I have always loved Advent. Even as a child, I was filled with the aching wonder of the season when my dad would lead us in singing O Come, O Come Emmanuel to the glow of the Advent wreath in the dark kitchen before dinner. My husband tells me the real reason that I love Advent is because of my melancholic temperament, for I love the feel of quiet waiting and planning with a twinge of sadness before we reach the festive joy of Christmas. We have sorrow in the fact that we are sinners and need a Savior to suffer and die for us.

The first reading for the First Sunday of Advent this year was Isaiah 2:1–5. It speaks of waiting for "days to come" when the nations "shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks," and they will not "train for war again."

With the abolition of the pontifical secret for cases of sexual abuse against minors, Pope Francis continues on the path of transparency.

Convened by Pope Francis in the Vatican in February 2019, the summit on the protection of minors continues to bear fruit. In fact, on Tuesday, 17 December, an important decision is being announced. It would not be hazardous to define it as historical. That decision regards the pontifical secret. The Pope, in fact, via a Rescript has decided to abolish it in cases of the sexual abuse of minors, of sexual violence and child pornography.

Cardinal Mauro Piacenza is the international president of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). The following text is excerpted from an Advent homily he gave Dec. 5, 2019, during Mass at ACN’s international headquarters in Königstein, Germany.

The dogma of the Immaculate Conception holds that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was free from Original Sin from the very moment of her conception. The Immaculate Conception of Mary is often confused with the virginal conception of Jesus.

Today's feast was first approved by Pope Sixtus IV in 1476.

Two years ago, speaking before a Vatican sponsored international symposium titled "Prospects for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons and for Integral Disarmament," Pope Francis said we cannot fail to be "genuinely concerned by the catastrophic humanitarian and environmental effects of any employment of nuclear devices.

"If we also take into account the risk of an accidental detonation as a result of error of any kind, the threat of their use, as well as their very possession, is to be firmly condemned," said Francis.

Advent means preparing the Christmas Nativity scene, which the Holy Father encourages every family to include in their homes. And not just that.

Pope Francis, in his recent apostolic letter, Admirabile Signum, on the “meaning and importance of the Nativity scene” also encourages “the custom of setting it up in the workplace, in schools, hospitals, prisons and town squares.”

The following is the message sent by the Holy Father Francis to Ms. Carolina Schmidt, Minister of the Environment of Chile and President of Cop 25, and to the participants in the United Nations Conference on Climate taking place in Madrid from 2 to 13 December 2019, the text of which was read at the opening of the conference by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin:

Message of the Holy Father

Advent is the season of waiting and anticipating the coming light.

“Advent means dawn coming. It’s like a new beginning,” said Father Matthew Lowry, chaplain at Holy Trinity Newman Center on the Flagstaff campus of Northern Arizona University.

“The Lord is always trying to break into our lives,” the priest said, adding that Christ, the light, can work through any darkness we encounter at school or elsewhere.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, president of Caritas Internationalis, a confederation of Catholic charities around the world, has issued the following 2019 Advent Message:

As together we start the period of Advent, I remember vividly where I was this time last year.