Catholic Nutshell News: Thursday 12/25/25
Topics include: Homeless gave archbishop a gift; Thousands flock to Bethlehem; The world’s oldest church; & 80,000 people attend same church every Sunday
“O Holy Night”
Today's sources include Aleteia, CNA, National Catholic Register, The Pillar, CatholicVote, John Eldredge, and ChurchPOP. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise the Catholic News Muscle)
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Catholic News Agency
Christmas reversed in Slovakia: Homeless gave archbishop a gift
By Bohumil Petrík, December 24, 2025
Archbishop Bernard Bober of Košice, Slovakia, found a special gift under the Christmas tree—a new “cathedra,” a wooden bench prepared by homeless people in a charity workshop. Benches are also associated with people living on the margins of society. The traditional Christmas gathering began with a Mass inside one of the buildings of the Archdiocesan Charity in Košice, the second-largest city in Slovakia. After the Mass, the prelate, also president of the Slovak Bishops’ Conference, joined those in need for goulash and other seasonal meals. “Christmas is not just about the Nativity scene,” Bober said, but about people — getting together, acceptance, and mutual closeness. “It is precisely people who have a difficult fate… who need to feel at this time that they are not alone, that they are accepted, and that they have their place among us,” he said. The bench was made in a charity workshop where those in need gain and improve manual skills, helping them enter the job market.
Crux
Thousands flock to Bethlehem to revive the Christmas spirit
By Melanie Lidman, AP, December 25, 2025
Thousands of people flocked to Bethlehem’s Manger Square on Christmas Eve as families there and at other sites across the Holy Land heralded a much-needed boost of holiday spirit, after two years of subdued celebrations because of the war in Gaza. The city where Christians believe Jesus was born had canceled Christmas celebrations but on Wednesday, the giant Christmas tree returned to Manger Square, temporarily replacing the wartime nativity scene of baby Jesus surrounded by rubble and barbed wire in a homage to Gaza’s suffering. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the top Catholic leader in the Holy Land, kicked off this year’s celebrations during the traditional procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, calling for “a Christmas full of light.”
UCA News
Taiwan metro attack suspect’s parents kneel, apologize
By AFP, Taipei, December 24, 2025
The parents of a man accused of killing three people in a stabbing rampage in a Taiwan metro last week knelt and apologized on Dec. 23, promising full cooperation with investigators. The 27-year-old, identified by his parents as Chang Wen, set off smoke bombs in Taipei’s main metro station during rush hour on Dec. 19 evening before launching into a stabbing spree that also wounded 11 people. He was found dead later, with Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an saying he had apparently jumped off a nearby building. His parents, wearing hats and face masks and whose names were not given, knelt outside a funeral parlor where an autopsy had been performed on his body and apologized for their son’s actions. “We would like to apologize to everyone. We are sorry,” he said, bowing and kneeling with his wife in footage broadcast live on Taiwan television. “We will fully cooperate with the judicial investigation.”
Zenit
The world’s oldest church has been found
By ZENIT Staff, December 12, 2025
Along the shores of the Red Sea, in a city better known today for trade routes and tourism, an unexpected chapter of Christian history has re-emerged. In Aqaba, southern Jordan, an archaeological site long studied by scholars has now been formally opened to the public: the remains of a church dating back to the late third century, widely regarded as the earliest purpose-built Christian place of worship known to date. The inauguration ceremony, held on 15 December, carried a resonance far beyond archaeology. For the first time since a devastating earthquake struck the region in the year 363, prayers and liturgical chants echoed once again within walls that predate the legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Representatives of Jordan’s monarchy, Christian patriarchates, and church leaders gathered on the ground where believers once assembled at a time when public Christian worship was still legally precarious.
CatholicVote
The controversy behind the Christmas hymn, Joy to the World
By Felix Miller, December 25, 2025
Every Christmas Eve, churches all around the world belt out “Joy to the World,” but music-lovers and academics alike today argue about what, precisely, the beloved hymn’s lyrics mean. “Joy to the World” was written by English Congregationalist minister and hymnodist Isaac Watts as a poetic version of Psalm 98. It was published in 1719 as part of a book titled The Psalms of David: Imitated in the Language of the New Testament, And apply’d to the Christian State of Worship. In recent years, some have taken a new approach to the old hymn. “While ‘Joy to the World’ is primarily sung at Christmas, it’s not about the incarnation,” Alyssa Poblete, a Christian writer and mother, argues in an essay for The Gospel Coalition. “Rather, the song tells the story of Christ’s return — his second coming.” Similar claims are also put forth by scholars such as Scott Aniol, director of doctoral worship studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Zenit
80,000 people attend Mass every Sunday… in the same church
By Rafael Llanes, October 9, 2025
In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 80,000 people attend Mass every week, and on special occasions, 200,000. An average of 10,000 children attend catechism classes each week. This is the parish of St. Mary in Dubai, located in Oud Metha, a town of 15,600 inhabitants in Sector 3 of the capital. It was founded by Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister, in 1966, who donated the land to build the church. Designed for 1,700 parishioners at each service, it offers 200,000 communions each weekend and inaugurated a second church in 2001. The community of St. Mary welcomes immigrants primarily from India and the Philippines. The community is a symbol of faith lived with fervor and discretion in a Muslim-majority country. Thirty Masses are celebrated on weekends in English, Arabic, French, Urdu, and Filipino.
