Catholic Nutshell News: Tuesday 12/30/25
Topics include: Co-Redemptrix title of Mary; ‘Avoid being fake people'; Fairbanks diocesan funding is not from Fairbanks; & Christian population grows in Israel
“I’ll pray for thee from my pistachio tree”
Today's sources are the National Catholic Register, CNA, The Imaginative Conservative, CRUX, The Pillar, Big Pulpit, and CatholicVote. (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
Co-Redemptrix title of Mary is not absolutely prohibited
By Walter Sánchez Silva, Paola Arriaza Flynn, December 28, 2025
Monsignor Maurizio Gronchi, an expert consultant for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican, clarified that the measure established last month regarding the use of the titles “Co-Redemptrix” and “Mediatrix” for the Virgin Mary is “not an absolute prohibition” and that these titles can still be used in popular piety, provided their meaning is understood. “It’s not an absolute prohibition, but it will no longer be used in official documents or in the liturgy. But if used in popular devotion, understanding its meaning, no one will be reprimanded for it,” the expert said in an interview with “EWTN Noticias,” the Spanish-language broadcast edition of EWTN News. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, led by Cardinal Víctor Fernández, stated the use of the title “Co-Redemptrix” is “always inappropriate” encouraging “special prudence” regarding the title “Mediatrix of All Graces.” The text has sparked controversy among the faithful.
ACI Africa
‘Avoid being fake people,’ urged Kenyan Catholic Bishop
By Sabrine Amboka, December 28, 2025
Bishop Mark Kadima Wamukoya of the Catholic Diocese of Bungoma urged children belonging to the Pontifical Missionary Childhood (PMC) to cultivate good character by embracing sincerity, honesty, and patience in their daily lives. “The character that we have to have is sincerity, honesty. We have to avoid being fake people.” The Bishop cautioned against hypocrisy, warning that some will “tell you I want this, yet their intention is elsewhere. If you give them, they do another thing. They calculate all their projects, their answers before they meet you, they have already calculated what they want from you.” He urged the children to match their intentions with their actions without practicing manipulation and dishonesty. The Bishop encouraged the children to trust in God’s timing and avoid seeking shortcuts in life. He reminded them that God does not lie and faithfully fulfills His plans at the right time.
The Pillar
Fairbanks: 85% of all funding comes from outside the diocese
By Jack Figge, December 29, 2025
Few dioceses have a budget line for snowmobiles and bush-plane flights, or for operating costs for remote parishes that cannot be accessed by road. The Diocese of Fairbanks spans the northern 409,849 square miles of Alaska. The Diocese of Fairbanks is by far the largest in the country. It has 46 parishes — only nine of which can be reached by car — served by 24 priests. Of 10,000 Catholics across the diocese, half live in Fairbanks, the other half in rural and remote villages dotting the Alaskan wilderness. To reach some villages, it takes a full day of travel with an itinerary looking like flights from Fairbanks to Anchorage onto Bethel via Alaska Airlines, then a bush plane flight to a remote village — an expensive journey. Only three priests are incardinated in the diocese. The others are mostly from foreign countries. We can only self-generate for 15% of our operating expenses,” Bishop Steven J. Maekawa, O.P., told The Pillar.
Zenit
The number of Israeli citizens identifying as Christian is growing
By Zenit Staff, December 29, 2025
Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics released figures on Israeli citizens of the Christian faith. The calculations do not include Christians from the Palestinian Territories, temporary workers present in the Jewish State without citizenship, or the numerous foreign men and women religious present in the Holy Land for study or mission. Statistical experts estimate that, by December 2025, Christian citizens will reach 184,200, 1.9% of the population, a 0.7% increase over the previous year. Arab-Palestinian Christians comprise 78.7% of the total baptized population. Within the predominantly Muslim Palestinian minority holding Israeli passports, Christians make up 6.8%. Four cities have the highest concentration of Christians: Nazareth (18,900), Haifa (18,800), Jerusalem (13,400); and Nof HaGalil (10,800).
CatholicVote
US pledges $2B for UN humanitarian aid, down from $17B
By Mary Rose, December 29, 2025
The U.S. announced Dec. 29 that it will pledge $2 billion for United Nations (UN) humanitarian programs, a reduced level of funding compared with recent years, as the Trump administration continues to reduce overall U.S. foreign assistance while pressing for reforms within the UN aid system. The $2 billion pledge represents a relatively small share of past U.S. funding for U.N.-coordinated programs — up to $17 billion annually in recent years. The U.S. Department of State and the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) signed a memorandum of understanding outlining a new framework for U.S. funding of UN humanitarian assistance. Officials said individual agencies would need to “adapt, shrink, or die” under the new framework, which makes future funding contingent on reducing bureaucratic overlap, limiting what the department described as “ideological creep,” and strengthening accountability and oversight mechanisms.
