Nation/World

Photos featured this week are scenes from Christmas at the Vatican, in Bethlehem and in the U.S.

Ernesto Cofiño, a Guatemalan pediatrician and Opus Dei supernumerary known for his tireless fundraising and attention to the poorest of patients, has been declared venerable by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

Photos featured this week include Pope Francis’ 87th birthday, an illuminated Nativity in Manila, Philippines, and more.

The church’s liturgical season of Christmas is one of its shortest, but also one of its most unique. Within it is the eight-day celebration of the Lord’s Nativity as well as other feasts.

Against growing concerns about millions of people going hungry worldwide, the Archdiocese of Nairobi launched a milk processing plant in November to help local communities in central Kenya fight food insecurity and malnutrition.

The world has become very small and dangerous for the 600 Palestinian Gaza Christians sheltering at the Holy Family Parish church compound in Gaza City almost since the start of the Israeli-Hamas war Oct. 7.

A Catholic priest can bless a gay or other unmarried couple as long as it is not a formal liturgical blessing and does not give the impression that the Catholic Church is blessing the union as if it were a marriage, the Vatican doctrinal office said.

Photos featured this week include the Nativity scene and Christmas tree in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, a procession in the neighborhood surrounding Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in St. Paul and the 30th Posada Without Borders celebration at the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico.