Es el último día del año, sus últimas horas, and if something characterizes our Specola it is the tenacity to bring the news every day to our readers. We do not want to end the year without being faithful to our purpose and briefly offering what, even on a day like today, is in the headlines. For tomorrow, the first day of the Year of Our Lord 2026, we have the intense day ahead.
The Prefecture of the Papal Household published today an updated chart of faithful attendance at audiences and main liturgical celebrations in the State of Vatican City in 2025. A clear picture emerges, recording a fact that is hard to ignore, despite the efforts of some in the media to magnify Pope Francis’s pontificate and downplay the importance of this new pontificate. Attendance has increased significantly under Leo XIV. In the segment attributed to Pope Francis, 8 general and jubilee audiences are reported and a total of 262,820 participants; there is no possibility to contrast the data, attendance at Pope Francis’s acts was clamorously low, as we have documented so many times. For Pope Leo XIV a total of 2,913,800 participants,
For the first time in the history of the Jubilee, the Holy See dedicated a space to workers and friends of animals. The «Pilgrimage of Workers and Friends of Animals», promoted by the Pet Carpet Association, involved a wide community of professionals, institutions, and citizens. It was inspired by the values of St. Francis of Assisi, offering a contemporary vision of the relationship between humans and creatures, based on stewardship rather than domination.
On the occasion of the closing of the Holy Door, which concludes the Jubilee Year, the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major commissioned the creation of a commemorative medal, resuming an ancient tradition. On the obverse of the medal, the Holy Door of the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major is represented in the center, the work of sculptor Luigi Enzo Mattei and inaugurated by St. John Paul II on December 8, 2001. Inspired by the image of the man of the Holy Shroud of Turin, it depicts Christ appearing to the Virgin Mary, Salus Populi Romani. The inscription on the coin: « SEDENTE. LEONE. XIV. PONT. MAX. ANNO I. MMXXV » . The reverse always features an inscription in Latin, recalling the exceptional nature of the Holy Year 2025: « FRANCISCO PONT. MAX. PORTAM SANCTAM PAP. LIBERIANÆ BAS. ROLANDVS CARD. MAKRICKAS APERVIT IPSEQVE ARCHIPRESBYTER LEONE XIV PONT. MAX. EANDEM CLAVSIT» . The medal was produced in a limited series of 2000 bronze pieces and 1000 silver ones.
Interview with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pizzaballa: «Life conditions for Christians and for many others have not improved significantly. The main difference concerns the war itself. There are no active combats as there were in recent months, but living conditions are exactly the same». «We decided to celebrate Christmas in a normal and festive way, with lights and music, so that people can breathe again for a moment. People need light in their lives». «Ninety percent of Christian families among us are confessionally mixed. Catholics and Orthodox Christians marry each other. Relations between the Churches are for us a pastoral issue, not theological».
One of the most striking points of the interview has been the assessment of the German Synodal Way: «The themes of the Synodal Way in Germany, and many other issues in Western countries, do not particularly resonate in the Middle East. We live in a completely different reality. This is not a judgment, it is simply a fact». «Theology is not experienced here in such a dramatic way. Our Churches are traditional, and we live in and through the community of the Church. For us, strengthening relations between the Churches is what matters most. For Christians here, harmonious coexistence between the Churches is the priority».
The commemoration of International Migrants Day, established by the United Nations General Assembly and celebrated annually on December 18, took place in the Affreschi Hall of Palazzo Isimbardi, headquarters of the Metropolitan City of Milan. Its objective is to promote global reflection on migration and the value of human dignity. During the meeting, Biagio Maimone, Communication Director of the Bambino Gesù Foundation in Cairo and Italian Coordinator of the World Religious Tourism Network, highlighted how «migrants represent an essential resource for contemporary society, not only for their economic and labor contribution, but also as promoters of social, cultural, and economic innovation». Maimone emphasized that «Italian history is deeply marked by the migration experience: Italians have also been, and continue to be, a people of migrants in many parts of the world. Understanding those who arrive in our country today in search of a life project means recognizing a fundamental dimension of our own historical and cultural identity». «My Christian faith goes beyond any preconceived idea about migrants and is founded on the verbs of welcome and love, in the awareness, as Pope Francis reminds us in the encyclical Fratelli Tutti, that ‘no one is saved alone’ and that humanity is called to recognize itself as one family, beyond any geographical, cultural, or social border».
Maimone also recalled the teaching of Pope Francis, underscoring how the encyclical Fratelli Tutti strongly reiterates the moral and social responsibility of welcome, inviting us to build bridges and not walls and to promote a culture of encounter based on respect, the dignity of the person, and evangelical love: «Welcoming migrants means welcoming God». The problem of immigrants is enormous in Italy and in 2024, 119,890 applications were submitted, but only 9,331 resulted in work contracts. This means that more than 110,000 people were trapped in the system despite having followed all the necessary procedures, and these are data that do not account for the illegals.
Quarracino offers us some «reflections on the policies of Argentine President Javier Milei»: «Hypocrisy and pro-life deceit as state policy. Prostitution yes, abortion no, but abortion yes». Javier Milei offered a dinner to the entire government and, at the end of the meeting, gave each member a copy of the book «Defending the Indefensible», written in 1976 by Walter Block, an American ex-socialist who converted to libertarianism and anarcho-capitalism. Block is a member of the Austrian School of Economics and a disciple of Murray Rothbard, whom the Argentine president also admires. In his book, he attempts to justify and portray as benefactors of economic activity all those whom society condemns for having carried out unpleasant activities labeled as bad or criminal: prostitution, pimping, drug trafficking, drug addiction, blackmail, defamation, slander, abusive activities, police corruption, money laundering, usury, economic speculation, environmental pollution, child labor, etc.
