Category: Diocese of Scranton News

(OSV News) – As 2025 draws to a close, the plight of persecuted Christians around the world remains dire – and in many places, deeply forgotten. The year has exposed how fragile religious freedom is, even as the faithful strive to survive with courage, hope and community.

Church leaders like Regina Lynch, executive director of Aid to the Church in Need pontifical charity, warn that “there are more cases, there are more countries where religious freedom doesn’t exist or … is being eaten away.”

Nigeria: Ground zero for Christian persecution

As the 2025 Jubilee Year drew to a close, nowhere was the crisis of Christian persecution more visible than in Nigeria, where militant Islamist groups and extremist herding militias continue to ravage Christian villages, abduct clergy and laity, and destroy homes and churches.

In the latest sign of Christian tragedy in the country, Father Emmanuel Ezema was abducted late on Dec. 2 from his residence in St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Rumi, in Kaduna State, the Diocese of Zaria said on Dec. 3, according to Reuters.

On Nov. 21, in one of the worst cases of kidnappings in the recent history of Africa’s most populous country, more than 300 children, along with their teachers, were taken at gunpoint from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, in central Nigeria. Fifty managed to escape and were reunited with their families, 100 more were released Dec. 8 and the remaining children were returned to their homes right before Christmas.

In the northeast – particularly dioceses such as Maiduguri – Christians live under constant threat from militants and violent herdsmen. As Bishop John Bogna Bakeni of Maiduguri put it, “Every day is a grace … because we never know what will happen in the next hour.”

On Oct. 31, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would again designate Nigeria a “country of particular concern” for religious freedom and threatened to suspend nonhumanitarian aid and take “action” if the Nigerian government did not act swiftly to protect Christians from extremist violence. The U.S. carried out a deadly strike in northwestern Nigeria Dec. 25, with President Trump stating the attack targeted Islamic State group terrorists who persecuted Christians in that nation.

The Trump Administration’s move put Nigeria in the spotlight of mainstream media reports – otherwise the atrocities have been mostly forgotten by global media companies.

“It’s difficult to get the secular media to to report on these situations,” ACN’s Lynch told OSV News. “Occasionally the BBC will say something, but it’s really a battle to be that voice there.”

She said she looks with hope to parliamentarians in the European Union, and members of the U.S. Congress – “people who are ready to listen, who do believe that there is persecution of Christians in some of these countries.” She said the job of organizations like ACN is to “to move them … to do something about this.”

“What’s really a big concern for us today is the growing jihadism in West Africa, in the Sahel region,” the official said, calling “atrocities” in Nigeria but also Burkina Faso “really, really horrible.”

Lynch underlined that in countries like Nigeria, “all people are being attacked, not just Christians, but anybody who does not accept this form of jihadism.”

The latest Intersociety advocacy group report revealed that an average of 32 Christians are killed in Nigeria every day. The report, published in August, indicates that as many as 7,000 Christians were massacred across the country in the first 220 days of 2025.

Amid this horror, faith persists. Surveys show that up to 94% of Nigerian Catholics claim to attend Mass weekly or daily.

Syria and Gaza

Over the past months, Christians in Syria – along with other religious minorities – have faced a sharp increase in targeted violence, insecurity and displacement. A brutal reminder came on June 22, when a suicide bomber attacked Mar Elias Church, a Greek Orthodox church in the Dweila neighborhood of Damascus, during Divine Liturgy.

At least 20 worshippers were killed and more than 60 injured. The attacker, reportedly linked to Islamic State group, opened fire before detonating his vest. According to witnesses, around 350 people were present inside the church at the time.

But that was not an isolated incident. In the southern district of Sweida – a region with substantial Christian and Druze populations – a wave of sectarian violence erupted in July 2025. Militias attacked Christian and Druze neighborhoods: in the village of Al-Sura, the Greek Melkite Church of St. Michael was burned down, while 38 Christian homes were also destroyed by fire, leaving many families homeless. As one displaced Christian recalled, “This community has lost everything.”

Religious-freedom advocates describe the security situation for Christians and other minorities as “disastrous.” According to ACN’s statistics, the Christian population in Syria has shrunk from roughly 2.1 million in 2011 (before the war) to about 540,000 today. The sense of vulnerability and fear among survivors and remaining Christians is deep.

Syrian Archbishop Jacques Mourad of Homs warned that the “church in Syria is dying,” lamenting that many believers feel they have no future in their homeland under the new Islamist-led government of Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Still, church leaders insist on the importance of Christians remaining in their ancestral lands. “These are the living stones. These are the roots. They carry the roots of our faith,” Lynch said.

Mentioning Gaza, where a 400-strong flock still shelters in the premises of Holy Family Catholic Parish and St. Porphyrios Orthodox Church, amid difficulties of winter and as a ceasefire was reached in October after two years of constant Israeli bombardment of the enclave, Lynch said, “They manage, but it’s not easy. … It’s terribly sad.”

Belarus

While the Nov. 20 release of two priests offers a rare glimmer of hope, for most Christians in Belarus the situation remains bleak – marked by harsh sentences, legal restrictions and suppression of independent religious life.

The release of Fathers Andrzej Juchniewicz and Henrykh Akalatovich came only after a visit in October by the papal envoy Claudio Gugerotti.

It was described as a “gesture of mercy,” interpreted as linked to high-level Vatican intervention. While it was a joy that the outspoken priests supporting freedom in Belarus have been freed, Szoszyn recalled, the most prominent group of political prisoners – many of them Catholics – is still behind bars.

Among them is Ales Bialiatski, winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. His supporters have urged Western church leaders to take up his cause four years after he was detained and jailed in Belarus on trumped-up charges.

Overall repression remains widespread as Catholics face sweeping legal and administrative restrictions, such as the 2023 religious-freedom law under which all parishes must re-register or risk liquidation; this law curbs missionary activity, religious education, minority-language worship and monastic life.

Dozens of clergy – Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant – have been arrested on vague charges ranging from “extremist material” or “subversive activity” to treason and espionage. Political prisoners arrests occurred after the rigged 2020 and 2022 elections and the subsequent crackdown on civil society and dissent.

Prominent lay Catholics are also targeted. Andrzej Poczobut – a journalist and member of Belarus’s Polish minority – remains imprisoned since 2021. In December 2025, the European Parliament awarded him the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, making him a “symbol of the struggle for freedom and democracy” in Belarus.

From India to Nicaragua, religious freedom shrinks

In 2025, religious oppression in India has also taken damaging forms. In one high-profile case, two Catholic nuns from Kerala, Sisters Vandana Francis and Preeti Mary, along with an Indigenous youth, were arrested in Chhattisgarh on charges of “human trafficking and forced religious conversion.”

Their detention sparked outrage, with religious leaders and civil-society figures calling the charges “unlawful,” and demanding their immediate release.

A special court granted them conditional bail in August 2025 – but the case remains a stark reminder how legal and administrative tools can be used to harass Christians, stigmatize their humanitarian work, and suppress minority faiths.

In a scathing editorial on Aug. 3, Deepika, a Malayalam daily published by the Catholic bishops in India’s Kerala state, slammed the growing Hindu fundamentalism in the country under the patronage of governments in different states, reminding that Hindu fundamentalism had gained a presence in the country and was suppressing the voices of minorities, especially Christians.

Persecution against Christians has steadily increased since 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power, according to the United Christian Forum, based in New Delhi, the nation’s capital.

Some of the patterns in persecution have changed dramatically. “It’s become, in some countries, more sophisticated,” Lynch said, citing India and China and coordinated extremist networks.

On the other side of the world, in Central America, the situation for Christians is also catastrophic – though less visible. In Nicaragua, a systematic crackdown on religious institutions has unfolded under the authoritarian regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.

Over the past years, more than 200 clergy and religious leaders have been detained, expelled or forced into exile. Churches and charitable organizations have had their legal status revoked, properties seized and worship restricted severely.

Although reported attacks in 2025 dropped to just around 3 dozen compared to 321 in 2023 – experts warn that this “decline” masks a deeper reality: the church has been decimated. Many clergy no longer dare report harassment or violence.

Religious freedom report alarming

A 1,200-page Religious Freedom Report, published by ACN Oct. 21, is drawing urgent warnings from Catholic aid officials who say persecution is expanding across continents and deepening in severity.

“There are more cases, there are more countries where religious freedom doesn’t exist or is being eaten away and is less than was before,” Lynch said.

She emphasized ACN is sending humanitarian and logistical help as needed but “prayer is something that those persecuted communities appreciate most.”

Traveling the world, “I’ve heard to myself how much it means to the local Christian population to know that there are Christians elsewhere in the world praying for them,” she said.

Advocacy is another pillar. “Being a voice for the voiceless is a very important aspect,” Lynch said.

At the same time, rising secularism in the West is making raising awareness more difficult. “With the secularization that we have in our so-called Western countries today, it’s not always easy to … raise the awareness that … Christians are being killed.”

Yet those experiencing persecution firsthand offer a sharp contrast in conviction. One man falsely accused of blasphemy in Pakistan refused to renounce his faith despite torture. Lynch recalled: “He looked at a crucifix on the wall behind me and said: ‘But he suffered so much more than I did.'”

(OSV News) – In his papal bull proclaiming the Jubilee Year, the late Pope Francis emphasized the theme of hope, a much-needed virtue in a time of uncertainty, war, and tribulation.

Yet in “Spes Non Confundit” (“Hope Does Not Disappoint”), the pope unknowingly described what many Catholics would feel in the year to come.

“Everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring,” he wrote.

In 2024, the pope’s health was already a cause for concern due to a persistent flu at the beginning of the year, as well as limited mobility that required the use of a cane and a wheelchair.

While the intense monthly schedule of Jubilee events was worrisome, there was still the hope that the ailing pontiff would be able to participate.

However, those hopes were dashed once his health took a turn for the worse in February, and on April 21, just one day after delivering what would be his final Easter Sunday “urbi et orbi” blessing, Pope Francis died.

For Archbishop Rino Fisichella, organizer of the Jubilee 2025 events and pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, the pope’s death “created a silence that was felt in the streets of Rome and the world, as well as in every Christian community.”

In an interview via email Dec. 3, Archbishop Fisichella told OSV News that it was in those days of mourning that “the motto of the Jubilee took on a different light.”

“The faithful understood that Christian hope is not a sentiment, but a promise. I saw people crossing the Holy Door with tears in their eyes and yet with a new inner strength,” he said.

“One cannot forget that hope strongly recalls eternal life, a promise that was realized in the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Archbishop Fisichella added. “An everlasting life is the true announcement of the Christian faith and of this Jubilee.”

Interregnum

Despite his ill health, Pope Francis’ death still came as a shock to many and triggered a series of events that occurred only once in the Catholic Church’s history.

The last time the death of a pope and the election of his successor occurred in a Jubilee Year was in 1700 with the death of Pope Innocent XII and the election of Pope Clement XI.

Aside from the uncertainty regarding who would be the next leader of the Catholic Church, Archbishop Fisichella acknowledged that it “was useless to deny” that the interregnum period caused “a certain objective difficulty.”

Alessandro Gisotti, deputy editorial director of Vatican Media, told OSV News Nov. 11 that the Jubilee faced challenges even before the pope’s death.

“Unfortunately, practically from the beginning of this Jubilee, Pope Francis was limited by illness, then hospitalization, and finally his death. He was only able to experience the importance and intensity of this Jubilee to a certain point,” Gisotti said.

“When the pope was at Gemelli Hospital, the Jubilee continued, but without the pope, it was naturally more subdued,” he added.

Nevertheless, Archbishop Fisichella said, “the machine did not stop.”

For both Archbishop Fisichella and Gisotti, the death of Pope Francis and the conclave and election of Pope Leo XIV did not stop the Jubilee but instead redefined it.

“The death of Francis and the election of Leo had, in a way, restarted the Jubilee in terms of attendance,” Gisotti noted.

“The cardinals supported me immediately and wanted the Jubilee to continue with its manifestations. Continuity was guaranteed by the very nature of the Jubilee, which does not belong to a pontiff, but to the church and to the people of God,” Archbishop Fisichella told OSV News.

