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.

At a time when so much pressure and so many demands are placed on priests, they should find support, freedom and relief in recognizing the gifts of laypeople and collaborating with them, Pope Leo XIV said.

The cardinals, bishops, priests, religious and laypeople who work in the Roman Curia are called to be a “sign of a new humanity,” founded on mutual love and solidarity, not selfishness and individualism, Pope Leo XIV said.

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Father James A. Misko, vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Diocese of Austin, Texas, as the bishop of Tucson, Arizona.

Pope Leo XIV asked children to pray in front of their Nativity scenes this Christmas and, especially, to pray “that all the world’s children may live in peace.”