The Christmas fair in Madrid was the work of Fundación Contemplare, a nonprofit set up to help Spain’s monasteries continue a legacy of gourmet baked goods and handmade candies but also, more importantly, to support contemplative life and reconnect monasteries with the world around them.

Global reaction among bishops to the Vatican’s declaration that priests may now bless same-sex couples appears most divergent in some European and African nations.

“The expectations, the preparations for the reopening are a magnificent sign of hope in a difficult world,” the Rev. Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, Notre-Dame’s rector, said.

With COP28 in the United Arab Emirates imminent, opinion in the developed world on climate change has become deeply polarized. Perhaps exhausted by the digital news cycle, many people have developed compassion fatigue.

As Pope Francis grapples with defiant bishops in Germany and the United States, a high-ranking Vatican official who oversees church law clarified the protocols for disciplining a bishop.

The president of the Polish bishops' conference has bitterly criticized demands for liberal change by the church in neighboring Germany and urged the pope not to allow them to dominate the Rome Synod on Synodality.