Despite the demanding schedule, the archbishop added, “Pope Leo XIV accepted the calendar without fear and, from the beginning, chose to maintain the programmed Jubilee commitments.”

“This allowed for stability and offered a true continuity that is evident to all, given the incredible numbers of pilgrims,” he added.

This was most evident at the Jubilee of Youth in Rome, which drew an estimated 1 million young people from around the world

The Jubilee of Youth

Like many young Catholics, Joey Pfeiffer, a 17-year-old from Miami, was at a crucial point in his life and trying to discover his own sense of faith.

“I’ve always grown up in the Catholic faith,” he told OSV News Dec. 1. “But I’m a very factual guy, and I hadn’t really found any proof that God existed.

For Pfeiffer, attending the Jubilee of Youth, meeting with Catholics his age, and witnessing their joy despite facing similar doubts, helped him build “a foundation in my faith.”

“I saw all these people so filled with spirit and so alive about these different experiences that they’re going through,” he told OSV News. “And I feel like it helped me create a sense of security, knowing that God was there because I saw it in these different people.”

The Jubilee of Youth wasn’t just an occasion to connect with faith that was exclusive to young people. It also offered a chance for those who led those groups to pass on the joy of those days they had received in the past.

“Looking back at the graces received in the Jubilee 2000, we experienced joy, gratitude and mercy. We knew that we wanted to be a part of transmitting it to the next generation,” said Elias Rosado from New Jersey, who, along with his wife, Jessica, led a group of 170 young people from the Neocatechumenal Way to Rome for the event.

Speaking to OSV News Nov. 30, Rosado said the Jubilee helped him and his wife rediscover that “we are not alone on our true pilgrimage, which is our life.”

“We experienced that God provided an answer to our suffering today, and in our marriage. Facing infertility, we experienced joy and consolation in this suffering to see how the Lord can use our suffering and make it glorious; that our suffering has meaning,” Rosado told OSV News.

Both Pfeiffer’s and Rosado’s experiences of the pilgrimage echoed what Archbishop Fisichella witnessed during the many Jubilee year events, where “pilgrims did not limit themselves to venerating the places of faith, but wanted to touch the living flesh of the Gospel.”

The Vatican official noted that the Jubilee Year initiatives linked to the corporal works of mercy “have shown a church that does not fear translating theology into concrete gestures.”

“The signs of hope are precisely these: those that translate our faith into life daily. The signs become innumerable because they are the fruit of the centrality of faith,” he told OSV News.

A door opened, a door closed

In December 2024, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door in St. Peter’s, marking the beginning of the Jubilee. The task of closing that door now falls to his successor, Pope Leo XIV.

Gisotti told OSV News that Pope Leo is continuing “that spirit of hope desired by Pope Francis” and that his experience as a missionary “capable of speaking to everyone” brings “an extraordinary international dimension to his papacy.”

For Archbishop Fisichella, the fact that Pope Francis would not be the one to end the Jubilee of Hope is one of “profound symbolic value.”

“Let this unfinished gesture become an invitation for every believer: The mission of the church never closes,” he said.

The message he believes Pope Leo will give at the closing of the Jubilee Year will entrust the faithful with bringing “hope, peace and communion into their own homes.”

“Crossing the Holy Door means assuming the responsibility to bring hope where it is missing,” he said.

Archbishop Fisichella told OSV News that the Holy Year brought the “dimension of the pilgrimage back to the center” and that among the fruits of the Jubilee that “will accompany the church in the coming decade” is the “rediscovery of personal responsibility in the faith that is strengthened by hope.”

“The ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ return to their dioceses with a stronger sense of belonging and, above all, with the awareness that daily witness is the first place of evangelization,” he said.

(OSV News) – As Pope Leo XIV wrapped up his first apostolic visit to Turkey and Lebanon, he gave a hint on his flight back to Rome as to which other countries he might visit in 2026.

Speaking to journalists aboard the papal flight Dec. 2, the pope was asked by Argentine journalist Elisabetta Pique about his travel plans for the coming year.

“As for trips, nothing is certain yet. I hope to make a trip to Africa. That would possibly be the next trip,” he said. “Personally, I hope to go to Algeria to visit the places from the life of St. Augustine, but also to continue the dialogue, building bridges between the Christian world and the Muslim world.”

He also said that he was “working on some other countries,” including several in Latin America.

“Obviously, I would love to visit Latin America; Argentina and Uruguay are waiting for the pope’s visit. Peru, I think they will receive me, too! And then, if I go to Peru, (I could visit) many neighboring countries as well. But the plan is not yet defined,” he said.

The pope’s response echoed similar sentiments when asked the same question by journalists gathered outside the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo Nov. 18, noting that “next year we’ll start planning bit by bit.”

While several possible destinations were mentioned – including the Marian sites of Fatima and Guadalupe – the pope acknowledged that although he would be happy to travel, “the problem is scheduling with all the commitments” already in place.

Unlike his predecessor, Pope Francis, who, before his election, was considered more of a “homebody” and rarely traveled unless for official church business or an event, then-Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost could be described as a seasoned traveler.

In his role as a missionary and prior general of the Augustinian order, the future pope traveled extensively, particularly in Africa and Asia.

Drawing on his history, his words about future trips, and a healthy dose of speculation, it’s possible to get a sense of where Pope Leo intends to visit in 2026.

The ‘papal debt’

The opening of the Holy Doors in December 2024 marked the start of an intense period with major events for various groups each month.

While he was in frail health, Pope Francis dying just a day after delivering his “urbi et orbi” blessing on Easter Sunday, April 20, came as a shock to everyone.

After his election, Pope Leo hit the ground running; not only did he have to dedicate time to learning the ins and outs of the labyrinth that is the Roman Curia, but he also inherited an intense schedule of events and meetings that expected the presence of the Roman pontiff.

Among these “papal debts,” outside of the arduous Jubilee events, was his trip to Turkey to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea. Pope Francis had accepted an invitation by Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I to make a joint pilgrimage to mark the occasion.

The added stop to Lebanon was the fulfillment of Pope Francis’ long-held desire to visit the country, which has faced political and economic instability, and most recently, military strikes from Israel in its campaign to strike at Hamas and its allies.