The Pillar
India’s bishops lament ‘alarming rise’ in attacks
By Luke Coppen, December 24, 2025
India’s bishops condemned an “alarming rise” in attacks on Christians ahead of Christmas. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India expressed “deep anguish” at the incidents in a strongly worded Dec. 23 statement. The CBCI, which brings together the country’s Latin, Syro-Malabar, and Syro-Malankara bishops, highlighted a Dec. 20 video in which a local official belonging to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party physically harassed a visually impaired woman attending a Christmas event in the city of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, central India. Indian media reported that the incident took place at a church in Jabalpur’s Hawa Bagh district during a Christmas lunch for children. Bhargava reportedly accused Kartik of seeking to profit from religious conversions and declared she would be “blind in this life and the next.” Supriya Shrinate, national spokeswoman of the Indian National Congress, India’s other major political party, said, “This cruelty is the easiest way to advance in the BJP. These people are stains on society.”
Aleteia
It always feels strange when Christmas falls on …
By Tom Hoopes, December 25, 2025
None of the days feel like Christmas fits them. Sunday Christmases hardly feel different from any other Sunday, so that’s no good. Monday Christmases feel like one of the many secular federal holidays pushed to Mondays, and makes Christmas Eve’s Mass schedule awkward. Tuesday Christmases turn into four-day weekends, often, but for those who like time off during the Christmas Octave, they aren’t ideal. Neither are Wednesday Christmases, though in terms of Mass schedules, they are like a more leisurely Ash Wednesday. Thanksgiving has trained us how to handle Thursday Christmases a little bit. Friday Christmas is great, but Thursday Christmas Eve feels weird, my kids say. Saturday Christmases work well everywhere but church, where Mass obligations pile up, and you need to go to different Masses for both weekend days — two weeks in a row, including Mary, Mother of God. I think that this is all as it should be!
CatholicVote, CNA & ChurchPOP for 12/25/25
CatholicVote - The Loop
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JERUSALEM PATRIARCHS ISSUE CHRISTMAS PEACE APPEAL The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem issued a Christmas message yesterday, calling Christians to practice steadfast faith, solidarity with those suffering, and renewed prayer for a “true and just peace” in the Holy Land, as violence continues despite a ceasefire that took effect Oct. 10.
AT A MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE WHO DIED ON THE STREETS IN 2025, Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles gave an important reminder: "Love is the measure of the human heart and our love is judged by the mercy that we show to our neighbors, especially the weakest and most vulnerable.”
HONORING OUR MOTHER Honor Mary, the Mother of our Savior. Every year, firefighters in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna honor Mary by adorning her statue with flowers. Rome Firefighters Rise 27 Meters At Dawn To Honor Virgin Mary. The gesture was carried out by section chief Roberto Leo, the most senior member of the Rome Fire Brigade Command, lifted on the ladder truck to place the wreath at the statue.
Catholic News Agency
CNA’s top headlines — December 25, 2025
The Catholic News Agency provides reliable, free, and up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, emphasizing the words of the Holy Father and the activities of the Holy See, available to anyone with internet access.
Pope Leo XIV highlights Gaza, Yemen, migrants in first Christmas Urbi et Orbi message - Dec 25, 2025 - By Victoria Cardiel - In his first Christmas “Urbi et Orbi” message as pope, Leo XIV urged the world to embrace “responsibility” as the sure way to peace, while pointing in particular to the suffering of people in Gaza, Yemen, and those fleeing war and poverty as refugees and migrants.
Catholic Church responds to deadly Indonesia floods as leaders warn of environmental crisis - Dec 24, 2025 - By Bryan Lawrence Gonsalves - Amid the widespread destruction, Caritas Indonesia has emerged as a central pillar of the Church’s humanitarian response.
