fine of $5,000 per violation, according to the letter.