But beyond Turkey and Lebanon, Pope Leo mentioned to journalists two other countries that would fall under the “papal debts” category: Argentina and Uruguay.

In 2021, as COVID-19 restrictions slowly lifted, Pope Francis met with Guzman Carriquiry, who, before being named Uruguay’s ambassador to the Holy See, had served in various offices since the pontificate of St. Paul VI.

During that meeting to present his credentials, Carriquiry said Pope Francis confirmed that a visit to Uruguay and Argentina was still on track.

“In no way is it out of the question!” the late pope said, according to Carriquiry. “I have the desire and the intention to travel to Rio de la Plata — to Uruguay, and to my country.”

A visit to both countries, especially Argentina, by Pope Leo would certainly satisfy that debt. Pope Francis, much to the dismay of his compatriots, never had the chance to visit his homeland as pope, unlike his predecessors, who did so within the first year of their pontificates.

Two homes, one possible homecoming

Though born in Chicago, Pope Leo has made no secret of the fact that a different “Chi-town” holds a special place in his heart, after greeting his “beloved Diocese of Chiclayo” in his first address after his election.

That affection is definitely reciprocated in Chiclayo, where he served as bishop from 2015 to 2023, and in Peru, which considers the pope as one of its own.

When asked at Castel Gandolfo about visiting Latin America in 2026, Pope Leo said that while Uruguay and Argentina were pending, he would like to “go to Peru, of course.”

While both sides desire a visit, Peru’s ongoing political instability and the upcoming April elections make a visit unlikely, at least in the first half of 2026.

It is standard procedure for Roman pontiffs to avoid papal visits to countries during election periods or where their presence might be used for political advantage.

Aboard the papal flight, the pope said the Vatican was “looking into” whether a possible trip to Peru and neighboring countries would happen in 2026 or 2027.

And while the next U.S. presidential election won’t be held until 2028, it doesn’t seem likely that a visit to his homeland will happen in the immediate future, given the growing divide between the Trump administration and Pope Leo over his criticism of U.S. policies targeting migrants.

Possible return to familiar territory

Aside from fulfilling commitments made by his predecessor, what can be gleaned from the pope’s words is that his first visits will be to places with which he has had personal connections, with Africa at the top of the list.

Both in his capacity as prior general of the Augustinian order and as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, the pope had visited Tanzania, Kenya, Congo, and especially Nigeria, which he visited nine times.

A 10th visit to Nigeria, this time as pope, would give a much-needed shot in the arm for Christians, who have increasingly become targeted for attacks and kidnappings in the country.

Algeria could be another stop, and Pope Leo made clear aboard the flight from Lebanon that his purpose in visiting the country would be to foster dialogue between Christians and Muslims.

“It is interesting: the figure of St. Augustine helps greatly as a bridge because, in Algeria, he is highly respected as a native son,” he said.

Whether it’s due to a personal connection or a significant event, for Pope Leo, what ultimately determines his future travel plans is where he can best fulfill his duty as pontiff.

In his interview with Crux’s Vatican correspondent Elise Ann Allen, the pope said he was called “to confirm others in their faith because that is the fundamental role of the successor of Peter.”

“I don’t see my main role as trying to be the problem-solver of the world,” he said. “My role is to announce the Good News, to preach the Gospel.”

(OSV News) — The following is the full text of the “urbi et orbi” blessing given by Pope Leo XIV on Christmas Dec. 25, 2025.

Dear brothers and sisters,

“Let us all rejoice in the Lord, for our Savior has been born in the world. Today, true peace has come down to us from heaven” (Entrance Antiphon, Christmas Mass during the Night). Thus sings the liturgy on Christmas night, and the announcement of Bethlehem resounds in the Church: the Child born of the Virgin Mary is Christ the Lord, sent by the Father to save us from sin and death. Indeed, he is our peace; he has conquered hatred and enmity through God’s merciful love. For this reason, “the Lord’s birth is the birth of peace” (Saint Leo the Great, Sermon 26).

Jesus was born in a stable because there was no room for him in the inn. As soon as he was born, his mother Mary “wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger” (cf. Lk 2:7). The Son of God, through whom all things were created, was not welcomed, and a poor manger for animals was his crib.

The eternal Word of the Father whom the heavens cannot contain chose to come into the world in this way. Out of love, he wanted to be born of a woman and so share our humanity; out of love, he accepted poverty and rejection, identifying himself with those who are discarded and excluded.

Already in the birth of Jesus, we glimpse the fundamental decision that would guide the entire life of the Son of God, even to his death on the cross: the decision not to leave us under the burden of sin, but to bear it himself for us, to take it upon himself. He alone could do so. At the same time, however, he showed us what we alone can do, which is to take on our own share of responsibility. Indeed, God, who created us without us, will not save us without us (cf. Saint Augustine, Sermon 169, 11, 13), that is, without our free will to love. Those who do not love are not saved; they are lost. And those who do not love their brother or sister whom they see, cannot love God whom they do not see (cf. 1 Jn 4:20).

Sisters and brothers, responsibility is the sure way to peace. If all of us, at every level, would stop accusing others and instead acknowledge our own faults, asking God for forgiveness, and if we would truly enter into the suffering of others and stand in solidarity with the weak and the oppressed, then the world would change.

Jesus Christ is our peace first of all because he frees us from sin, and also because he shows us the way to overcome conflicts — all conflicts, whether interpersonal or international. Without a heart freed from sin, a heart that has been forgiven, we cannot be men and women of peace or builders of peace. This is why Jesus was born in Bethlehem and died on the cross: to free us from sin. He is the Savior. With his grace, we can and must each do our part to reject hatred, violence and opposition, and to practice dialogue, peace and reconciliation.

On this day of celebration, I wish to send a warm and fatherly greeting to all Christians, especially those living in the Middle East, whom I recently visited on my first Apostolic Journey. I listened to them as they expressed their fears and know well their sense of powerlessness before the power dynamics that overwhelm them. The Child born today in Bethlehem is the same Jesus who says: “In me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33).

From God let us ask for justice, peace and stability for Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Syria, trusting in these divine words: “The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever” (Is 32:17).

Let us entrust the entire European continent to the Prince of Peace, asking him to continue to inspire a spirit of community and cooperation, in fidelity to its Christian roots and history, and in solidarity with – and acceptance of – those in need. Let us pray in a particular way for the tormented people of Ukraine: may the clamor of weapons cease, and may the parties involved, with the support and commitment of the international community, find the courage to engage in sincere, direct and respectful dialogue.

From the Child of Bethlehem, we implore peace and consolation for the victims of all current wars in the world, especially those that are forgotten, and for those who suffer due to injustice, political instability, religious persecution and terrorism. I remember in a special way our brothers and sisters in Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In these final days of the Jubilee of Hope, let us pray to God made man for the beloved people of Haiti, that all forms of violence in the country will cease and that progress will be made on the path of peace and reconciliation.

May the Child Jesus inspire those in Latin America who hold political responsibilities, so that, in facing the numerous challenges, space may be given to dialogue for the common good, rather than to ideological and partisan prejudices.

Let us ask the Prince of Peace to illuminate Myanmar with the light of a future of reconciliation, restoring hope to the younger generations, guiding its entire people along paths of peace, and accompanying those who live without shelter, security or confidence in tomorrow.

We ask the Lord that the ancient friendship between Thailand and Cambodia be restored, and that the parties involved will continue to work towards reconciliation and peace.

We also entrust to God the peoples of South Asia and Oceania, who have been severely tested by recent, devastating natural disasters that have struck entire communities. In the face of such trials, I invite everyone to renew, with heartfelt conviction, our shared commitment to assisting those who suffer.

Dear brothers and sisters, in the darkness of the night, “the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world” (Jn 1:9), but “his own people did not accept him” (Jn 1:11). Let us not allow ourselves to be overcome by indifference towards those who suffer, for God is not indifferent to our distress.

In becoming man, Jesus took upon himself our fragility, identifying with each one of us: with those who have nothing left and have lost everything, like the inhabitants of Gaza; with those who are prey to hunger and poverty, like the Yemeni people; with those who are fleeing their homeland to seek a future elsewhere, like the many refugees and migrants who cross the Mediterranean or traverse the American continent; with those who have lost their jobs and those who are looking for work, like so many young people who struggle to find employment; with those who are exploited, like many underpaid workers; with those in prison, who often live in inhumane conditions.

The invocation of peace that rises from every land reaches God’s heart, as one poet wrote:

“Not the peace of a cease-fire,
not even the vision of the wolf and the lamb,
but rather
as in the heart when the excitement is over
and you can talk only about a great weariness…

Let it come
like wildflowers,
suddenly, because the field
must have it: wildpeace.” 

On this holy day, let us open our hearts to our brothers and sisters who are in need or in pain. In doing so, we open our hearts to the Child Jesus, who welcomes us with open arms and reveals his divinity to us: “But to all who received him… he gave power to become children of God” (Jn 1:12).

In a few days’ time, the Jubilee Year will come to an end. The Holy Doors will close, but Christ our hope remains with us always! He is the Door that is always open, leading us into divine life. This is the joyful proclamation of this day: the Child who was born is God made man; he comes not to condemn but to save; his is not a fleeting appearance, for he comes to stay and to give himself. In him, every wound is healed and every heart finds rest and peace. “The Lord’s birth is the birth of peace.”

To all of you, I offer heartfelt good wishes for a peaceful and holy Christmas!

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Jesus entering the world as a little baby in need of everything is a sign of God’s solidarity with every person in need, longing for love and a helping hand, Pope Leo XIV said at Christmas morning Mass.

“The Word has pitched his fragile tent among us. How, then, can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold; and of those of so many other refugees and displaced persons on every continent; or of the makeshift shelters of thousands of homeless people in our own cities?” he asked in his homily at the Mass Dec. 25 in St. Peter’s Basilica.

In celebrating the morning liturgy publicly, Pope Leo restored a tradition that had lapsed for 30 years. St. John Paul II did not preside over the liturgy in 1995 because he had the flu, and the morning Mass never returned to the papal calendar.

Like his predecessors, Pope Leo went to the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at noon to give his solemn blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and world). And, returning to a tradition set aside by Pope Francis, who claimed he was bad at languages, Pope Leo wished people a merry Christmas in 10 languages: Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Arabic, Chinese and Latin.

“Merry Christmas! May the peace of Christ reign in your hearts and in your families,” he said.

In his homily and in his Christmas message before the “urbi et orbi” blessing, Pope Leo insisted that the Christian mission of sharing the good news of salvation in Christ means being serious about what is going on in the world and working to alleviate suffering, promote dialogue and end wars and violence.

Taking on the fragile flesh of a baby, God wanted to identify with every human person, he said in the morning homily.

“Fragile is the flesh of defenseless populations, tried by so many wars, ongoing or concluded, leaving behind rubble and open wounds,” he said. “Fragile are the minds and lives of young people forced to take up arms, who on the front lines feel the senselessness of what is asked of them and the falsehoods that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths.”

“When the fragility of others penetrates our hearts, when their pain shatters our rigid certainties, then peace has already begun,” the pope insisted.

The response of Christians to suffering and violence must be firm but tender, he said.

“We do not serve a domineering Word — too many of those already resound everywhere,” the pope said, but rather Christians profess and serve a Lord who “inspires goodness, knows its efficacy and does not claim a monopoly over it.”

The peace proclaimed by Jesus, he said, will take root “when our monologues are interrupted and, enriched by listening, we fall to our knees before the humanity of the other.”

Pope Leo continued his reflection in his “urbi et orbi” message, telling the crowd gathered in the rain in St. Peter’s Square that Jesus, “out of love,” wanted “to be born of a woman and so share our humanity; out of love, he accepted poverty and rejection, identifying himself with those who are discarded and excluded.”

As is customary, the pope used his message to call attention to urgent needs and suffering in places around the globe and to urge people to help relieve that suffering.

“Those who do not love are not saved; they are lost,” he said. “And those who do not love their brother or sister whom they see, cannot love God whom they do not see,” as the First Letter of John says.

“If all of us, at every level, would stop accusing others and instead acknowledge our own faults, asking God for forgiveness, and if we would truly enter into the suffering of others and stand in solidarity with the weak and the oppressed, then the world would change,” Pope Leo said.

Looking around the world, the pope prayed for peace and justice in dozens of countries, including Ukraine, and, as he did the night before and during the Christmas morning Mass, Pope Leo also called attention to the plight of migrants and refugees, asking governments to accept and assist them.

“In becoming man,” he said, “Jesus took upon himself our fragility, identifying with each one of us: with those who have nothing left and have lost everything, like the inhabitants of Gaza; with those who are prey to hunger and poverty, like the Yemeni people; with those who are fleeing their homeland to seek a future elsewhere, like the many refugees and migrants who cross the Mediterranean or traverse the American continent.”

“On this holy day, let us open our hearts to our brothers and sisters who are in need or in pain,” Pope Leo said. “In doing so, we open our hearts to the Child Jesus, who welcomes us with open arms and reveals his divinity to us.”

Octavia Thuss and her son Henry Thuss from La Cañada, California, were among the 26,000 people in St. Peter’s Square for the pope’s blessing. They also had been in the square late the night before, watching the pope’s Christmas Mass on a screen in the rain.

Since it was Pope Leo’s first Christmas as pope, “It was historic,” she said. “It was a really beautiful service.”

Spending the Christmas holiday in Rome during the final days of the Jubilee Year added to the experience, since they were among some of the last pilgrims to pass through the Holy Doors at the city’s major basilicas.

“It’s kind of a no brainer,” Henry said, adding that he felt being at the Vatican during Christmas in a Jubilee Year was akin to Muslims making a pilgrimage to Mecca.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – If people refuse to make room for others – like the poor, children and the stranger – then they also refuse to make room for God, Pope Leo XIV said as he celebrated the birth of Jesus.

“Where there is room for the human person, there is room for God,” the pope said in his homily Dec. 24 as he celebrated the nighttime liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica.

“While a distorted economy leads us to treat human beings as mere merchandise, God becomes like us, revealing the infinite dignity of every person,” he said. “While humanity seeks to become ‘god’ in order to dominate others, God chooses to become man in order to free us from every form of slavery.”

The Christmas hymn, “Noel,” was sung during the procession, and the Mass began with the Christmas proclamation, or “kalenda,” of Jesus’ birth. The pope lifted a cloth to reveal a statue of baby Jesus, which he then kissed and blessed with incense.

As the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica rang loudly, announcing the birth of Christ, several children representing different cultures placed white flowers around the crib of baby Jesus.

Before the Mass, Pope Leo appeared outside the basilica to greet some 5,000 people gathered in the square under the cold, pouring rain. The basilica was near capacity, and large screens set up in the square allowed the overflow crowd to follow the liturgy.

“Good evening and welcome!” the pope said to the crowd outside.

“The basilica of St. Peter’s is very large, but unfortunately, it is not large enough to receive all of you. I admire and respect and thank you for your courage and your wanting to be here this evening,” he said in English.

“Jesus Christ, who was born for us, brings us peace, brings us God’s love,” he said before heading back to the basilica for the Mass. More than 6,000 people were in the basilica, and guards were reportedly letting additional people in from the rain during the service.

In his homily, the pope reflected on how, for millennia, people looked to the heavens for guidance and a truth that was missing below on earth.

With the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the One who redeems humanity is born, the pope said. “To find the Savior, one must not gaze upward, but look below.”

“The omnipotence of God shines forth in the powerlessness of a newborn,” he said. “The divine light radiating from this Child helps us to recognize humanity in every new life.”

“To heal our blindness, the Lord chooses to reveal himself in each human being,” Pope Leo said. “As long as the night of error obscures this providential truth, then ‘there is no room for others either, for children, for the poor, for the stranger,'” he said, quoting from Pope Benedict XVI’s homily on Christmas Eve in 2012.

His predecessor’s words “remain a timely reminder that on earth, there is no room for God if there is no room for the human person. To refuse one is to refuse the other,” he said.

“The wisdom of Christmas,” he said, is that God gives the world a new life — his own, offered for all — in the Child Jesus. “He does not give us a clever solution to every problem, but a love story that draws us in.”

“Will this love be enough to change our history?” he asked. “The answer will come as soon as we wake up from a deadly night into the light of new life, and, like the shepherds, contemplate the Child Jesus.”

God sends a child to be “a word of hope,” he said, recalling how exactly one year ago, Pope Francis began the Holy Year dedicated to hope on Christmas Eve. The year will run through Jan. 6, 2026.

“Now, as the Jubilee draws to a close, Christmas becomes for us a time of gratitude” for the gift received and mission to bear witness to it before the world, he said.

“Let us therefore announce the joy of Christmas, which is a feast of faith, charity and hope,” he said, and become “messengers of peace. With these virtues in our hearts, unafraid of the night, we can go forth to meet the dawn of a new day.”

After the Mass, Pope Leo carried the figurine of the baby Jesus to the Nativity scene at the back of the basilica. Flanked by children on either side, the pope went to the crèche, and the Jesus figurine was placed in the manger. The pope blessed the crowd as he left the basilica.

(OSV News) – People have a deep desire to return to their lives despite the dire and complex situation in Gaza following two years of war, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, said at an annual Christmas press conference on Dec. 22.

Straying from tradition, the patriarch did not read from a prepared statement but said he would rather “have a dialogue” with the journalists. Cardinal Pizzaballa had just returned from a weekend Christmas visit to the Holy Family Parish compound in Gaza together with the general vicar of the Archdiocese of Jerusalem, Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali, where they celebrated Mass with the parishioners Dec. 21.

The patriarch and his small delegation also toured the neighboring area including tents of displaced families along the seafront, the Al-Ahli (Baptist) Hospital, a medical clinic affiliated with the Union of Churches, the Caritas Gaza Office, a Catholic Relief Services aid distribution point and Al-Azhar University. They also visited St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church, meeting with the parish priest as a sign of Christian unity.

“There is stress about returning to life after two years of war. The conflict is still there. All the problems are still there, of course,” he said. After having lived in survival mode for two years, members of the tiny Christian community – now numbering only some 500 people – are beginning to ask questions about the future, he said.

