St. Mary's Church

El número de adultos estadounidenses que se identifican con el cristianismo, con otra religión o sin religión se ha mantenido estable, según un nuevo informe del Pew Research Center.

Aunque millones de fieles reconocen al Cerro del Tepeyac en la Ciudad de México como el sitio de las apariciones de la Virgen de Guadalupe, no muchos saben que el milagro de la estampación de su imagen no ocurrió ahí, sino en un lugar hoy prácticamente olvidado.

Alrededor de 22.000.000 personas acudieron a venerar la reliquia de primer grado de San Judas Tadeo, que recorrió México desde el 29 de julio de 2024 y que en los próximos días partirá de regreso a Roma (Italia).   

El Santuario de Nuestra Señora Purísima de Lo Vásquez, en la Diócesis de Valparaíso (Chile), recibió este lunes a 1.700.000 fieles que llegaron desde distintos puntos del país para venerar a la Virgen en el día de su Inmaculada Concepción.  

El Papa León XIV dijo que el plan del presidente estadounidense Donald Trump para poner fin a la guerra de Rusia contra Ucrania amenaza con deshacer la alianza entre Europa y Estados Unidos.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 9, 2025 / 15:30 pm (CNA).

The number of American adults who identify with Christianity, with another religion, or with no religion have all remained steady, a new Pew Research Center report finds. 

Surveys conducted since 2020 have generally found that about 70% of U.S. adults identify with a religion. The numbers have slightly fluctuated, but there has been no clear rise or fall in religious affiliation over the five-year period.

A Pew Research Center study, Religion Holds Steady in America, summarizes the latest trends in American religion and examines religion among young adults. The report is based on Pew’s National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS), which has annually surveyed a random sample of U.S. adults since 2020. It also draws from the U.S. Religious Landscape Study (RLS), which surveyed 36,908 adults from July 17, 2023 to March 4, 2024.

The report also uses data from the General Social Survey and the American Time Use Survey.

The research revealed that after Pew found a decline in Christianity in the country from 2007 to 2020, the decline has halted and there is a stable presence of Christianty and religion in the nation. 

Young women’s religiosity shifts

While the polling shows no clear evidence of a religious increase among young adults, it did find that young men are now almost as religious as women in the same age group. The finding differs from past studies which found that young women tended to be more religious than young men. 

This shift was found to be due to a decline in religiousness among American women, rather than an increase in the religiousness of men. In contrast to the young adults, the data revealed older women are more religious than older men. 

Overall, young men and young women surveyed in 2023 and 2024 are less religious than those questioned in 2007 and 2014 studies.

In 2007, 54% of women and 40% of men ages 18 to 24 reported they prayed daily. Data from 2023-2024 revealed only 30% of women and 26% of men in the same age group said they pray daily, indicating the gender gap among religious men and women is closing. 

Young adults remain less religious than older Americans

The data found no evidence that any age group has become substantially more or less religious since 2020. In the 2025 NPORS, 83% of adults 71 or older identified with a religion, similarly to the 84% in 2020. 

Among the youngest group of adults ages 18 to 30, 55% identify with a religion in 2025. This data is similar to the 57% who reported the same in 2020.

While there was not a large change in the number of adults who practice religion, older generations continue to be more religious than younger ones. Adults aged 71 or older tend to pray more than those ages 18 to 30, with 59% of older adults reporting they pray daily compared to 32% of young adults. 

There were also discrepancies among age groups based on how often individuals attend religious services. Adults 71 and older attend the most with 43% reporting they attend at least monthly. Adults 31 to 40 were found to attend the least with 29% reporting they go monthly. 

The data shows that today’s adults between the ages of roughly 18 and 22 are at least as religious as the age group slightly older than them who are in their mid to late 20s. Some aspects revealed that the younger U.S. adults may be more religious than the age group slightly older than them. 

The 2023–24 RLS found 30% of adults born between 2003 and 2006 said they attended religious services at least once a month, which is higher than the 24% of people born between 1995 and 2002. 

El párroco de una parroquia católica cerca de Boston (EE.UU.) dice que una exhibición contra las leyes de inmigración en su pesebre permanecerá en pie al menos por ahora.

Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Dec 9, 2025 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV said President Donald Trump’s plan to end Russia’s war against Ukraine threatens to break apart the alliance between Europe and the United States.

Asked by reporters Dec. 9 to comment on the initiative's fairness, the pope said, “I would rather not comment on that. I haven’t read the whole thing. Unfortunately, some parts I have seen make a huge change in what was for many years a true alliance between the EU and U.S.”

The pope commented to reporters after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Castel Gandolfo. 

