St. Mary's Church

Más de dos tercios de los votantes católicos estadounidenses tienen una opinión favorable del Papa León XIV durante el primer año de su pontificado, y sólo un porcentaje ínfimo lo ve de manera desfavorable.

El Papa León XIV recibió este viernes en el Vaticano al arzobispo Georg Gänswein, Nuncio Apostólico en Lituania, Letonia y Estonia; y exsecretario del Papa Benedicto XVI.

Los casi 500 años desde la aparición de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe han visto surgir diversidad de mitos en torno a la imagen plasmada en la tilma de San Juan Diego, como una supuesta temperatura humana o movimiento en los ojos de la Virgen. ¿Qué hay de cierto en esto?

Este viernes 12 de diciembre más de mil de alumnos de 25 colegios de Valencia (España) se han concentrado en los alrededores de la Catedral para cantar villancicos. 

Al culminar la 201.ª Comisión Permanente, los Obispos de la Conferencia Episcopal Argentina enviaron un saludo de Navidad al Papa León XIV y agradecieron su reciente visita a Turquía y el Líbano. 

El Papa León XIV presidió este 12 de diciembre su primera Misa en la Solemnidad de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, a quien encomendó su pontificado.

El Papa León XIV presidió en la Basílica de San Pedro la Santa Misa con ocasión de la Solemnidad de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. Durante su homilía, resaltó que la Morenita “despierta en los habitantes de América la alegría de saberse amados por Dios”.

El Papa León XIV nombró hoy a Mons. Luciano Maza Huamán como nuevo Arzobispo de Piura y Tumbes (Perú), según informó la Oficina de Prensa de la Santa Sede, que también anunció el nombramiento de Mons. Juan Carlos Asqui Pilco como Obispo Prelado de Chuquibamba.

CNA Staff, Dec 12, 2025 / 09:41 am (CNA).

Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, has announced the opening of a new order of Discalced Carmelite nuns after an older one in the diocese lost its canonical status last year. 

Olson announced the news of the opening in a letter on Dec. 2 in which he said the Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life gave permission for the new monastery.

The prelate described it as “a moment of extraordinary grace for our local Church.”

In an interview with CNA, Olson said there has been “a need in our diocese for prayers, for reparation of sin … and through adoration and contemplation and meditation, to pray for all of those intentions — that is the vocation of the new Carmel.”

Olson said that about six months ago he requested that a new order of nuns come to reside in the diocese from the Christ the King Association of Discalced Carmelite Monasteries in the U.S.A.

After making a formal request for permission from the Holy See in October, he received word in November that the Holy See approved the establishment of the new monastery. 

The nuns are coming from the Carmel in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. 

The bishop emphasized that the Carmel “is an autonomous body even though I have supervisory rights.”

He said the land was “donated generously by the faithful in the diocese” after he acted as an intermediary between the sisters and parishioners.

Asked when he believes the monastery, located in a rural part of northern Cooke County about 80 miles north of Dallas, will be completed, he replied: “That’s in God’s time.” 

He said the sisters will not have a website “because it’s a distraction from their religious life. Social media can have adverse effects on a religious vocation, as we have seen.” 

Olson told CNA he is “very grateful to the Holy See for this permission, but also to the religious sisters, the nuns who have given of themselves to Christ. It’s a very unique vocation.” 

The bishop is encouraging people to be generous with the sisters as they establish their new home in the Fort Worth Diocese: “They’re in full communion with the Church, are rightly ordered in their Carmelite vocation.”

A new page for the Carmelites after scandal

In 2023, a public scandal erupted after Olson began an investigation of an alleged relationship of a sexual nature between the former prioress of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Arlington, Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, and a priest outside the diocese. 

Gerlach denied the allegation and accused Olson of overstepping his authority while seeking to obtain the nuns’ property located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Olson has denied both claims. 

The scandal played out in the press through actions taken by the Vatican, lawsuits in civil courts, and through public statements on both sides. 

Last December, the Vatican issued a decree of suppression of the Arlington Carmelite monastery.

Olson announced the suppression just over a year ago, on Dec. 2, 2024, emphasizing at the time that the women at the monastery “are neither nuns nor Carmelites despite their continued and public self-identification to the contrary.”

He added that the Holy See “suppressed the monastery, so it exists no longer, despite any public self-identification made to the contrary by the former nuns who continue to occupy the premises.”

In August of that year, the nuns posted on their website that they had joined the Society of St. Pius X, a group that is in an “irregular” canonical situation within the Church.

‘May their vocation bring forth many graces’

In his most recent letter announcing the new monastery, Olson said it “will be a place where the beauty of contemplative life radiates outward into the world. Through prayer, silence, work, and sacrifice, the Discalced Carmelite nuns will accompany the faithful and intercede for the needs of our communities.” 

“I ask all the faithful of the diocese to join me in prayer for these nuns as they begin this new chapter in their vocation,” the bishop said. 

“May their vocation bring forth many graces including priestly and religious vocations, holy and happy marriages, and faithful discipleship,” he added.

Tras las elecciones generales de noviembre, este domingo 14 de diciembre se celebrará en Chile la segunda vuelta presidencial, en la que el candidato republicano José Antonio Kast se enfrentará a la postulante comunista Jeannette Jara.