“What we felt is the desire to return to life. So they want to talk about the future, our community. They wanted to celebrate Christmas joyfully. And of course, at the same time also all the questions they put aside in these two years now are coming out. What about us? What about the future? What about children? Now all the questions, also maybe the tiredness, of these two years are coming out,” he said. “And the questions about the future are there and very concrete.”

While some members of the remaining Christian community are beginning to think of emigrating, they are still waiting to see how the situation unfolds, he said, noting that life is not always necessarily easier for immigrants in other countries. Nevertheless, he said, he did fear the number of Christians who remain in Gaza would be much fewer than there have been.

As always, he said, he learned from the community how they are able to be “joyful despite everything,” especially the children.

Following a tenuous ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, which has laid out a complicated roadmap of sorts for disarming Hamas and rebuilding the Gaza Strip, it is time to “look forward and not remain focused on the negative consequences of the war,” said Cardinal Pizzaballa.

Both sides accuse each other of breaking the fragile ceasefire, with Israel still waiting for the return of the body of Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage remaining in Gaza. For its part Hamas, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, says almost 400 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the truce began.

In response to a journalist’s question, the patriarch said he hopes the “Trump plan will continue.”

“We know that it’s not … that simple as people think, but it’s the only roadmap we have, so we have to continue with this,” he said. The patriarch acknowledged that there would be a lot of “difficulties” and “misunderstandings” regarding the disarmament of Hamas, one of Israel’s conditions for the ceasefire.

“I think the Arab countries and those who are in relations with Hamas should work a lot in order to convince them about this. We are convinced that Gaza needs to turn the page and to have a completely different future.”

Noting that the church does not enter directly into political questions, he emphasized its opposition to the use of violence.

“We saw the result it brought and we are against all of this concerning the future,” he said.

Cardinal Pizzaballa and Bishop Shomali described a landscape of destruction with buildings left in rubble, mountains of garbage, people living in tents and many children in the streets because of a lack of open educational frameworks. Hospitals face a critical shortage of medical supplies — especially antibiotics — and properly sterilized instruments in hospitals leading to preventable deaths, they said.

At the same time some shops and restaurants are reopening – though sometimes with nothing to offer – and universities are attempting to resume classes under precarious conditions, Cardinal Pizzaballa said.

While there is no longer famine in Gaza, and food is available — many people are not working and have no cash. United Nations organizations, CRS and the Latin Patriarchate among others have been providing assistance for the needy, said Cardinal Pizzaballa. Providing needed medicines, equipment and antibiotics will also be a priority, he said.

“Things are changing every day so it’s very difficult to foresee what is necessary to do, because once you decide one thing, in a week, things can change again,” he said. “We have to be very ready to see what is necessary and to be proactive. Our role as the church also is to facilitate, to create this network with other organizations in order to be there and to support as much as possible.”

He said from a human perspective it would be difficult to speak about hope at the moment, but Christmas is the celebration of the meaning of hope.

“Jesus … didn’t wait for the history to be perfect and the human situation to be favorable. He entered history as it was. This is also a lesson for us,” said Cardinal Pizzaballa. “But in this reality we cannot limit ourselves just to denounce, accuse and blame, but also (we must) be committed to rebuilding, becoming those who want to … rebuild from the human devastation.”

(OSV News) – Catholics in northwestern Nigeria are celebrating just days before Christmas, as the last group of students kidnapped from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri has been freed.

Church officials confirmed that the remaining 130 students were released on Dec. 21, ending a monthlong ordeal that began when more than 300 pupils were abducted from the diocesan school in Niger State. The school is owned by the Diocese of Kontagora and run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles.

“We thank God for the release of the remaining abducted children and staff of St. Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri. Thank you for your prayers, encouragement and efforts. May God grant lasting peace and security to our country and to the world at large,” said the sisters Nigeria, in a post on Facebook.

It is not clear who kidnapped the children from the Catholic school or if any ransom was paid to secure their release.

On Dec. 21, Father Jatau Luka Joseph, secretary of the diocese, confirmed the release, while thanking all those who contributed to the safe return of the victims, including the government of Nigeria, the Niger state government and security services.

“We also extend our sincere appreciation to the parents, guardians, clergy, religious communities, humanitarian organizations and the wider public for their prayers, support and solidarity throughout this challenging period,” said the priest in a statement.

“The Catholic diocese of Kontagora remains committed to the protection, welfare and safety of all pupils, students and staff and will continue to collaborate with all relevant authorities to ensure a secure and conducive learning environment.”

Nigeria’s federal government welcomed the release of the children, saying it marked a fitting end to the year and that not a single pupil was left in captivity.

“The federal government empathizes with the parents and guardians of the pupils for the agony the abduction has caused them, wishes them a pleasant family reunion, a good healing process, compliments of the season, and a Merry Christmas,” said Mohammed Idris, Nigeria’s minister for information and national orientation.

In his Christmas message on Dec. 20, Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna of Kontagora, who is also chairman of Niger state’s Christian Association of Nigeria, said this year’s Christmas served as a poignant reminder of shared hope.

“Just as the 2025 theme, ‘Heaven’s Greatest Gifts,’ the best gift the church can expect this year is to receive our children and the teachers still in captivity before Christmas Day,” said Bishop Yohanna. “At these times of trial, where most parents can no longer sleep or eat, let us extend our love by continuing in prayers, because it is over four weeks now that the incident occurred,” he said just two days before all children were released.

His diocese is part of the Kaduna ecclesiastical province, a region which has recently become the epicenter of ethnic, religious and political violence. In the state by the same name, gangs kidnap and kill for ransom, rivaling Borno state, the homeland of the infamous Boko Haram terrorist group.

On Dec. 14, captors had released the first big group — 100 — of the students, including 14 secondary school students, one staff member, 80 primary school pupils and five nursery school children. At least 50 of the children had escaped from the captors in November, right after the kidnapping.

(OSV News) – The holidays are here, and the Savior comes – but for many, it will still be a blue Christmas, and possibly new year, too.

Why? They’ll be lonely.

In 2023, former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared loneliness in America an epidemic – and issued an 82-page report warning of its dangers to “individual and population health, community safety, resilience and prosperity.”

The report – “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation” – advised readers loneliness is “far more than just a bad feeling”; indeed, it warned “the mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.”

