Cold night in Rome, more than usual, the rising sun is slowly warming the square that is preparing for the usual Wednesday audience, a joy to see how the obelisk is being surrounded by the faithful after years of solitary waiting. The traditional inauguration of the nativity scene and the lighting of the Christmas tree in St. Peter’s Square will take place on Monday, December 15.
Yesterday morning, the Pontiff received the president of Ukraine and, in the evening, after dinner, returned to the Vatican and before getting into his car to return to the Vatican spoke with the journalists. Yesterday’s star question is about Pope Leo’s refusal to pray in a mosque during his recent trip to Turkey. The Pope reacted with evident surprise, almost astonishment at having to explain why a Pontiff does not pray in a mosque. «They said I didn’t pray, but I already gave an answer on the plane; I mentioned a book. Maybe I’m praying right now, you know?» The style of prayer, the time and the place… in fact, I prefer to pray in a Catholic church in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. But a lot has been said about that moment, but it seems a bit strange to me…» Other questions were put to the Pope, including one about his private life and his apartment, to which the Pope responded with great clarity, thus denying the false scoops and exclusives that in recent months some non-journalistic headlines have relaunched in the newspapers, claiming that the Pope lived with the Augustinian community . While the questions from these journalists are objectively absurd , it must be recognized that they are also an indication of a climate generated in past years , in which certain Vatican journalistic information has become accustomed to papal gestures that, above all, generated confusion . Today what is normal is perceived as absurd and almost extraordinary
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, thanked Pope Leo XIV for his support and his calls for a just peace and invited the pontiff to Kyiv. «Ukraine deeply thanks all the support from His Holiness Pope Leo XIV and the Holy See, the continuous humanitarian assistance and the willingness to expand humanitarian missions». «During today’s audience with His Holiness, I thanked him for his constant prayers for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, as well as his calls for a just peace. I informed the Pope about the diplomatic efforts with the United States to achieve peace». «We addressed future measures and the mediation of the Vatican for the return of our children kidnapped by Russia. I thank His Holiness for all his efforts to support young Ukrainians . Thank you for this conversation and for all the attention you have given to our people. I invited the Pope to visit Ukraine. This would be a firm sign of support for our people».
The Holy See Press Office issued a statement at the end of the meeting, describing it as a » cordial conversation » that, as expected, focused on the war in Ukraine. The statement noted that Leo XIV reiterated » the need to continue the dialogue and renewed his firm hope that the ongoing diplomatic initiatives can lead to a just and lasting peace » . Issues of prisoners of war and the » need to ensure the return of Ukrainian children to their families» were also addressed .
The Vatican opens up to Italian politics and on Tuesday, December 16, a private visit to the Sistine Chapel will take place, granted by the cardinal secretary of state to the Italian deputies and senators. After the visit, there will be a moment of prayer and a toast to exchange Christmas greetings in the Apostolic Palace. After pontificates of good relations, Pope Francis changed things, imposing a substantial indifference between the two banks of the Tiber, with exceptions based on personal relations. The new Pope has made it clear that he has no prejudices and, in addition to receiving ministers who did not have this opportunity under his predecessor, has even come to recognize the potential of the Italian government to play an important role in the search for peace between Ukraine and Russia.
After nearly nine months of complex renovations, it was in ruins, the papal apartment on the third floor of the Apostolic Palace is finally ready. Only the last details are missing, but everything confirms that in January, Leo XIV will move into what was the residence of the Popes until February 28, 2013, the last day of Benedict XVI’s pontificate. The years of pauperist Bergoglian propaganda had made people believe that Francis lived in sixty square meters, while dozens of curial cardinals continued to live in splendid Renaissance apartments inside or near the Sacred Enclosures. The reality was very different and Pope Francis occupied the entire second floor of Santa Marta, preparing for himself and his collaborators an immense apartment of more than three hundred square meters, with a private chapel, several state rooms, a kitchen and a large dining room. The cost of maintaining this entire new operation was approximately two hundred thousand euros per month, including the hiring of new staff and new gendarmes, and the fact that obviously the Apostolic Palace could not be left to deteriorate.
When the seals of the Papal Apartment were broken after the election of Leo XIV, the scene before the new pontiff and his team was truly shocking. The kitchen, which Monsignor Georg Gänswein, secretary of Benedict XVI, assures was completely renovated in the late 2000s, had disappeared and was completely dismantled. The roof leaks, after twelve years of abandonment, had compromised the electrical systems —which, moreover, no longer met the standards— and the so-called «soffittoni», the small apartments built over the Pope’s apartment for his private secretaries, were now in a lamentable state, full of mold and uninhabitable. Pope Leo immediately ordered the renovation and regularization of the Apartment. It is not easy to work in the Apostolic Palace, the limitations, including security ones, are enormous. Every morning in the private papal library, located a few meters from the Apartment, visits are received so the works stop at those times. Let us hope that in early January, the Romans who stroll through St. Peter’s Square at dusk will finally see the lights on the third floor of the Apostolic Palace light up again, Rome will once again count its first citizen.
