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The pastor of Greenland’s sole Catholic parish said that “most Greenlanders” do not wish to become part of the United States.

“People are worried, but they are also very clear: this is our land, our culture, our home,” Father Tomaž Majcen, OFM Conv, said in response to American interest in acquiring the island. The priest told OSV News that “we must stand for human dignity, for the rights of the Inuit people, and for dialogue instead of threats.”

Father Majcen invited the faithful to “pray for peace and respect for sovereignty, and to join us in caring for creation, especially our fragile Arctic environment, which is one of God’s most breathtaking but vulnerable masterpieces.”

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Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, sent a message in Pope Leo’s name to the chairman of the Three Kings Parade Foundation, which organizes Epiphany parades in Poland.

The Holy Father, said the prelate, has been “informed about the idea of the Three Kings Parade organized since 2009 on the Solemnity of the Epiphany in Poland and in many countries worldwide.” The Pope has united himself “spiritually with all those who, together with the Three Kings, bear witness to Christ on the streets of cities and villages.”

The Vatican yesterday released a video associated with the January papal prayer intention, prayer with the Word of God.

“Teach us to listen to you each day in the Scriptures, to let ourselves be challenged by your voice, and to discern our decisions from the closeness to your Heart,” Pope Leo prayed in the video. “May your Word be nourishment in weariness, hope in darkness, and strength in our communities.”

“Lord, may your Word never be absent from our lips or from our hearts—the Word that makes us sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, disciples and missionaries of your Kingdom,” the Pope added.

The video was the first in the new “Pray with the Pope” campaign and is longer (four minutes) and more meditative than the videos previously associated with the monthly prayer intentions. In this video, the Pope is filmed praying in the Church of San Pellegrino in Vaticano.

A prelate in Cameroon emphasized that bishops “are not politicians,” but “speak as shepherds and prophets.”

“No bishop will tell you who to vote for,” said Bishop Agapitus Nfon of Kumba. “During election periods, we provide criteria and guidance to help people choose the right leader.”

“We call attention to consciences so that citizens can make the right choice,” he added. “Therefore, we cannot afford to be partisan, because as shepherds, we have faithful who belong to different political parties. We are here to guide them all.”

The central African nation of 32 million (map) is 58% Christian (28% Catholic), 22% Muslim, and 19% ethnic religionist. The nation’s president, Paul Biya, is 92 and the oldest head of state in the world.

At a press conference yesterday (video), Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, and Father Cristóbal Fones, SJ, international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, announced the Pray with the Pope campaign.

“This campaign builds on a fruitful initiative launched by Pope Francis ten years ago, known as ‘The Pope Video,’” said Father Fones. “The campaign we are presenting today moves us more decisively towards silence” and “more centered on supporting a spiritual experience, which often becomes difficult in the midst of our daily lives, so hectic and full of noise.”

Father Fones said that “this campaign can be followed on our landing page popesprayer.va in several languages, and can also be heard in audio format on Vatican Radio and on platforms associated with Pray with the Pope: Pray as You Go, RezandoVoy and Hallow.”

Over 26,000 college students and 58 bishops took part in SEEK 2026, three conferences that took place simultaneously from January 1-5 in Ohio, Colorado, and Texas. The conferences were organized by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), an apostolate founded in 1998.

“When the image of the Pope appeared on the screen, there was an overwhelming surge of enthusiasm,” Bishop Earl Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio, said of the papal video message to SEEK 2026. “Many SEEK organizers and members of FOCUS later told me that the Pope summarized the meaning of SEEK better than they themselves could have.”

“He planted a seed in the hearts of many young people, helping them reflect on their own vocation and respond to the question, ‘What are you seeking?’—the question Jesus asks Andrew and the beloved disciple,” Bishop Fernandes added.