Saint Joseph Catholic Church

Two-thirds of the 31 priests of the Diocese of Charlotte who are questioning the legitimacy of directives of Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv, are current pastors, according to the report. The diocese has 75 parishes, 107 priests in active ministry in the diocese, and 141 total diocesan priests, according to the 2025 edition of The Official Catholic Directory.

In a pastoral letter released last month, Bishop Martin called for the routine distribution of Holy Communion by extraordinary ministers and banned the use of “altar rails, kneelers, and prie-dieus” during the distribution of Holy Communion.

The prelate also wrote that the distribution of Holy Communion by intinction “should not be considered an option in the Diocese of Charlotte,” even though a 2004 Vatican document forbids bishops from restricting intinction (n. 103).

“The cardinals especially assist the supreme pastor of the Church through collegial action in consistories in which they are gathered by order of the Roman Pontiff who presides,” the Code of Canon Law explains. “For an extraordinary consistory, which is celebrated when particular needs of the Church or the treatment of more grave affairs suggests it, all the cardinals are called together” (Canon 353).

The topics on the agenda include

• Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), Pope Francis’s 2013 apostolic exhortation on the proclamation of the Gospel in today’s world
• Praedicate Evangelium (Preach the Gospel), Pope Francis’s 2022 apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia, and the role of the Curia and its relationship with the particular Churches (dioceses)
• synodality
• the liturgy

The historic church, consecrated in 1909, was closed by the Soviet Union in 1938. The church will remain state property, even as it is used by the faithful of the Latin-rite Diocese of Kyiv-Zhytomyr.

“St. Nicholas Church is a cultural heritage site of national importance,” said Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko. “It survived a fire during the Second World War, the difficult decades of the Soviet period, and withstood Russian missile strike very close by in 2024 ... Despite all the trials, the church has survived and continues to be a symbol of the spiritual resilience of the capital and the entire country.”

Neither praising nor condemning the recent US military action in Venezuela, the leaders of the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council (CELAM) issued a “message of closeness and hope“ to the Church and people of Venezuela. They concluded with the words, “Happy 2026!”

In 2025, “Ukrainians gained the ability to get married and divorced online,” Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk said in a recent interview devoted to family life in Ukraine. “You can get married without the person you want to build a family with actually being present, and you can just as easily break it all up.”

“This trivializes the institution of the family, and the seriousness of the act and the formation of marital consent, in the canonical sense of the term, are not even considered here,” he added.

The volunteers made their pilgrimage on the evening of January 5. The Pontiff closed the holy door the following morning, ending the jubilee year.

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (booklet, video) and preached on the disparate reactions of the Magi and Herod to the star of Bethlehem.

Jesus is the Epiphany, or manifestation, of God and true humanity, Pope Leo XIV told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his holy day Angelus address (video).