The issue of abuses remains unresolved and we fear it will continue to give us many headaches. Pope Leo has a golden opportunity to address the problem with clarity and transparency: Your Holiness, let’s start with Chiclayo! We continue with the chain of news on abuses. Bishop Stefan Oster of Passau spoke about the abuse study conducted for his diocese, published on December 8 and described the findings as shocking, but not surprising. At least 700 children and adolescents have suffered sexual or physical abuse by 154 members of the clergy in the last eighty years. Oster thanked historian Marc von Knorring and his team from the University of Passau, who over three years produced a nearly 400-page report. Their investigation was based on 2400 personal files of priests, as well as interviews with 25 victims and nearly 35 contemporary witnesses.
Another unresolved issue is the ‘delicate’, – we’ll stop here – financial situation of the Vatican, the Holy See and its dependent institutions. Today it is in the papers the San Giovanni Rotondo hospital, that of Padre Pio, owned by the Vatican Bank. The National Association of Doctors of Religious Hospital Institutes (ANMIRS) has declared an indefinite strike and accuses the management of the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza IRCCS in San Giovanni Rotondo (Foggia) of having taken an imprudent decision by rescinding the current contracts of the medical directors and replacing them, starting from March 2026, with one considered inadequate and harmful. The doctors have announced an unprecedented mobilization and are willing to demonstrate in the Vatican. The hospital’s decision is «unmotivated and unjustified, the result of years of great sacrifices by the doctors: cuts to the incentive fund, 40% reduction of arrears with installment payments, unpaid overtime and nearly 70,000 overtime hours worked in 2024 to ensure the financial stability of the institution». It announces, in case of failure of the agreement «the proclamation of a two-day or longer strike, accompanied by legal actions to recover the amounts owed and challenge the contract rescission. The union also requests the intervention of the Puglia Region to remind the hospital that it must comply with its legal obligations».
The Vatican will exhibit next week for the first time in its history a explicitly pro-life nativity scene, which will also be blessed by Pope Leo XIV. “Nativity Gaudium”, which was designed by the Costa Rican sacred artist Paula Senoto with the help of 40 Days for Life , will be placed in the Paul VI Audience Hall. Senoto’s pro-life nativity scene was initially approved by Pope Francis’s Vatican for exhibition in 2027, but Pope Leo’s Vatican advanced it to 2025 just a few months ago, it will be the first to be blessed by Pope Leo during his pontificate. “This year several things have happened, a lot of violence… deaths of certain people who have defended life”. “I have seen that many Catholics… have appeared in videos where they defend abortion ”, she added. “That’s why, I believe that (the pro-life message) is something that must be transmitted with great clarity, and we need to pray a lot and kneel”. The “Nativity Gaudium” nativity scene will be a great contrast to recent Vatican nativity scenes, some of which have been blasphemous. In 2017, the Vatican’s «Nativity of Mercy» showed a naked man and a corpse. The manger was so graphic that Facebook rejected a photo of it for being «sexually suggestive». Another nativity scene made in 2020, featured figures that looked like astronauts or were completely unrecognizable.
Finally, late, but we’re getting there and we now have the digital platform of the Pontifical Yearbook allows for constant updating of information. The digital Pontifical Yearbook is available since yesterday. The history of the Yearbook dates back to the Liber Pontificalis, a medieval collection of papal biographies. In 1851, the Apostolic Chamber published the volume «Gerarchia di Santa Chiesa Cattolica Apostolica Romana», which in 1860 adopted the title of Pontifical Yearbook for the first time. In 1885, under the pontificate of Leo XIII, the Vatican Press began publishing semi-official editions, which were officialized in 1899. We will see if the new service is useful and agile, for now, we will continue using «The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church» a magnificent page used massively in the Sacred Palaces and updated to the second.
This Friday, December 12, 2025, in the Paul VI Hall, the Christmas Concert in honor of the Holy Father Leo XIV will be held, directed by Maestro Riccardo Muti. The concert program includes the performance of the Coronation Mass of Charles X, composed by Luigi Cherubini. It will be performed by the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra accompanied by the Guido Chigi Saracini Choir of Siena Cathedral. On this occasion, the Holy Father Leo XIV will present the 2025 Ratzinger Prize to Maestro Riccardo Muti. Tickets to attend the Concert, including those for the companions of the participants and their families, are free and can be requested at ordinanze@pontificalisdomus.va
We go to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) which reiterated that there are currently no plans to modify canon law with regard to polygamous unions, very common in sub-Saharan Africa. Commenting on the note of Una Caro of November 25, 2025, Cardinal Fernández emphasized that the new text did not intend to «explicitly condemn polygamy», but to «promote monogamy as the evangelical ideal». African bishops face significant pastoral challenges in regions where polygamy affects up to 24% of Christians in Burkina Faso. Una Caro analyzes African traditions at the legal level, where the first wife usually plays a central role in funeral rites and in raising children from previous marriages. «Studies on African cultures show that various traditions attach special importance to the first marriage». Fernández insists that this mention does not imply, in his opinion, a revision of canon 1148, which allows a polygamous man who converts to Catholicism to choose one of his wives to validate the Christian marriage, with preference for the first. African bishops criticized this canonical flexibility, particularly in a document from August 2025 titled «The Pastoral Challenges of Polygamy». In it, they denounced cases in which men «set aside» their first wife to choose a younger one, causing scandal and injustice in their communities. Polygamy is widespread in West and Central Africa: in Chad, 21% of Christians live in polygamous families, and in Mali, 14%.
