St. Ansgar, now remembered as the Apostle of the North, “faced enormous opposition and seemed to fail, but success was not what he sought,” Cardinal Parolin preached.

The saint’s life, the prelate said, shows that the Church grows “not primarily in numbers, but in men and women who live lives of faithfulness, perseverance, and love: the mission begins with transformed hearts.”

The prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith called for intellectual humility at the opening of the dicastery’s plenary session and linked the lack of such humility to the “excesses of the Inquisition, the world wars, the Shoah, and the massacres in Gaza.”

The Vatican has not officially announced the visits.

Angola, a nation of 37 million (map) is 92% Christian (52% Catholic) and 6% ethnic religionist. Equatorial Guinea, a nation of 1.9 million (map), is 88% Christian (80% Catholic) and 4% Muslim.

“The first task is to restore order and peace to our streets, and insist on calm and restraint in our public discourse,” Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles wrote in an archdiocesan media column. “I hope all sides in this conflict—federal authorities, city and state officials, and those protesting the enforcement actions—will take a step back in the interests of the common good.”

Archbishop Gomez added:

There is no question that the federal government has the duty to enforce immigration laws. But there must be a better way than this ... It serves no national interest to deport undocumented men and women who are contributing to the good of our society, it only leaves children without their parents.

Our rights do not depend on the decisions of government officials or law enforcement officers; we do not lose our rights based on the color of our skin, or the language we speak, or for not having the proper documents. Right now our government seems to be treating undocumented immigrants—men, women, and children—as if they have no rights.

“How will you say ‘no’ to violence?” he said yesterday during an online interfaith prayer service. “How will you say ‘no’ this week when an appropriations bill is going to be considered in Congress?”

Cardinal Tobin added:

Will you contact your congressional representatives, the senators and representatives from your district? Will you ask them, for the love of God and the love of human beings, which can’t be separated, to vote against renewing funding for such a lawless organization?

“May the face of Jesus, always shine upon Hong Kong, and may Hong Kong rejoice in the face of Jesus,” he said.

Cardinal Tagle made his remarks at a January 18 concert marking the 80th anniversary of the Diocese of Hong Kong.

Others in attendance included Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, SJ, of Hong Kong; current and former governors of Hong Kong; the cardinal archbishop of Tokyo; bishops from Macau and Taipei; Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck of Essen, Germany; and Bishop Oscar Cantú of San Jose, California.

Praising Pope Leo’s “moral and spiritual leadership,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees thanked Pope Leo XIV for his “steadfast support” for refugees.

The Custody of the Holy Land is the Franciscan province there. In the 14th century, the Holy See entrusted the care of the holy sites in the Holy Land to the Franciscan order.

The Church of the Nativity was constructed over the site of the grotto in the early fourth century. The present structure dates to 565.

The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity has announced its three 2026 honorees: the Azerbaijan-Armenia Peace Agreement, brokered by President Donald Trump; Zarqa Yaftali, an Afghan girls’ education advocate; and Taawon, a Palestinian development association. Each of the honorees will receive a $1-million prize on February 4, the anniversary of the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity.

In his message for World Communications Day, Pope Leo XIV spoke of the dignity of the human face and the human voice, warned of the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI), and called for “responsibility, cooperation, and education” to help guide the use of AI.