Christmas recital in Lebanon aims for Guinness World Record - Dec 24, 2025 - By Romy Haber - In an attempt to inscribe the name of the Land of the Cedars in the Guinness World Records, a group in Lebanon launched an event aspiring to make history: a continuous Christmas hymn recital lasting 170 uninterrupted hours to break a world record and inscribe the name of the Land of the Cedars in the Guinness World Records.
ChurchPOP Trending
ChurchPOP provides fun, informative, and authentically Catholic news and culture - December 25, 2025
“We publish inspiring daily stories, fun and shareable faith-centered infographics, prayers, Church history, and more.”
Was Jesus Really Born on December 25th? What the Early Church Had to Say About It - Was Jesus really born on December 25? Scripture provides strong evidence that Jesus was born on December 25 or a date near that. If Mary conceived Jesus in late March, that places his birth in late December.
Saint Thérèse’s Christmas Miracle: The Story of the Defining Moment That Helped Her Become a Saint - “...I was not the same Thérèse any more; Jesus had changed me completely.”
Why Do Catholics Celebrate Christmas Mass at Midnight? The Beautiful History of an Ancient Tradition - Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum University, acknowledges that the tradition is not totally certain. However, it was Pope Sixtus III who, in the early fifth century, played a key part in shaping the Roman form of Midnight Mass.
Nutshell reflections for 12/25/25:
USCCB Daily Reflection - VIDEO - December 25, 2025
The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)
Church Life Journal
The Fall of the Angels and the unnaturalness of death
By Philip Porter, December 15, 2023
In addition to being temporary, death is also temporal. Its dominion extends only as far as the distention, the painful stretching out, of fallen spacetime. This is not the only kind of spacetime there is. In addition to it, there is also the spacetime of heaven. To offer a formal definition, I mean by “heaven” wherever the ascended flesh of Jesus Christ and the assumed flesh of the Blessed Virgin are. Having bodies, they occupy space. In occupying space, they also occupy time. Space and time are intimate with one another in just this way. To be in one is to be in the other conjointly. And so it is fitting to say that death’s dominion over spacetime obtains where the spacetime of heaven does not. The spacetime over which death wields power is fallen. Death’s dominion in fallen spacetime is entirely negative in itself. Its rule is one of lack. This lack manifests itself in distention. The holy angels are not and have not ever been distended in spacetime. Holy angels occupy spacetime at its center—the still eye around which the hurricane rages.
Catholic Culture
The liturgy wars you will always have with you
By David G. Bonagura, Jr., December 15, 2025
Sure enough, in the century-long crescendo to the liturgical reforms initiated by the Second Vatican Council, liturgists became enamored with ancient forms of the Mass and desired a return to them. After the council, a committee commissioned by the pope—this time, without his direct involvement—scrapped the Roman Rite codified over a millennium earlier in favor of a new order of the Mass that was allegedly closer to the original. Once again, some Catholics did not receive the new version with joy, though, unlike in the seventeenth century, Rome was keen to see nearly every church and monastery adopt the new order. What accounts for this historical rhyme? Its beat could be extended with similar disputes over reform efforts to the Mass, the breviary, and hymnody over the centuries, and even to the new English translation of the Mass that debuted in 2011.
LifeSite
Canadian group challenges ‘hate speech’ bill targeting Bible
By Anthony Murdoch, December 15, 2025
The Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) said that Bill C-9, or the Combating Hate Act, “Crosses the Line” by criminalizing parts of the Bible dealing with homosexuality, and is asking Canadians to sign its petition calling for its demise. “While prejudice and discrimination should be condemned, the proposed law gives the government new power to subjectively determine which words and ideas are acceptable – a direct threat to the Charter right to freedom of expression,” reads the open petition that anyone can sign and send to MPs. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government, as reported by LifeSiteNews recently, passed amendments to the bill removing a religious exception. According to the CCF, Bill C-9 would lower the “threshold for ‘hatred,’” and rewrite ‘“the legal definition so that more speech could be criminalized, including speech considered merely offensive.”
Wild at Heart
He comes to heal — He comes to save
By John Eldredge, December 25, 2025
There is of course a story to tell, a wild and redemptive story that has at its center the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For if it is anything at all, the Gospel of Christianity is an offer of restoration. God knows that the human race is in bad shape. He knows our lives are nowhere near what we once dreamed of. He knows what it’s like, living as we all do now, so far from Eden. It breaks his heart. So he comes himself to planet earth, this vale of tears, comes to do for us what none of us could accomplish on our own. He comes as Immanuel — God with us — and look what begins to happen. The blind receive their sight, the outcast is brought home, families are reconciled, the lame walk, and the dead are raised. These aren’t just Bible stories; they are illustrations. God is demonstrating his power and his intentions. He comes to heal. He comes to save.
Image of Nativity by Constance Kowalik from Pixabay
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