The Church of St. Luke

Pope Leo XIV places a crown on the Madonna of Sinti, Roma, and Walking Peoples during the audience of the Jubilee of the Roma, Sinti, and Traveling Peoples in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican on Oct. 18, 2025. / Credit: Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 15, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Some Protestant scholars who spoke with CNA welcomed a Vatican document that clarified titles for the Blessed Virgin Mary that discouraged the use of Co-Redemptrix/Co-Redeemer and put limits on the use of Mediatrix/Mediator.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) issued the doctrinal note Mater Populi Fidelis on Nov. 4. It was approved by Pope Leo XIV and signed by DDF Prefect Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández on Oct. 7.

According to the document, using “Co-Redemptrix” to explain Mary’s role in salvation “would not be appropriate.” The document is less harsh about using “Mediatrix” and says “if misunderstood, it could easily obscure or even contradict” Mary’s role in mediation.

The document affirms Mary plays a role in both redemption and mediation because she freely cooperates with Jesus Christ. That role, it explains, is always “subordinate” to Christ, and it warned against using titles in a way that could be misconstrued to mitigate Christ as the sole Redeemer and sole Mediator.

Catholic reactions have been mixed, with some seeing the clarification as helpful and others defending the titles as consistent with the understanding of Mary’s role as subordinate and asking the Vatican to formally define the doctrines themselves rather than simply issue a note on the titles.

Positive reactions from Protestants

CNA spoke with three Protestant scholars, all of whom welcomed the Vatican’s doctrinal note on titles for Mary.

David Luy, theology professor at the North American Lutheran Seminary, told CNA he does not see the document as “Roman Catholics conceding anything to their tradition” but did see it as being written “with an attentiveness” toward certain concerns that Protestants raise.

Although Protestant communities vary widely on how they view Mary and what titles are proper, he said concern over the titles in question “sprouts from a desire to uphold the distinctiveness of Christ as the one mediator.”

Luy cited the second chapter of First Timothy. The translation of the text approved by the U.S. Catholic bishops states: “For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as ransom for all.”

He said Protestants often emphasize the need to “uphold the distinctive mediatorship of Christ” and saw the document as expressing a “sensibility to that central Protestant concern” while also being careful “in the way it develops Mary’s role in the economy of salvation.”

“Does it relieve potential strain between Protestants and Catholics? The short answer would be yes,” Luy said.

However, he said the concept of mediation “is probably where there’d be a need for just ongoing conversation.” He said Lutherans understand the term “mediation” as being “the means through which God acts in the world” and that “most Lutherans are going to be cautious” of language that describes Mary in terms of mediation.

Catholic teaching recognizes Christ as “the one mediator,” according to Lumen Gentium, the dogmatic constitution on the Church issued by the Second Vatican Council in 1964. It teaches that humans cooperate with Christ’s mediation in a subordinate way and “the Church does not hesitate to profess this subordinate role of Mary.”

The Rev. Cynthia Rigby, a theology professor at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and co-author of “Blessed One: Protestant Perspectives on Mary,” told CNA she thinks the document could mark “a watershed moment” for relations between Catholics and Protestants.

Rigby said Mary should be understood as a woman with “great faith,” and, under that framing, “Christians will identify her less as a secondary savior but as an exemplary Christian.” She said “the weight will shift from trying to explain how it is that Mary brokers salvation without rivaling Christ … to what we can learn about the joy of salvation through her example.”

The Vatican document, however, goes much further than Rigby on Mary’s role. It states that she freely cooperates “in the work of human salvation through faith and obedience” during the time that Christ walked the earth and throughout the ongoing life of the Church rather than simply viewing her as an example to follow.

Volker Leppin, a Lutheran pastor and theology professor at Yale Divinity School, told CNA the document is “very welcome” and called Mariology “one of the major points distinguishing Christian traditions since the Reformation.”

He said the guidance on titles and the explanation provided in the document are “extraordinarily helpful for ecumenical dialogue” because they affirm Christ as the sole redeemer and mediator and Pope Leo XIV “makes very clear that we can say so in ecumenical communality.”

Leppin said this “is a reason for Protestants to embrace the clear step forward he is making toward Christian unity."

The Vatican document did not expressly state that ecumenism was the intended goal. However, the subject of Catholic Marian devotions is a frequent point of contention. The document did not alter any doctrines in dispute but instead focused on titles the dicastery felt may cause confusion about what the Church actually teaches about Mary.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed the quotes from Volker Leppin to Tom Krattenmaker. It has been corrected. (Published Dec. 16, 2025) 

Holy Week in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa sector. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Holy Week Organizing Committee in Iztapalapa

Puebla, Mexico, Dec 14, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The decision was made during a UNESCO meeting in New Delhi, India, where the nomination of the Iztapalapa Way of the Cross was reviewed and approved.

The Rorate Caeli Advent Mass celebrated at The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion. / Credit: The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion

CNA Staff, Dec 14, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Advent is a season filled with rich Catholic traditions, but a slightly lesser-known one is growing in popularity among younger Catholics.

The ancient liturgy of the Rorate Caeli Advent Mass honors the Blessed Virgin Mary through a Mass celebrated at dawn, in complete darkness, and lit only by candles, which symbolizes Christ, the Light of the World, entering into the world with Mary as the vessel. 

Emerging in the Middle Ages, the Rorate Caeli Mass gets its name from the prophecy of Isaiah. Rorate Caeli is Latin for “drop down, ye heavens.” These are the opening words of this liturgy’s Introit, which is used as an opening psalm or entrance antiphon and comes from Isaiah 45:8.

Father Tony Stephens, rector at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wisconsin, calls this Mass “a teachable moment.”

“As all of us are gathered in the church, only lit with the candles, slowly the light begins coming in through the windows and it’s like the light of Christ,” he told CNA. The process symbolizes “the light of Christ coming into our lives, slowly but surely and progressively as we go through life.”

“And just like that light begins to come in through the windows, as the physical sun rises, so in our journey as Catholics, the closer we get to Christ, the more his light shines in our life,” he said.

Stephens has been rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion for two years but was scheduled to celebrate the Rorate Caeli Mass there for the first time on Dec. 13. The shrine is the first and only approved Marian apparition site in the United States. It was here that the Blessed Mother is believed to have appeared to Adele Brise in 1859. 

When speaking about the Blessed Mother’s role in Advent, Stephens described it as “a season of anticipating Our Lord, but when you look at the subtext of Advent, things about Mary are everywhere — in the readings and her role in salvation history is so important. And so that’s, again, part of the reason you have these special Marian Masses honoring her during this Advent season.”

He also highlighted the fact that this ancient Mass is seeing a resurgence in popularity and credited Pope Benedict XVI, in part, for reintroducing Catholics to older, traditional practices and his “desire of the hermeneutic of continuity.” 

“He in his pontificate really emphasized a desire to have that continuity between the earlier traditions of the Church, even prior to the [Vatican II] council … looking at all of the rich liturgical heritage that we have as Catholics,” he added. 

The priest pointed out that young people are also searching for more traditional practices.

“There is a great love, especially amongst young people, for things that are traditional,” he said, adding that the Mass also “appeals to the senses in a way that technology and phones don’t.” 

“The real light of a candle is way different than the electronic light put off by a cellphone screen,” he said. “A burning, living candle, the way it flickers, and you can’t recharge a candle — it gives everything it has like Jesus did on the cross. A candle burns with all its might to put off that light. And so there is a selflessness about that light of that candle that’s different than technology, and young people desire that kind of self-gift and authenticity.”

Stephens said he hopes those who attend a Rorate Caeli Mass will leave with “an eager anticipation of Jesus coming at Christmastime.”

“A Rorate Caeli Mass is one of those times that we can have a little consolation and we’re reminded of the author of all consolation and his mother,” he said.

FOCUS Founder Curtis Martin announces his retirement from the role of FOCUS CEO, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. / Credit: FOCUS

CNA Staff, Dec 13, 2025 / 14:25 pm (CNA).

Curtis Martin, who founded the Catholic student ministry group FOCUS nearly 30 years ago, announced this week that he will step down from his management role there while continuing to serve in the long-running campus ministry organization.

In a Dec. 12 letter announcing his retirement from the role of CEO, Martin said that after nearly three decades, the organization now numbers “more than 1,000 FOCUS missionaries … in over 250 locations,” reaching “nearly 60,000 students and parishioners” in 2025 alone. 

Since 2008, meanwhile, missionaries with the group have led “over 1,200 mission trips” that have sent more than 20,000 people to more than 50 countries. 

Martin said the “ever-increasing time demands” of his multiple roles at the company, coupled with several years of prayer with the organization’s board of directors, led him to step into an “expanded public-facing role” of “founder,” one that will allow him to continue to work at the organization, including serving on its board.

“My desire is to do what is best for the institution I love so dearly,” he said. 

Longtime board member Tim Thoman will serve as interim chief executive as the organization launches a search for a permanent CEO, Martin said, adding that he felt “extraordinarily blessed that [Thoman] agreed to lead FOCUS … during this time of transition.”

