Pope Francis today named Cardinal Robert McElroy as the archbishop of Washington, tapping one of his most like-minded allies to head the Catholic Church in the U.S. capital at the start of Donald Trump’s second administration.

In a groundbreaking decision, Pope Francis has appointed the Italian missionary nun, Simona Brambilla, M.C., as prefect of the Dicastery for Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Pope Francis has appointed San Diego’s Cardinal Robert W. McElroy—seen in Rome as one of the intellectual heavyweights in the U.S. hierarchy—as the new archbishop of Washington D.C.

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans offered prayers for victims of what he described as a “sign of utter disrespect for human life” perpetrated by a man who drove a pickup truck through crowds celebrating the New Year.

In this episode of Inside the Vatican, Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell discuss the 2025 Jubilee Year, beginning on Christmas Eve 2024 and ending in January 2026.

Pope Francis prayed that the Jubilee Year may become “a season of hope” and reconciliation in a world at war and suffering humanitarian crises as he opened the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve.