We are hurrying through the last hours of the year of Our Lord 2025 and these are always moments for taking stock. The year that is ending has been marked by many significant moments, not only for the life of the Church and the community of the faithful. In a global panorama marked by conflict, inequality, and fear for the future of our common home , the Jubilee Year has allowed us to preserve and cultivate hope. We bid farewell to Pope Francis and welcome Pope Leo XIV.
We continue with the last audiences of the year. Audience with the mayors of the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI). Among the challenges to address is «gambling, which ruins many families; we need to promote greater social cohesion.» To the list of fragilities are added «the demographic crisis and the difficulties of families and young people, the loneliness of the elderly and the silent cry of the poor, environmental pollution and social conflicts; these are realities that do not leave them indifferent.» There was no lack of a reference to «paying attention to the needs of families and people, caring especially for the most vulnerable, for the good of all.» The Pope addressing the mayors: «they are not anonymous places, but faces and stories that must be preserved as precious treasures. In this work, we become mayors day by day, growing as just and reliable administrators,» urging politicians to promote «social peace» against marginalization, loneliness, and abandonment.
Audience with a group of pilgrims from the parish of Saint Thomas of Villanova in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. Leo XIV, in Spanish, thanked the parish community that, «during this year so special for the Church, have accompanied the Successor of Peter with their prayers and generosity.» Leo XIV recalled that Saint Thomas of Villanova «was a Spanish Augustinian religious who remained open to the action of God in his life, and whose availability led him to do much good for the Church and the society of his time.» The saint «stands out for his industriousness. This humor, in a world that seems to offer us everything ever more quickly and easily, challenges us.» «His sobriety and simplicity, his disinterested work—especially in the university sphere—and his apostolic zeal lead us to believe that we must recognize the talents received and put them at the service of the community, with effort and dedication, so that they may multiply for the benefit of all.» Leo XIV highlighted «his love for the poor, which earned him the title of ‘almoner of God’.»
In just seven months, Pope Leo XIV signed more than ninety episcopal appointments. Asia emerges as an important area of growth, with new Syro-Malabar provinces and a new diocese in China. America is perceived as the most important pastoral and social region, Europe as a laboratory full of uncertainties and Africa as the land of the future with much present. After the first trip to the Middle East between late November and early December (of great diplomatic importance), other crucial trips are expected in 2026: to Africa, Latin America, and probably to Spain.
Although Francis renewed the episcopates of Argentina and Chile, he kept bishops over 75 in relevant sees in Mexico and the United States, which created a delay that Leo XIV must resolve. A process marked by two «blades.» One, on the demand side, the number of bishops the Catholic Church needs to appoint to replace the current prelates, and the other, the supply side, or the possible episcopal candidates. Religious organizations need credible and coherent leaders, people capable of embodying their values and beliefs. The crisis of sexual abuses and the high political risk make appointing a bishop more complex than 20 or 30 years ago. Someday we will have statistics on ‘failed bishops’ poorly made elections for which no one takes responsibility and not the worst what we see ashamed resignations through the back door, it is much worse those who become entrenched like an unacceptable modus vivendi. Obedience and respect are demanded from someone who does not deserve it and the consequences affect the entire church. This reality makes articulated bishops necessary, capable of adapting to new realities and with good intellectual preparation. Catholic-Hierarchy.org includes in its count of bishops nearing retirement all prelates, including those of the Roman Curia and those serving as nuncios; we have a year ahead in which we will see about 400 new bishops, the responsibility is great and the consequences enormous.
In the Sacred College, a total of seven cardinals will turn 80 in 2026 and therefore lose the right to vote in a future conclave. At the beginning of 2026, the College of Cardinals will immediately lose one elector: Cardinal John Njue, who will turn 80 on January 1. On January 5, it will be Cardinal Mario Zenari’s turn. On January 30, another long-career diplomat will turn 80: Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio in the United States of America. Cardinal Fernando Filoni, who will celebrate his 80th birthday on April 15, also comes from the diplomatic world. On April 21, Cardinal Juan José Omella, metropolitan archbishop of Barcelona. On May 22, it will be Cardinal Francesco Montenegro’s turn, metropolitan archbishop emeritus of Agrigento. The last cardinal to turn 80 in 2026 will be Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, on July 18. Since the election of Pope Leo XIV on May 8, the following have turned 80: Cardinals Carlos Osoro Sierra, metropolitan archbishop emeritus of Madrid; Robert Sarah, emeritus prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; Stanisław Ryłko, emeritus archpriest of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major; Joseph Coutts, emeritus archbishop of Karachi; Timothy Radcliffe, former master general of the Order of Preachers; Vinko Puljić, metropolitan archbishop emeritus of Sarajevo; Antonio Cañizares Llovera, metropolitan archbishop emeritus of Valencia; Vincent Nichols, metropolitan archbishop emeritus of Westminster; and Jean-Pierre Kutwa, metropolitan archbishop emeritus of Abidjan. On December 31, Cardinal Philippe Nakellentuba Ouédraogo, metropolitan archbishop emeritus of Ouagadougou, will join them. It is reasonable to assume that the Pope may proceed with the creation of new cardinals in the second half of 2026, probably towards the end of the year. But no one can predict the Pope’s decisions.
Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani turned 82 without receiving an official congratulation from the Archdiocese of Lima, a tradition from previous years, sanctioned by Pope Francis for an alleged case of sexual abuse. Emeritus of Lima and the first cardinal in the history of Opus Dei, he received Vatican restrictions that include exile from his native country, the prohibition of wearing cardinal symbols, and issuing public statements, as explained at the time by the Holy See’s press office. Cipriani was seen with his cardinal attire in the basilica of Saint Mary Major, where more than a hundred cardinals gathered to pray at Francis’s tomb after the pope’s burial. Days before Christmas, he reappeared in a video circulated on social media where he claimed to be near the Sea of Galilee. We assume they will have recommended his absence from the next consistory.
Andrea Gagliarducci thinks we are in days of a definitive transition of the pontificate of Pope Francis. «The Christmas Eve Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica was marked by a series of symbols, all of them indicating that Pope Leo XIV is taking great steps toward a definitive transition, which will begin as soon as the Jubilee concludes.» Leo XIV wanted to personally greet those present in the square before the nighttime celebration and thank them . The Pope wore the white sash with his episcopal coat of arms overcoming the deconstruction of symbols that took place under Francis’s pontificate. His Christmas Eve homily had two particularities : he quoted the last Christmas homily of Benedict XVI as Pope and the last Christmas homily of Pope Francis. Leo XIV drew inspiration from the legacy of his two predecessors, taking the best from both and seeking to harmonize them. Pope Francis’s speeches to the Roman Curia were highly anticipated because he used them to attack the Curia . No one has forgotten his speech on the fifteen ailments of the Curia, followed by his speech on the remedies for its ailments. Leo XIV demonstrated from the beginning that he had no inclination nor wanted to cultivate any to attack those who work in the Vatican. Leo XIV emphasized one theme: communion. He concluded by asking that friendship also reign within the Roman Curia and that no room be given to enmity. Leo XIV’s decision to continue speaking of synodality is also a concrete sign in this direction: Leo makes it clear that he will listen to everyone and that everyone will have a voice. This seems to be the purpose of the consistory on January 7 and 8.
Leo XIV reformulated the idea of synodality, defining it as a form of collaboration with the Pope, placing at the center the ideal of communion that he launched at the beginning of his pontificate. Step by step, he has reoriented all the symbols of his pontificate, without ever denying Francis; in fact, he has quoted him more than anyone in his speeches, addresses, and homilies. There will probably be no major setbacks in the reform of the Curia desired by Pope Francis: it would be complicated. But Leo has already demonstrated his willingness to make changes and trusts that the cardinals will address the reform in an integral way. The Holy Doors are beginning to close, the Holy Year proclaimed by Pope Francis is coming to an end, but doors are opening to a new pontificate, still to be defined: that of Leo XIV. Tucho is always a very predictable source of problems, months are passing and the more than unacceptable appointment of the porn cardinal that shames the curia and the entire church is becoming less of Francis’s and more of Leo’s. Let us hope that in a short time we see the issue of abuses in Chiclayo resolved, which so concerns Pope Leo XIV, and that he can be completely free in his decisions.
The Allies of the Eucharist and the Gospel summarize 2025 and define it as «annus horribilis» for faithful Catholics who love Christ and the traditional faith, transmitted by the apostles and their successors. «The purpose of this article is not to recap the past year (it would be too depressing), but to reflect on an aspect of the search for Truth in what, like many others, I consider the final stage of the History of Salvation. I hope that, although the reflection may be uncomfortable, it inspires hope and encouragement as we begin 2026.» Truth has never needed numbers. It needs hearts that belong to it. And those who persevere to the end will wear the crown that the Lord has promised to all who love him.
God’s times are not complicated to understand and always require an overdose of patience. A wrong path brings wrong consequences, it may take more time than desirable but in the end they arrive. The ‘separated brethren’ Anglicans are self-destructing and what little good remains is passing to the Catholic Church. The passage from His Majesty to His Holiness has numbers and we fear that even His Majesty is considering passing to His Holiness, it is a matter of time.
A third of English Catholic priests ordained between 1992 and 2024 are Anglicans. And a total of 700 former clerics, according to data from the Society of Saint Barnabas, have left their security and ministry to be welcomed by the Church of Rome. This is also due to the great foresight of the Ordinariates established by Benedict XVI. Approximately 700 former Anglican ministers, including some bishops, have passed from His Majesty to His Holiness, and 486 of them have become Catholic priests. We have this in the report » Convert Clergy in the Catholic Church in Britain», promoted in 2019 by the Society of Saint Barnabas in collaboration with the Benedict XVI Center for Religion, published on November 20, 2025. The first available data date back to 1969 : in total, from then until 2024, 805 Anglican ministers converted to Catholicism, 91 of whom did so before 1992.
The 31st is the day of Te Deum in thanksgiving for the end of the year.
«Save your people, Lord,
and bless your inheritance.
Be their shepherd
and exalt them forever.
Day after day we bless you
and praise your name forever,
through the eternity of eternities.»
«The child was growing and becoming strong, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.»
Good reading.