Peace-loving people worldwide are focusing their attention on the proposed papal visit to Iraq as the time of the trip approaches, namely on March 5-8.

With the deterioration of security situation in Iraq, hopes hinge on  the importance of this visit viewing it as a means to resuscitate a Middle East that restores its beauty, unity, common living, and most of all its diversity.

The idea of an integral ecology, that sees “strong” connections between environmental and human suffering, is the “great and extraordinary reflection that Pope Francis hands on to the world” with the Encyclical Laudato Si’. The founder of Slow Food, creator of the international Terra Madre network and of the Laudato Si’ Communities (the latter with Bishop Domenico Pompili), observes how the time has arrived to overcome the paradigm of “profiting off of everything” to instead begin “to think about common and relational goods”.

January 18-25 is a week to always be marked with hope and nonstop prayers seeking divine intercession to attain the long-aspired wish, namely Christian unity.

It is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that is marked every year with strong devotion, solemn and sincere prayers to the Mother of the Church, Blessed Mary, and to Lord Jesus Christ seeking divine help to bring about the desired unity which is the hope of billions of Christians worldwide.

Though he was not physically present for his New Year’s Eve liturgy due to what the Vatican has described as a “painful sciatica,” Pope Francis offered a message of hope for those searching for meaning at the end of a trying year marked by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

In a prepared text read aloud by Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, the pope said, “It might seem forced, almost jarring, to thank God at the end of a year like this, marked by the pandemic.”

We are all capable of the best and of the worst. On Palm Sunday, the majority of those in Jerusalem celebrated Jesus’ entrance. Three days later, many who acclaimed Him on His arrival, shout and cried out for His crucifixion.

Press reports have indicated that six months after the massive explosion that rocked Beirut, the Catholic Lebanese found numerous impediments in the way to prepare for Christmas amid the wreckage that overwhelmed every walk of life. This was represented in the acute difficulty pertaining to preparing for a Christmas scene amid the devastation that damaged Beirut. The scenario has changed drastically and life became more unpredictable.

Since the start of life on Earth God created Adam and then created Eve. In this way, God defined marriage as incorporating "a man and a woman" or rather "a husband and a wife".

This has been the norm of life until today, which enabled humans to multiply and consequently to develop Earth by doing whatever possible to ensure betterment of life on this planet.

The first known nativity scene figurines are on display this Christmas in one of Rome’s oldest basilicas.

The underground Chapel of the Nativity in the Basilica of St. Mary Major -- known to Italians as Santa Maria Maggiore -- once contained at least six marble nativity statues sculpted by Arnolfo di Cambio in the late 13th century.

Advent is also the time to remember how our Blessed Mother brought the Light of the World to us, as recounted from Genesis through the Epistles.

When nature is at its darkest in our part of the world at the winter solstice, we anticipate the coming of light, when the light of the sun will begin to shorten the night. This became symbolic of the coming of Christ who declared himself to be the “Light of the World” (John 6:12). This is the focus of Advent in many forms of Christian worship.

With mass unemployment still high as the coronavirus pandemic drags on, Catholics can look to St. Joseph as a special intercessor, two priests said.

Citing the Holy Family’s escape to Egypt, devotional writer Fr. Donald Calloway said St. Joseph is “very empathetic” towards those suffering unemployment.

“He himself at some point would have been unemployed in the Flight to Egypt,” the priest told CNA. “They had to pack up everything and go to a foreign country with nothing. They didn’t plan on that.”