Failure to address loneliness, Murthy added, will come at a price: “We will continue to splinter and divide until we can no longer stand as a community or a country.”

Which raises at least two questions: What can the Catholic Church do about it? And how can lonely people connect at Christmas?

“Loneliness is not just an issue of the church. Loneliness is a cultural thing,” Marcel LeJeune – president and founder of Catholic Missionary Disciples in College Station, Texas – told OSV News. “And there’s no one reason that people are lonely; it can come from a multitude of issues or reasons. We see it in people that don’t have good relationships – that could be, they don’t have good friendships; their marriages are struggling; they can’t find community.”

It’s part of LeJeune’s job to build that community — to, as the name of his ministry implies, help churches forge disciples. But the state of societal trust poses a challenge.

“What’s happened in our world – especially in the United States – we’ve seen the breakdown of community institutions. So there’s just little trust put into the church right now,” he explained. “People don’t see the parish as a place where they can find meaningful relationships. And that’s an unfortunate reality. Can you still find meaningful relationships in a parish? Absolutely — but you’ve got to work at it.”

The reason for that, LeJeune said, is “our institutions aren’t set up, for the most part, to address the issue of loneliness. What we’re set up to do is to gather people for the sacraments, for events and for programs. There’s nothing that’s wrong with that — in fact, flowing out of that, you might find friendship; connection; relationships. But the issue is,” he added, “that unless we intentionally try to help make that happen, it probably won’t happen in those places.”

LeJeune is not, however, discouraged.

“I do believe that the loneliness people feel in this culture … is also the greatest opportunity for the church in the 21st century,” he shared. “Because if we address the loneliness people feel – and we offer an antidote through community and relationships that are meaningful – then guess what happens? You’ve earned that trust that’s necessary to build a relationship wherein evangelization and discipleship can take place.”

And the template for that?

“We’ve got to go beyond just the norm of the average parish, which is stuck in the status quo,” LeJeune emphasized. “If we go back to what the grassroots methodology of Jesus was, he didn’t run programs. He had very few events, and he didn’t teach a class — even though he taught. So, what did he do?” asked LeJeune. “He gathered people together, and did meaningful things. They would eat together. They would travel together. They would pray together, and they would have conversations about things that mattered.”

In 2024, the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s “Making Caring Common” project released a four-year investigation of the underlying causes of loneliness.

“Loneliness in America: Just the Tip of the Iceberg” found people between 30 and 44 years old were the loneliest, with 29% saying they were “frequently” or “always” lonely. For 18- to 29-year-olds, the rate was 24%; 45- to 64-year-olds, 20%; 65-plus, 10%.

Men and women experienced similar rates of loneliness, and neither race or ethnicity appeared to have a role (although those with more than one racial identity had levels of loneliness at 42%). Income was a factor — Americans earning less than $30,000 were the loneliest — but not education. Busy and tired people (62%) also obviously have less time with family (66%).

Kevin Vost – a Catholic psychologist and author of “The Catholic Guide to Loneliness: How Science and Faith Can Help Us Understand It, Grow from It, and Conquer It” (Sophia Institute Press) – died unexpectedly in 2023. But when his book was published in 2017, Vost was already alerting readers “the prevalence of loneliness seems to be escalating at an alarming rate in our time.”

On the Dec. 19, 2017, broadcast of “Divine Intimacy Radio” — a show heard on EWTN Catholic Radio Network — Vost explained, “People who are lonely for a long time become more like people with depression. And there’s quite an overlap, and they can become very negative. They tend to remember just negative personal experiences or losses in the past. They might be hesitant to reach out to others, or they might fear rejection.”

He added that psychologists try to turn that thinking around.

“The psychological techniques — the most effective found in studies — are the ones that focus on that perception, the way we think about the situation, because they found most adults already do have social skills,” noted Vost. “It’s just this distorted thinking that’s preventing them to reach out. So one of the most important components in dealing with a person who is distressed by a loneliness is to try to train them to think more realistically and rationally about their situation.”

Regina Boyd – founder of Heartspace Therapy Center in Lake Mary, Florida, a licensed mental health counselor, and author of “Leaving Loneliness Behind: 5 Keys to Experiencing God’s Love and Building Healthy Connections with Others” (Ave Maria Press) – told OSV News while everyone seems digitally connected at all times, it’s a different kind of bonding than in-person communication.

“Even though we have this ability to connect online and develop relationships — which is a beautiful gift of convenience — I think it also shortens experiences in a lot of ways,” Boyd suggested.

“One person that I spoke to recently made an observation about birthdays — they get less phone calls on their birthdays because it’s so much easier to just send a text. Whereas maybe 30 years ago, they were on the phone throughout the day receiving phone calls from people. In a way, we’re connected — but also disconnected.”

The 2024 Harvard Graduate School of Education study also reported 73% of those surveyed selected technology as contributing to loneliness.

And as to the melancholy so many experience at this time of the year, Boyd thinks she knows why.

“The holidays sort of amplify whatever we might be experiencing or going through. So if we’re feeling joyful, it feels brighter during the holidays, but also if we’re feeling lonely, it feels heavier,” she observed. “And we have the experience of social comparisons. We see all of these beautiful images on social media, talking about togetherness and happiness.”

Changed routines, Boyd added, also allow for reflection.

“Emotional needs are coming to the surface — when maybe in our typical routines, we can put those emotions aside, and push past them. And when there’s loss — missed family members; people who are no longer present — the holidays provide that opportunity for grief, and reminders of those relationships that have changed.”

Her recommendation?

“It comes down to intentionality,” advised Boyd. “Rather than us waiting for a magical moment to happen, we need to take some more control back, and make moments happen for ourselves. And so maybe we have some intentional activities planned each week, once a week — taking a walk with a friend; going to that local Bible study; going to the holiday gathering you might have typically skipped. Or creating smaller, more seemingly meaningless connections — that brief conversation with your co-worker; with the employee across the counter; with your neighbor — just taking extra time to have those brief moments of connection.”

And set realistic expectations for yourself, said Boyd.

“We put so much pressure on ourselves – and it’s OK to not have the picture perfect holiday to feel connected.”