Guests at the Buen Samaritano shelter for migrants participate in a candle lighting ceremony in anticipation of Christmas in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, across from El Paso, Texas, Dec. 22, 2022. (AP/Morgan Lee)

Christmas is a child born in transit

Opinion

Jesus does not merely resemble today's migrants and displaced people; Jesus is with them. From his very first day, the life of the incarnate God is bound to those who have nowhere to stay.

The Latest

2025's films cast rescue as spiritual labor and ethical imperative

Jose Solís

Churches deliver Christmas to immigrants detained, deported and in hiding

Jack Jenkins, Aleja Hertzler-McCain, Religion News Service
Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV urges the faithful on Christmas to shed indifference in the face of suffering

Silvia Stellacci, Colleen Barry, The Associated Press

Editors' Choice

Pope Leo XIV, the former Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, waves after walking onto the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican May 8, following his election during the conclave. The first U.S.-born pope and the first Augustinian pope in history, Leo's first public words were "Peace be with you!" (OSV News/Vatican Media)

In Focus

Pope Leo XIV: NCR's Newsmaker of the Year, 2025

The pontiff offers something rare: a pastor-leader urging the church to reclaim the dignity of every person — not as an abstract idea, but as the core of its public witness.

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Pope Leo XIV waves after delivering the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for 'to the city and to the world' ) Christmas' day blessing from the main balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
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Pope Leo XIV urges the faithful on Christmas to shed indifference in the face of suffering

Pope Leo XIV during his first Christmas Day message urged the faithful to shed indifference in the face of those who have lost everything, such as in Gaza, those who are impoverished, such as in Yemen, and the many migrants who cross the Mediterranean Sea and the American continent for a better future.

Pope Leo XIV greets an estimated 5,000 people who could not get in to St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican for the Christmas Mass at Night Dec. 24, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

To turn away others is to turn away God, pope says on Christmas Eve

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Pope Leo XIV greets visitors and pilgrims from the popemobile before his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Oct. 1, 2025. (CNS/Pablo Esparza)

Pope thanks priests, encourages them to share responsibilities with laity

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Pope offers gentle critique of Vatican culture in Christmas greeting reminiscent of past

Pope Leo XIV urged Vatican cardinals on Monday to put their ambitions of power and personal interests aside, as he followed in Pope Francis' footsteps and used a Christmas greeting to gently criticize his closest collaborators.

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