Blessing of a plane at Dublin Airport. / Credit: Dublin Airport Authority (DAA)

Dublin, Ireland, Dec 30, 2024 / 09:30 am (CNA).

The ceremony, which began in 1947 with a single Aer Lingus plane, adapted to modern times by moving from its Christmas Day slot while maintaining its spiritual significance.

Councillor Robert Rigby will become a knight of St. Gregory in 2025. The news came as a shock to the lord mayor, who told CNA: “It’s a wonderful honor. I’m rather blown over by the whole thing. I didn’t ever expect anything like this.” / Credit: Photo courtesy of Westminster City Council

London, England, Dec 28, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Councillor Robert Rigby will become a knight of St. Gregory sometime in 2025. 

Pope Francis and Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk. / Credit: Mazur/cbcew.org.uk/Олександр Гаврик via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

CNA Newsroom, Dec 27, 2024 / 11:25 am (CNA).

Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said “Pope Francis sometimes likes to make surprises.”

Bishop Erik Varden, OCSO, of the Catholic Territorial Prelature of Trondheim, Norway, at the vespers at Santa Maria dell’Anima in Rome. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

CNA Newsroom, Dec 27, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

“The Desert Fathers in a Year” podcast series launches Jan. 1, 2025, coinciding with jubilee year.

The Silent Night Memorial Chapel in Oberndorf, Austria, in December 2024. The building stands on the rubble of the original St. Nicholas Church, where “Silent Night” was first performed in 1818. / Credit: Rudolf Gehrig/EWTN News

Salzburg, Austria, Dec 24, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

More than 200 years later, the carol is sung in over 300 languages and was even praised by Pope Francis as his favorite Christmas song.

Deacon Nathan Ledoux and his friend Michael Figura at the National Art Gallery in London on Dec. 27, 2023. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Deacon Nathan Ledoux

Rome Newsroom, Dec 23, 2024 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

Here’s what five NAC seminarians from the United States are doing this Christmas, what they’ve done in the past, and a little bit about their favorite Christmas traditions.

Cathedral of Christ the King in Reykjavik, Iceland. / Credit: Wirthi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Newsroom, Dec 23, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

The Scandinavian island nation of Iceland celebrates its national patron, St. Thorlak Thorhallsson, on Dec. 23.

Bishop Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg in Germany. / Credit: Magdeburg Diocese

CNA Newsroom, Dec 21, 2024 / 07:30 am (CNA).

German bishops expressed horror after a car attack at Magdeburg Christmas market left five dead and more than 200 injured.

Exiled Bishop Rolando Álvarez speaks at a Mass in Seville, Spain, on Dec. 19, 2024. / Credit: Padre Erick Díaz

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 20, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

In his first public Mass, celebrated in Seville province, Spain, Bishop Rolando Álvarez prayed for his “beloved Nicaragua.”

French artist Claire Tabouret poses following a press conference after winning with The Atelier Simon-Marq, the selection to create new stained-glass windows in six chapels of the south aisle of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral in Paris on Dec. 18, 2024. / Credit: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 20, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

The windows in six chapels on the southern side of the cathedral will be replaced with new windows designed by modern French painter Claire Tabouret.