I have a confession to make: I have not been to confession yet this Advent. Every year, I bug people to go sometime during the season, and I think most of my family has been. But I have not yet gone myself.

Where a lot of Catholic Christmas hymns lean into the more fantastical elements—angels, stars, kings—“In the Bleak Midwinter” points us instead to the ordinary.

The Jesuits asked for new evidence against the Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik, and offered a timeline about his case in an effort to tamp down the scandal.

Pope Francis said he wrote a resignation letter in 2013, his first year in office, to be used in case he became physically or mentally impaired and unable to fulfill the duties of the papacy.

A Reflection for Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent, by Molly Cahill

Frank Pavone, the head of Priests for Life, has been laicized by the Vatican for his social media posts and disobedience to his bishop.

The great Jesuit missionary to China, Matteo Ricci, was declared "Venerable" by Pope Francis today, the first step on the path to canonization.

A Reflection for Saturday of the Third Week of Advent, by Sebastian Gomes

A Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, by Jim McDermott, S.J.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center: “Seven of the 20 execution attempts were visibly problematic—an astonishing 37 percent—as a result of executioner incompetence, failures to follow protocols, or defects in the protocols themselves.”