Describing his work at FOCUS as “one of the deepest privileges of my life,” Martin urged the organization to “be who we are meant to be, so that through us, God can set the world on fire.” 

In a video announcing the transition, meanwhile, Thoman said FOCUS is marked by “tenacity and professionalism, but mostly the love of Jesus and the trust in God.” 

“The idea of working with people who wake up and come to work with a love for Jesus and a desire to do his will and live authentically their faith and also fulfill the Great Commission — I can’t imagine better people to work with, or a more worthy cause, than FOCUS,” Thoman said.  

Commenting on the transition, Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila noted that “Curtis and his family, as well as FOCUS, are based in Denver, where they have blessed our local Church in countless ways.”

“From the earliest days of FOCUS to its extraordinary growth into a global missionary movement, Curtis has been a faithful servant of Jesus Christ and the Church,” Aquila said. The prelate added that FOCUS is “a work that has borne fruit that only God can produce” and also expressed his confidence in Thoman, whom he said he has known for several years.

The Martins last year were awarded EWTN’s 2024 Mother Angelica Award for what EWTN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Warsaw called their “passion for the new evangelization” and their work at transforming “countless lives” through evangelization. 

Curtis Martin had announced FOCUS’ founding in 1997 on an episode of “Mother Angelica Live.” Michaelann Martin last year described receiving the Mother Angelica Award as “a humbling honor for both of us.” 

“We are grateful to Mother Angelica for her example of faith and courage, and to EWTN for continuing her work of evangelization,” she said. 

“But this is not about us. It is about the countless missionaries who have given their lives to this work and the students whose lives are being transformed by the Gospel,” she added.

This story was updated on Dec. 16, 2025, with comments from Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila.

Simon Schwarz, head of the Caritas Vilnius Convicts Consultation Center, talks to university students in Vilnius, Lithuania. / Credit: Caritas Lithuania

Vilnius, Lithuania, Dec 13, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The program provides counseling not only for those battling compulsive sexual behaviors but also for spouses and family members affected by them.

“The Catholic Dating Show” recently launched on CatholicMatch, a Catholic dating site, and has quickly become a fan favorite. / Credit: CatholicMatch/Tony Tibbetts

CNA Staff, Dec 13, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Secular dating shows like “The Bachelor,” “Farmer Wants a Wife,” and “Love Is Blind” are among a plethora of programs that aim to bring singles together. But what would it look like to add faith to matchmaking in a dating show? CatholicMatch, one of the first Catholic dating sites, seeks to do just that with the launch of “The Catholic Dating Show.”

Earlier this year, CatholicMatch released a new platform called “Relate.” This platform is meant to bring users together for weekly live, virtual events such as trivia nights, discussions with prominent Catholic speakers, and “The Catholic Dating Show.”

The show has quickly become a fan favorite, bringing in over 600 live viewers through the dating site and even more when it is uploaded to CatholicMatch’s YouTube channel the next day for nonmembers to watch.

Taking place two Saturdays a month, “The Catholic Dating Show” is an hourlong event that features one single woman and three single men. During the first half of the show, the woman asks her suitors questions to get to know them better. The three men also have their cameras off for this part so the woman cannot see them.

Once she is done asking questions, the live audience lets her know, via a live poll, whom they think she should continue with into the second half of the show. She can either take their advice or not. Once she picks one of the three suitors, the two go on to play compatibility games to get to know each other further. The show finishes with another live poll from the audience asking if the two should meet in person for a date. 

“It’s just been so much fun,” Tony Tibbetts, live events manager at CatholicMatch and the host of the dating show, told CNA in an interview. “We’re having a blast and people love it.”

Tibbetts pointed out that through the Relate platform, CatholicMatch is not only trying to address a singleness epidemic but “also a loneliness epidemic.” 

As someone who works with Catholic singles on a daily basis, Tibbetts shared that he is witnessing that “there’s a great sense of distrust in the world and the feeling of you’re going to get burned” and “that lack of vulnerability has become very rampant in the Catholic community when it comes to Catholic dating.”

Due to this, CatholicMatch is working to be more than just a dating app but also to “build something unique in the dating world, especially with this Relate platform — to not only be the name you think of when you think of Catholic online dating, but it will also be something that people desire to be part of.”

“So we’re helping people to be able to join in the Catholic community — because we all need community — of singles and who knows, maybe you just might find ‘the one’ while you’re there,” he explained. 

He added: “Our stated mission is to help facilitate as many holy, Catholic marriages as possible, and so we want to do that for you as quickly as possible, as quickly as we can, but while you’re on it as well, we want you to get the most out of your dating experience. Dating should be fun. Dating shouldn’t be stressful … We want to help facilitate that joy in people and that excitement for community, for possibly finding other people like you, for possibly finding ‘the one.’”

