During Advent, traditional reflections remind us that our call to evangelize involves waiting and anticipation. As we move toward Christmas, we relive the long-expected coming of the Messiah by the Jewish people.

Despite an uptick in executions in the U.S. in 2025, opponents of the death penalty lauded decreases in new death sentences and waning public support for the practice during comments at a Dec. 3 press event announcing a new coalition called the U.S. Campaign to End the Death Penalty.

Pope Leo XIV’s childhood home just outside of Chicago has been declared a historic landmark.

“Train Dreams” presents the ordinary, little life of its protagonist as quiet, quick, easy to miss, and yet extraordinary. Based on a novella with the same name by Denis Johnson, “Train Dreams” follows Grainier (Joel Edgerton), a taciturn logger and railroad worker in the Pacific Northwest, as he experiences love and loss.

As Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians accompany U.S.-brokered peace talks that as of Dec. 3 produced no breakthrough, Ukraine’s religious leaders warn that failure to halt Russia and hold it accountable will expand the war to Europe.