The author believes that all these activities cannot be considered wrong or unjust, as long as those who promote or carry them out do not use physical or provoked violence against the involved subjects nor participate voluntarily in commercial exchanges. The unpleasant actions condemned, committed as voluntary exchange between two parties, do not constitute any act of unprovoked violence against non-aggressors; they reduce to a voluntary, peaceful or non-aggressive exchange between the parties for mutual benefit. This essentially amoral market is neither moral nor immoral; it is exclusively interested in the economic benefit obtained through voluntary exchange. No greater evangelical schizophrenia or hypocrisy can be found.
Controversy over the «Bell of the Unborn» in the tower of Villa Giovanna d’Arco, headquarters of the diocese of San Remo. The left has strongly criticized the initiative, a bell will ring every afternoon as a symbolic reminder against abortion and they consider the bell toll as «a very serious provocation». They hope that Bishop Antonio Suetta shows the same attention in remembering » all underage victims of sexual abuse within the Church «. Seeing the effects of the said bell, let us hope that the initiative is repeated.
The Italian dioceses and the Vatican are closely following the evolution of the Hannoun case. The investigation by the Genoa prosecutor’s office into alleged funds to Hamas is driving internal reflection in the Church on the appropriateness of maintaining the pro-Palestinian stance adopted since 2023. The bishops who have exposed themselves too much since the outbreak of the military escalation in the Middle East are especially in the dock of the accused. Among them is, without a doubt, Monsignor Derio Olivero, Bishop of Pinerolo and President of the Commission for Ecumenism and Dialogue of the CEI, who gained fame for a video message in which he opposed the expulsion of Mohamed Shahin. The order from the Ministry of the Interior came after the Turin imam of the San Salvario neighborhood denied that the October 7, 2023 attack was a violent act. Another prominent figure in the pro-Palestinian Church is Franco Moscone, who insists on being called «father», but is the Archbishop of Manfredonia-Vieste-San Giovanni Rotondo. The monsignor even expressed his hope that «our countries and other European countries not only recognize the State of Palestine, but also stop recognizing the State of Israel, until the genocide ends.» Moscone’s numerous and scandalous statements also provoked a protest from the Embassy of Israel to the Holy See, similar statements from Monsignor Giovanni Ricchiuti, emeritus Bishop of Altamura and President of Pax Christi Italy. It is no coincidence that their two names, in addition to appearing among the members of the «Priests Against Genocide» network, are among the promoters of the «Let’s Declare Domicile in Gaza» campaign, alongside figures from the militant left. There is a sector of the Italian episcopate that has gone much further than the Holy See’s traditional pro-Arab foreign policy and has chosen to adopt initiatives and language more suited to the street than to the sacristies.
In the Sacred Palaces, reserve is maintained, but several questions are beginning to arise about whether this linguistic extremism can really be useful for the work of Vatican diplomacy in support of the people of Gaza and the promotion of peace. To this is added the hope of avoiding the embarrassment caused by the discovery of ecclesiastical entities that have contacted Hannoun and his followers in the name of the common pro-Pal cause. News persists about the attempt by the president of the Palestinian Association in Italy to use the 2023 Christmas Urbi et Orbi blessing as a platform for an anti-Israeli protest that he himself promoted.
These are times that many call the end of liberal democracies. The rule of law is a fundamental principle according to which all state powers and citizens are subject to the law, which must be clear, transparent, and applied impartially by independent judicial bodies, guaranteeing fundamental rights and freedoms through the separation of powers and control of governmental arbitrariness. It is a pillar of the European Union and ensures its democratic functioning, based on the values of justice, equality, and respect for human rights. Every day we see how what we call the rule of law is blown to pieces with always dangerous consequences. The EU has included the Swiss ex-intelligence officer, Colonel Jacques Baud, on a sanctions list without due process. He is accused of «pro-Russian propaganda» for citing a 2019 warning from a Ukrainian official about NATO and the war. His accounts have been frozen. He cannot travel. He cannot even return to his country, and he cannot buy food nor can anyone do so on his behalf. No charges. No trial. No defense. Just a political punishment that has destroyed his livelihood overnight. The Baud case signals a dangerous shift not only in Europe’s stance on dissent and freedom of expression, but also marks the destruction of one of the pillars of the entire EU: the rule of law.
«Today, governments are infinitely more harmful than any disorder in the population, because one hour of nuclear war can destroy the life of an entire people», said Aldo Capitini. Bellicose declarations are succeeding each other increasingly threatening everywhere: that of the British Chief of Staff, Richard John Knighton, who, to not be outdone by the French who had already warned the mayors, warns British families to «be prepared to send their children to war against Russia»; or that of the usual Mark Rutte, for whom we must be «prepared for war like that of our grandparents», and the consequent abnormal spending on national rearmament by European countries, also blessed by President Mattarella, who despite being the guarantor of the Constitution that repudiates war, points out its necessity, even if it is «unpopular».
«He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.»
Good reading.