Through the live events, Tibbetts said he believes CatholicMatch is enabling users to “go beyond the profile of somebody to be able to get to know them.”

One of their newest additions to the Relate platform is the dating hotline, which allows users to call in with questions about dating or ask for advice and have their questions answered live by the male and female hosts. 

Tibbetts said the primary goal is “trying to facilitate joy among Catholic singles.”

“With that, we hope and pray that the Lord will move something within them where we can create marriages, we can create holy, Catholic relationships with it ... We’re trying to create joyful lives for Catholics and hopefully create some Catholic marriages along the way.”

Father Richard Reiser, an iconographer based in Omaha, Nebraska, writes an icon of St. Bridget of Sweden with her family for FOCCUS Marriage Ministries’ 40th anniversary. / Credit: Photo courtesy of FOCCUS

CNA Staff, Dec 13, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

When an iconographer began his work on a unique icon, he looked to the bones of the saint’s husband for help.

FOCCUS Marriage Ministries, a Catholic marriage ministry, invited the priest-iconographer Father Richard Reiser to make an icon of St. Bridget of Sweden, a mystic and the mother of eight. The ministry is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and chose St. Bridget to be the patron saint of its work.

But there was one challenge. According to Reiser, historically there is no established iconographic prototype of an icon of St. Bridget of Sweden.

So using his imagination and every historical source available — including the bones of St. Bridget’s husband — the priest developed an entirely new icon of a saint who has gone without an icon for hundreds of years.

The domestic church 

“For me, iconography is first and foremost a form of prayer,” Reiser said. “The entire creative process is an act of listening to God and allowing the sacred story of a saint or mystery to take shape through layers of contemplation, color, and symbolism.”

The end result was an icon ripe with symbolic meaning — at its heart, marriage and family.

FOCCUS Marriage Ministries chose St. Bridget of Sweden to be its patron because of her commitment to marriage and the Church.

St. Bridget’s life “beautifully reflects the heart of marriage ministry,” Sheila Simpson, who heads the archdiocese-owned nonprofit, told CNA.

Now displayed in the hallway of the FOCCUS office in the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, the icon contains a quote from Pope Benedict XVI about the family as the domestic church as well as several symbols of the married couple’s life together. 

“The icon quietly teaches that marriage is both a covenant of grace and a living witness to the Gospel,” Reiser told CNA. 

With St. Bridget as its guiding light, FOCCUS is launching resources for couples whose marriages have unusual challenges, such as those who need their marriage convalidated by the Church, as well as those marrying later in life.

FOCCUS is most well known for its inventories — questionnaires designed to help engaged couples prepare for marriage by initiating conversations about issues like finance and values. The additional, new questionnaires will have questions tailored for couples in unusual situations, including military couples, first responders, and deacons.

Simpson said many couples say FOCCUS “became a turning point — not because it told them what to do, but because it helped them truly hear each other.”

Windows into the divine 

Reiser said that one of the most “fascinating” parts of the icon-making process was consulting the bones of Ulf Gudmarsson, the husband of St. Bridget.

“His bones indicated that he was significantly larger in stature than she was,” he said. 

“To honor historical accuracy while still emphasizing Bridget’s spiritual prominence, I placed her on a small set of steps so she would remain the central figure of the composition,” he explained. 

Icons are “created for contemplation and spiritual truth more than realism,” Reiser said. 

“They are windows into the divine — visual theology meant to open the heart and mind to God’s presence,” he continued. 

“They participate in the mystery of the Incarnation,” Reiser said. “The eternal Word of God takes visible form.”

The icon depicts an emblem of the Third Order Franciscans, which the couple joined after they got married.

In addition, Gudmarsson holds a staff with a shell, referencing the pilgrimage the couple took to northwestern Spain.

It would be the last pilgrimage the couple ever made together. On the return journey from the pilgrimage, Gudmarsson grew ill and died soon after they returned to Sweden.

As a widow, St. Bridget dedicated her life to Christ, founding the religious order now known as the Bridgettines, which still exists to this day.

An icon of family and unity

Iconographers don’t paint — they write.

“Every line, color, and gesture carries symbolic meaning,” Reiser said. “That is why we often say icons are ‘written’ rather than painted.”

For instance, the 15 florets below St. Bridget of Sweden reference her 15 meditations on Christ’s passion. The cloak she wears has a brooch styled to symbolize the five wounds of Christ. Within the brooch is a relic of St. Bridget.

