Pope Francis says the Christmas season provides reason for hope amid the difficulties of the coronavirus pandemic. During his Sunday blessing, Francis noted that the Vatican’s Christmas tree had gone up last week in St. Peter’s Square, and that work is underway to build the life-size
Only a few dozen people attended the lighting of the Christmas tree in the biblical city of Bethlehem on Saturday (Dec. 5), as coronavirus restrictions scaled back the annual event that is normally attended by thousands.
The holidays, it appears, are here. And with them, the annual sleigh-dump of Christmas music, which this year arrives like an unsolicited fruitcake: unexpectedly heavy, disproportionately sweet, and near impossible to digest. Read full piece
Live Nativities, in which visitors drive — and sometimes, especially in warmer climes, walk — through a number of scenes retelling the biblical story of Jesus’s birth, have been popular around the U.S. for years. And it’s an idea whose time has come as the
To gather or not to gather has been the question at the forefront of the minds of today's religious leaders and their church members. During the 1918 influenza pandemic that ultimately killed 50 million to 100 million people, different answers to that same question resulted in
Almost all Americans celebrate Christmas, but most say COVID-19 will cause some changes to their usual holiday habits. A new study from Nashville-based LifeWay Research looks at how Americans plan to celebrate amid a pandemic.
2020 has been far from festive, but as the year comes to an end, many of Europe's governments are scrambling to avoid stringent lockdowns over the Christmas holidays. The push to save the celebration comes despite the fact that other religious festivals -- including Christian ones -- have
The coronavirus has cast a pall over Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem, all but shutting down the biblical town revered as Jesus’s birthplace at the height of the normally cheery holiday season.
Our consumer society’s dependence on instant gratification has infected our religious practice. Advent comes with a countervailing message: Expect God to show up in unexpected places, like a subway car, a Zoom call, or a stable.
The coronavirus has extinguished some traditional holiday cheer at the Illinois Capitol. There will be no Christmas tree nor any holiday displays inside or outside the building.