Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond and 600 worshipers struggled to make sense of the death and carnage perpetrated by a man who drove a pickup truck into a dense crowd of early-morning New Year’s revelers just five blocks away on Bourbon Street.

Opening the Holy Door of the oldest Marian shrine in the Western world, Cardinal Rolando Makrickas prayed that the world would entrust itself to Mary, “the door to heaven.”

As a new year begins, it’s natural to look to the future with a sense of hope. But for Catholics, the Holy Year 2025 presents a unique opportunity to explore and cultivate hope — and to examine what makes it so difficult to hold onto.

As narrated by Rafiki (voice of John Kani), a wise mandrill, the story looks back to the youthful bond between two princely lions, Mufasa (voice of Aaron Pierre) and Taka (voice of Kelvin Harrison Jr.).

Italian Cardinal Angelo Amato, who served as secretary of the Vatican’s doctrinal office and then as head of the then-Congregation for Saints’ Causes, died in Rome Dec. 31 at the age of 86.