“Writing the icon of St. Bridget of Sweden was a unique and grace-filled experience because, historically, there is no established iconographic prototype of her — especially not one depicting her with her family,” Reiser said. “Without a traditional image to follow, I drew from existing paintings of St. Bridget and shaped them within the contemplative, dignified structure of classical iconography.”

With “no established icon tradition for Bridget’s family,” Reiser said he “consulted other family-centered icons, especially images of Christ with children, to discern how to portray children in an authentically iconographic style.”

The paintings of the children visually form a circle, which Reiser said represents the unity of the family. One of the children, Ingeborg, holds bluebells, the national flower of St. Bridget’s homeland, Sweden.

“Each of these details helps the icon speak not just as artwork but as a theological meditation on the holiness of family life,” Reiser said.

Children participate in the annual St. Lucy’s Day celebration in Sweden. / Credit: Claudia Gründer, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Dec 13, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

St. Lucy’s Day, also known as Lucia Day, is a traditional Swedish celebration filled with children in costumes, elaborate processions, and Swedish treats.

Former EWTN president Doug Keck was presented with the Mother Angelica Award on Dec. 12, 2025. / Credit: EWTN News

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 12, 2025 / 20:02 pm (CNA).

The EWTN Global Catholic Network presented the 2025 Mother Angelica Award to its longtime former president, Doug Keck, in recognition of his decades of service, faithful leadership, and tireless commitment to the mission of evangelization.

Following a 29-year career at EWTN, Keck retired from his duties as EWTN president and chief operating officer in June. He subsequently assumed the honorary title of president emeritus and continues to host his signature series “EWTN Bookmark” as well as serve as co-host of “Father Spitzer’s Universe.”

The Mother Angelica Award, which was presented to Keck during a special ceremony broadcast globally, is the highest honor bestowed by the network to recognize individuals whose lives reflect the spirit of faith, courage, and evangelistic zeal embodied by EWTN’s foundress, Mother Angelica.

“On behalf of the entire EWTN family around the globe, I want to thank Doug for keeping the mission of EWTN our No. 1 priority over the years and never compromising on sharing the truth of the Gospel for views or clicks,” said EWTN Chairman of the Board and CEO Michael Warsaw.

“He is more than deserving of this award,” Warsaw added.

Keck joined EWTN in 1996 after a highly successful career in cable television in New York City, where he contributed to the growth of networks such as Sports Channel, Bravo, AMC, and CNBC.

Over the years at EWTN, Keck helped develop and launch numerous flagship programs, including “Life on the Rock,” “The Journey Home,” “EWTN Bookmark,” and “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo,” playing a central role in the network’s expansion across television, radio, and digital platforms.

In 2009, Keck became the network’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, and in 2013 he was named president and chief operating officer. Under his leadership, EWTN grew to become the largest global Catholic media organization, reaching millions of households worldwide and offering content across multiple languages and media channels.

“Mother Angelica always said our job is to soak the earth with the truth of the Gospel and the Catholic Church. That’s been EWTN’s No. 1 priority, and I’ve been proud to be a part of it alongside so many other dedicated people,” Keck said.

Reflecting on how God called him out of his career in secular media, Keck’s message to any Catholic is to consider how God might be calling him or her to put their talents to the service of the Gospel.  

“That’s what we’re called to do, really,” he said. “You don’t bury what you’ve been given. You give your talents over to him.” 

The full award ceremony, including tributes from those whose lives have been touched by Keck, will be available for viewing on EWTN On Demand at www.ondemand.ewtn.com.

Keck now joins previous distinguished recipients of the Mother Angelica Award including Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap; former New Orleans Saints wide receiver and football coach Danny Abramowicz; and co-founders of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) Curtis and Michaelann Martin.

Inaugurated in 2021 on the 40th anniversary of EWTN’s founding, the Mother Angelica Award honors recipients for their extraordinary contribution to the Church and the new evangelization — serving as witnesses to God’s providence through their ministry and leadership.

The largest Catholic media organization in the world, EWTN’s 11 global television channels broadcast in multiple languages 24 hours a day. The network also operates radio services via SiriusXM, iHeartRadio, and hundreds of AM/FM affiliates as well as one of the most visited Catholic websites in the U.S., a publishing division, and a robust global news operation.

The network’s diverse range of programming includes catechetical series, devotions, news, talk shows, documentaries, and live coverage of major Church events — reaching hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide.

Detail of the commemorative painting of the 124 martyrs of Jaén, Spain, beatified in 2025. / Credit: Diocese of Jaén

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 12, 2025 / 16:03 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Jaén in Spain will celebrate on Dec. 13 the beatification of 109 priests, 14 laypeople, and one Poor Clare nun martyred during the Spanish Civil War.