Aleteia
Pizzaballa on Gaza: War’s end is only a beginning
By Kathleen N. Hattrup, December 23, 2025
One day after returning from the Gaza Strip, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa met with journalists in Jerusalem to share what he had witnessed: a population exhausted by more than two years of war, yet animated by a quiet determination to live again. It was his second visit to Gaza in six months — and the first since the ceasefire. The scale of destruction remains overwhelming. Roughly 80% of Gaza’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, the Cardinal said, according to Vatican News. Many structures still standing are unsafe or barely habitable. Even so, a small number of families have returned to their homes. Around 400 people are currently sheltering on the grounds of the Holy Family parish, led by Father Gabriel Romanelli, while the majority continue to live in tents. His concern for children surfaced repeatedly throughout his remarks. “The number of children in the streets struck me. They should be in school.”
CRUX
DRC bishops’ president denounces ‘sell-off’ of country
By Ngala Killian Chimtom, December 30, 2025
Relations between the Congolese government and the influential Catholic Church in the country have become tense after the government struck a strategic agreement with the United States. Signed December 4, the agreement will allow the US privileged access to mineral resources in the DRC, such as cobalt, copper, lithium, and gold, all critical to western industry. For the Congolese government, this partnership symbolizes a renewed international confidence and a historic opportunity for structural transformation of the national economy. The Catholic Church believes it is tantamount to mortgaging the future of the country to sustain the Tshisekedi regime as the US benefits from the spoils. In a scathing critique, Archbishop Fulgence Muteba Mugalu of Lubumbashi – who is also the president of the bishops’ conference of the DRC – said the deal is built on a “false friendship” and symbolizes a new form of colonialism.
National Catholic Register
Belmont Abbey College’s motorsport program races ahead
By Gigi Duncan, December 29, 2025
For nearly 150 years, the Benedictine values of hospitality, community and excellence have shaped Belmont Abbey College. Today, they’re also forming young professionals in a field few would associate with a small Catholic liberal-arts college: the motorsports industry. At a campus better known for its monastery and Great Books academic core, students now study motorsport marketing, event management, and organizational theory. They learn the business of racing while being grounded in a Catholic vision of the human person, all within sight of Charlotte, North Carolina’s booming motorsports economy. “It started around 70 years ago,” said Trey Cunningham, chair of the Sport and Motorsport Management Department. Belmont Abbey’s first “Racing Management” class in 2007 became an unexpected campus hit, one of the first undergraduate motorsport-management degrees in the country. Today, the program enrolls around 65 undergraduates and, as of this fall, 20 students in its new Master of Arts program.
From Pulpit & CNA to Fides for 12/30/25
BIG PULPIT
Tito Edwards Catholic blogger site: December 30, 2025
The Big Pulpit website is an intelligent news aggregator offering quality insight & analysis on the Catholic Church worldwide. Here are Chief Editor Tito Edward’s top recommendations for today.
The Guild of St. Stephen for Altar Servers (Sancti Stephani Archisodalitas) – Liturgical Arts Journal
The Disappearing Middle Eastern Christians – Srdja Trifkovic at Chronicles
Our Bishops Should Not Serve as a Conga Line for the Democratic National Committee – Fr. J.A. Perricone, Ph.D.
Joseph’s Fiat: The Courage of Quiet Obedience – Rob Sexton at Catholic Exchange
Catholic News Agency
CNA’s top headlines — December 30, 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.
Jonathan Roumie tells Father Mike Schmitz: ‘Everything in my life has prepared me for this role’ - Dec 29, 2025 - By Francesca Pollio Fenton - In a new sit-down interview with well-known podcaster priest Father Mike Schmitz, actor Jonathan Roumie spoke in depth about his role as Jesus in the Chosen series.
Bishop of Columbus grants Mass dispensation to immigrants who fear deportation - Dec 29, 2025 - By Amira Abuzeid - Bishop Earl Fernandes announced that those who fear immigration enforcement action are free from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass.
Northern Ireland’s only Catholic college celebrates 125 years of training teachers - Dec 29, 2025 - By Patrick J. Passmore - St. Mary’s University College in Belfast is marking the 125th year of a remarkable journey that began in 1900.
