Feast date: Dec 16

Born in 931 in Burgundy, France as the daughter of King Rudolph II of Burgundy, Adelaide was promised in marriage when she was only two years old, to a man named Lothaire, the son and heir of his enemy, Hugh of Provence.

Lothaire was killed when still young, and Adelaide was to have a tumultuous life that paralleled the struggle for political power of the times, something she had come to symbolize. She appealed to Otho the Great of Germany for help.

Having been sought after by various kings and nobles after Lothaire’s death, she was finally married by Otho the Great of Germany, who had invaded Italy.

After Otto’s death on May 7, 973, Adelaide exercised influence over her son Otto II until their estrangement in 978, when she left the court and lived in Burgundy with her brother King Conrad. At Conrad’s urging, she became reconciled with her son, and, before his death in 983, Otto appointed her his regent in Italy. With her daughter-in-law, Empress Theophano, she upheld the right of her three-year-old grandson, Otto III, to the German throne. She lived in Lombardy from 985 to 991, when she returned to Germany to serve as sole regent after Theophano’s death (991). In 991, Adelaide was invested as the Regent of the Empire, and she used her power as the effective empress to increase evangelization efforts, especially in northern Europe, and built many monasteries and churches, and also gave much aid the poor. She governed until Otto III came of age in 994, and, when he became Holy Roman emperor in 996, she retired from court life, devoting herself to founding churches, monasteries, and convents.

She died in 999 at the monastery of Seltz, Alsace, and was canonized in 1097 by Pope Urban II.

Citing the ministerial expection, a federal district court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Father Kesiena Obienu against the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

The Nigerian-born priest, who was ordained in 2022, alleged discrimination that led to “wrongful termination, failure to promote, failure to allow him to complete the training necessary for promotion, unequal terms and conditions of employment, and retaliation,” according to the court ruling (p. 4). The priest also maintained that he was ordained “against his express wishes” (p. 2).

The apostolic prefect of Battambang, Cambodia, attributed the Cambodia–Thailand conflict to the Thai government’s desire for military glory.

Father Enrique Figaredo Alvargonzález, a Spanish Jesuit missionary prelate, told the Fides news agency that “political dynamics [in Thailand] are prompting the military to strive for national glory, even through this war with an external enemy, which they hope will restore unity to the country. But we also see in Thailand that the youth do not share this approach and are calling for peace.”

“We are experiencing this time of trial during Advent and placing our precarious situation and our pain in God’s hands,” added the prelate, who expressed gratitude for Pope Leo’s recent appeal for peace.

Attorney General Dana Nessel of Michigan released “Diocese of Grand Rapids: A Complete Accounting,” a 335-page report on allegations of clerical sexual abuse in the diocese.

“The investigation into the Diocese of Grand Rapids did not reveal any allegations of the sexual abuse of a minor regarding priests in active ministry,” the diocese said in its response. “No criminal charges resulted from this investigation.”   

The diocese added:

During the 75-year period in the report, more than 1,000 priests served in our diocese. The report details the reported abuse of 152 victim-survivors by 51 priests.

The sexual misconduct allegations of 14 priests involve adults. While immoral, these actions are not in violation of Michigan law. The Attorney General has not filed criminal charges against any of these priests.

The vast majority of reported abuse cases in our diocese are very old, with most occurring from 1970-1979. The fact that no charges were filed against priests in the Diocese of Grand Rapids and that all alleged conduct involving a minor occurred before 2002 is evidence that our safe environment programs are working.

Pope Leo XIV appealed for peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as the military campaign by the M23 rebel group continues.

“I am following with deep concern the resumption of fighting in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Pope Leo said following his Sunday Angelus address. “While expressing my closeness to the people, I urge the parties in the conflict to cease all forms of violence and to seek constructive dialogue, respecting the ongoing peace process.”

The president of the Pontifical Academy of Theology said that the theories of the 20th-century physicist David Bohm point to Christianity.

“The visions of Bohm and other holistic scientists are not in contradiction with the Christian faith; on the contrary, they find in Christian theology their most complete and profound explanation,” said Bishop Antonio Staglianò, in an article in yesterday’s edition of the Vatican newspaper.

The prelate explained:

Quantum physics shows us the “how” of the extraordinary interconnectedness of being. Christianity reveals to us the “who” and the “why”: everything is united because everything is created and redeemed In Him, the One, and in Him alone we find our true identity of being One.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, celebrated Mass on the evening of December 13 for participants in the Jubilee of the Swiss Guard, the Gendarmerie (police), and the Fire Department of Vatican City State.

Reflecting on the first reading of the Gaudete Sunday Mass, Cardinal Parolin preached that “the Lord comes and visits us in our existential deserts: He does not make the problems disappear, but helps us to face them together with Him. And it happens as when the steppe suddenly blossoms!”

Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, told Jewish leaders that the Bondi Beach shooting is “a painful reminder that hatred remains a threat to our lives, our communities, and the bonds that unite us.”

Hanukkah, which “commemorates an event in salvation history cherished by Catholics as well as Jews, proclaims the truth that light endures, even when darkness seems overwhelming,” Archbishop Coakley said in his letter, released yesterday. “I wish the Jewish community to know that the Catholic community stands with them in sorrow and in resolve, committed to friendship that does not waver when fear threatens to paralyze us.”

The Nativity scene is “an important sign: it reminds us that we are part of a wondrous adventure of Salvation in which we are never alone but, as Saint Augustine said, ‘God became man, so that man might become God … so that the human inhabitants of earth might become inhabitants of heaven,’” Pope Leo XIV said on December 13.

Addressing actors of the living Nativity scene of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, Pope Leo added, “Spread this message and keep this tradition alive. They are a gift of light for our world, which so badly needs to be able to continue to hope.”

In a message to participants in a meeting of Latin American priests, religious, and seminarians who are studying in Rome, Pope Leo XIV emphasized the Lord’s “absolute initiative” in calling someone to follow Him, as well as the “commitment that responding to this vocation entails.”

Pope Leo also spoke of “the urgent need for theoretical and practical knowledge of the divine law,” gained “above all through reading the Holy Scriptures, meditating in the silence of deep prayer, reverently welcoming the voice of legitimate pastors, and attentively studying the many treasures of wisdom offered to us by the Church.”

“In the midst of joys and difficulties, our motto must be: if Christ went through this, it is also our duty to live what He lived,” the Pope added. “We must not be driven by applause because its echo is short-lived; nor is it healthy to dwell only on the memory of days of crisis or times of bitter disappointment.”