Pope Leo said, “The remarks [by Trump] that were made about Europe recently are, I think, trying to break apart what I think is an important alliance today and in the future. It’s a program that President Trump and his advisers put together, and he’s the president of the U.S. And he has a right to do that.”

The Holy Father called for continued dialogue to seek a "just and lasting peace" in Ukraine during the meeting with Zelensky on Tuesday, according to the Vatican.

The pair also discussed the question of prisoners of war and the urgent need to assure the return of Ukrainian children to their families. According to the Vatican, the Holy See will continue its efforts to do that — including "through the efforts of the Special envoy of the Holy Father for humanitarian issues in Ukraine," Cardinal Matteo Zuppi said, and to ensure the release of prisoners of war. 

Responding to a question from EWTN News, the pope said that progress on the repatriation of abducted Ukrainian children was “very slow, unfortunately,” but he declined to comment further on the matter.

The Vatican has mediated between Kyiv and Moscow on the issue of the children’s return. Zelensky wrote on X, "I informed the Pope about diplomatic efforts with the United States to achieve peace. We discussed further actions and the Vatican’s mediation aimed at returning our children abducted by Russia," Zelensky wrote on X.

In a statement published by the Vatican after the meeting at Castel Gandolfo, the pope “reiterated the need for the continuation of dialogue and expressed his urgent desire that the current diplomatic initiatives bring about a just and lasting peace.”

Following the private audience, Zelensky expressed his “profound gratitude” to Pope Leo XIV for the Holy See's constant support for the Ukrainian people.

Valentina Di Donato contributed to this story.

CNA Staff, Dec 9, 2025 / 15:10 pm (CNA).

Three months after a deadly shooting in Minneapolis that left two students dead and injured 18 others as well as three adults, Archbishop Bernard Hebda, along with Auxiliary Bishops Kevin Kenney and Michael Izen, said a special Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church on Dec. 6 that included a rite of reparation to restore the church for worship.

On Aug. 27, Robin Westman — who was born “Robert” and identified as a woman – shot through the stained glass windows of the church during a morning Mass filled with Annunciation school students in first through eighth grade, killing Fletcher Merkel, eight, and Harper Moyski, 10. 

Westman, who had posted anti-Christian and explicit messages on social media before the attack, then killed himself at the scene.

"Our Blessed Mother lived this faith and cooperated with God's plan for her life, despite the difficulties it would occasion,” Hebda prayed outside the building just before the Dec. 6 Mass. “We profess that our souls now will rejoin hers in proclaiming the greatness of the Lord in this church, dedicated in her honor, and now reclaimed for the glory of God."

"My brothers and sisters, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead proclaims that evil and death do not have the final word; God does.”

Hebda, followed by Kenney, Izen, and the rest of the congregation, entered the church chanting the Litany of the Saints.

The altar was bare when the Mass began. Part of the rite of reparation included the prayers: "restore the sanctity of this church, dedicated to your glory and the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary."

Other prayers included petitions to “bring healing to those who were injured” and "bring healing and comfort to those suffering the harm done to their children."

Annunciation pastor Father Dennis Zehren, along with the archbishop, sprinkled holy water throughout the church, on the altar, and on those gathered. The media was not allowed into the church during the Mass.

During his homily Hebda recalled the anointing of Annunciation Church at its establishment 40 years earlier, pointing out that inscribed outside the church are the words: “‘This is the house of God and the gate of heaven.’”

In notes of his homily provided to the media, Hebda recalled what occurred at the church on Aug. 27: “This safe haven, this place of refuge, this foretaste of the order of the heavenly kingdom, was disturbed by a chaos that no one could have imagined. It's for that chaos that we've come together to engage in this act of penance and reparation this day.”

"This community will never forget what happened that day,” he wrote, “and will forever remember with great love Harper and Fletcher, whose beautiful and inspiring lives were cut short as they and fellow students gathered for the Eucharist.”

He continued: "I've never seen such an outpouring of love and mutual support as I have witnessed here these last three months. The sorrow understandably lingers, but there's a Christ-centered resilience here that is remarkable — and praise God — it's been contagious.

"Today we gather penitentially for this rite of reparation in the hope of restoring the order that Christ desires for his Church, his family. We cannot undo the tragic loss of Fletcher and Harper, but we can communicate to the world that we recognize that the power of God is far in excess of any evil; that where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.”

"We cannot let Satan win, and we, by God's grace, reclaim this space today for Christ and his Church,” the prelate said. 

El objetivo del proyecto radica en brindarle a los jóvenes “oportunidades de crecimiento, promoviendo una práctica deportiva centrada en valores”