Agenzia Fides
Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies - 12/30/25
Fides News Agency (Fides) was established in 1927, at the direction of the Council Superior General of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, as the first Missionary Agency of the Church and among the first agencies in the world.
MISSIONARIES AND PASTORAL WORKERS KILLED IN 2025 - Rome (Agenzia Fides) - Even the hope of missionaries and pastoral workers who are killed is “a hope filled with immortality because their witness lives on as a prophecy of the victory of good over evil.”
EUROPE/POLAND - The "Star Singers" support their peers in Sri Lanka: the initiative kicks off with a press conference and appearances on national television TVP1 - Warsaw (Agenzia Fides) – More than 12,000 children in the Democratic Republic of Congo received support last year thanks to the initiatives of the Star Singers in Poland.
AFRICA/DR CONGO - Between M23 “ghost” militiamen and private vendettas, Uvira lives in uncertainty - Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – A city suspended in limbo. This is the situation in Uvira, a city in South Kivu, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on the border with Burundi, which was captured on December 10 by M23.
Nutshell reflections for 12/30/25:
USCCB Daily Reflection AUDIO - December 30, 2025
The Sixth Day in the Octave of Christmas
Catholic Daily
The argument continues over ‘What is Protestantism?’
By World News, December 29, 2025
According to Pew, about one-third of self-identifying Protestants affirm either sola fide or sola scriptura but not both, and another third do not believe in either doctrine. Protestant theologian and apologist Gavin Ortlund argues in his recent book, What It Means To Be Protestant: The Case for an Always-Reforming Church. “They leave Protestantism for other traditions without an authentic grasp of what Protestantism really is.” It’s a problem that has beguiled Protestantism since the earliest decades of the Protestant Reformation. Many across Europe aligned themselves with Luther, though that alignment was by no means total or monolithic—indeed, disagreements abounded, including over what defined the true Reformation. The very nature of Protestantism, with its historic emphasis on the individual Christian reading his Bible and protesting against a corrupt Catholic Church filled with “doctrinal accretions,” means that there is, by default, no way of adjudicating different assertions of what is “Protestantism as such.”
Imaginative Conservative
Love is all you need: Motive power of Western Civilization
By Bradley J. Birzer, December 28, 2025
Not surprisingly, the early Christians, especially the Roman Stoics, thought that Socrates was a proto-Christian, with St. Justin Martyr going so far as to label him a “Christian before Christ.” He had, after all, argued that one should turn the other cheek a full four centuries before Christ would, and he died for his God and for his community. Socrates did everything he did out of love: love of his fellows, love of his community, and love of his God. The West is not rooted in racism, sexism, colonialism, imperialism, or any form of denigration, but rather in love and dignity. If there was a guiding principle in the very beginnings of Western civilization, it was love and sacrifice, and a desire to find the universal good of the human person in all of his or her manifestations, regardless of the accidents of birth (skin color, gender, religion, etc.).
National Catholic Register
Hope shines brightly after a year of transition & turmoil
By Jonah McKeown, December 29, 2025
When Pope Francis opened the Jubilee Year of Hope on Dec. 24, 2024 — marking the start of a special holy year of grace and pilgrimage that usually only happens once every quarter-century — few people could have predicted just how extraordinary 2025 would prove to be. Throughout the year, the Church celebrated the virtue of hope during a time marked in many ways by fear — amid reports of heightened political violence, the continued explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) and the ethical quandaries it has created, the upheavals surrounding a second Trump administration, ongoing wars, and the continued persecution of Christians worldwide. As Catholics sought hope this year, they ended up finding it in unexpected places — including in stories about a well-attested rise in conversions to Catholicism worldwide, especially among young people.
Catholic Stand
A Jewish path from Russian Orthodoxy to Catholicism
By Dr. Edouard Belaga, December 29, 2025
I was born in Soviet Russia before Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union. A major modern war began and continued with extreme intensity for five full years (June 1941 – May 1945). My father was an officer in the Soviet Army, and my mother’s younger brothers—one of whom was a civil mobilization worker and another a military pilot—died during the war. Only three of us survived: my mother, her mother (my grandmother), and myself. We were Jewish, but our family came from an extremely poor background. Being Jewish implied social isolation and a degree of unofficial but systematic discrimination. I read an account of the Bolsheviks’ destruction of Russian Orthodox spirituality and the Church. I was deeply moved by this revelation and entered the Russian Orthodox Church, receiving baptism while still a student. I was not denounced, and I never believed I had acted wrongly, since I had never previously “received the faith of my parents.”
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