The fact that Fernández and his line can remain beyond the death of Pope Francis in the new pontificate, despite persistent errors, has nothing to do with brilliant theology, but with a network of personal loyalties that proves surprisingly resilient in the Vatican. It is striking the unusual number of documents commissioned by Francis and prepared during his reign, which are now being published and which Leo XIV signed. Does Leo XIV consider himself bound to his predecessor on doctrinal issues? Today we have an interesting article on the «Fernández enigma: what allows him to maintain his rank and reputation?» by Charles Collins.
«Víctor Manuel Fernández, nicknamed «Tucho», closely linked to Jorge Mario Bergoglio for decades, has enjoyed remarkable immunity to criticism under Francis’s papacy and considerable freedom to translate theology into a very personal pastoral prose. This Bergoglian protection, which dates back at least to 1997 and remains largely unexplained, has propelled Fernández to ever higher positions, each too big for him, according to critics who know him well. His previous publications, particularly the frequently cited little books on «the kiss» and the «orgasm», might have been excused as youthful naivety if he had not already been nearly 40 years old and ordained a priest for many years when he wrote them». Was this the intention, the last «farce» of Bergoglio, to completely dismantle the Holy Office , the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , deeply hated in certain circles? The pace is too fast not to assume that the protégé and his mentor had already been doing preparatory work for some time.
All this brings us back to the central question: how do you solve a problem like Tucho Fernández? Where could a prefect of the doctrine of the faith be “transferred” without the function itself suffering? This stain weighs on the current pontificate and Tucho Fernández is the millstone around the new Pope’s neck. He not only harms Leo XIV, but also the authority of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith through contradictory documents, imprudent interventions and hasty ideological experiments. It also undermines the authority of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the doctrinal authority of the Church in general. Just a few days after the publication of Fiducia supplicans , the already elderly Cardinal Joseph Zen gave his response: Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández should resign.
The demonstration against a state-funded blasphemous art exhibition in Vienna, which mocks Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary. The sacrilegious image of the exhibition, prominently placed at the entrance to Vienna’s “Künstlerhaus”, purports to represent the Blessed Virgin Mary as a bearded man holding a child. “Vienna is one of the most important cities in the world and has a long history of defending the rights of the Church”. “That is why, a blasphemy here in Vienna is particularly serious and represents an attack not only against Austrian Catholics, but against Catholics worldwide”. “When the honor of God and Our Lady is attacked, it is necessary to repair it, public sin requires public reparation”.
The episcopal appointment of Monsignor Francis Li Jianlin, new bishop of the Apostolic Prefecture of Xinxiang in China, announced on December 5 by the Holy See, and the corresponding ordination ceremony held in Weihui, Henan province, China, must be interpreted as a victory for the Chinese Communist Party over the underground churches, those that refuse to join the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, founded in 1957 by Catholics loyal to the Chinese Communist Party. The Apostolic Prefecture of Xinxiang did not lack a bishop. Zhang Weizhu, 67 years old, received his ordination approved by Rome, but never by Beijing, due to his refusal to join the Patriotic Association.
Before, perhaps too soon, when one went to a Jesuit school or institution, one found that all, all, all the teachers were Jesuits, that was normal, from the doorkeeper brother to the rector. Today there are no Jesuits left and the remnants have become owners, the gentlemen, of an immense network of institutions where their presence has disappeared. It is not a unique case, we are accustomed to it in almost all institutions dependent on religious men and women. Today’s surprise comes from the Gregorian University: «I am the first woman at the top». Paola Mollo, 41 years old, has become dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies: «I was the only student in a class of 60. I hope this is just the beginning, that I won’t be alone for long».
The Trump administration has located 62,000 unaccompanied migrant children, some of whom were victims of sex trafficking and child labor, according to border czar Tom Homan. “More than half a million children were illegally introduced into this country under the Joe Biden administration”. “They were handed over to unverified sponsors. They lost track of 300,000. President Trump committed from day one that we would do everything possible to find each one of these children”. “Many were victims of sex trafficking, many were subjected to forced labor, many suffered abuse”. “I can’t even mention some of the mistreatments we discovered”.