The Catholic Church should revise its celibacy requirement for Latin-rite priests, a senior official in the Vatican’s doctrinal office said.

In the Sistine Chapel, where popes are elected, Pope Francis baptized 16 infants, who, he said, “give us the witness of how to receive the faith: with innocence and with an open heart.”

Pope Francis called on the international community to ban surrogate pregnancy, calling it “deplorable” and a “grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs.”

Catholic Review Editor Christopher Gunty talked with Caroline Brennan, emergency communications director for Catholic Relief Services about the urgent crisis in the Holy Land, especially Gaza, as well as other regions affected by drought, famine and conflict that we don’t hear much about on the daily news.

It has been a year of ups and downs for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Catholic Review Editor Christopher Gunty talked with Archbishop William E. Lori about vocations, the Eucharistic Revival Project, the archdiocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, the environment and more for our year-end review, and a look ahead to 2024.