The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) decried the formation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the union of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate) and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. The Moscow-affiliated church also strongly criticized the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (which holds a primacy of honor in Eastern Orthodoxy) as well as Eastern Catholics united to the Pope.

Pope Francis has named Andrea Tornielli as the Dicastery for Communication’s new editorial director. Tornielli coordinates La Stampa’s Vatican Insider website.

Andrea Monda, the Vatican newspaper’s new editor, coordinated the preparation of the texts for this year’s Via Crucis at the Colosseum. A religion teacher at a classical high school in Rome, he has written on Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, and Padre Pio. Monda, 52, succeeds Giovanni Maria Vian, 66, the paper’s editor-in-chief since 2007; Vian assumes the title of editor emeritus.

79% of Japan’s 126 million people are Shinto, and 67% are Buddhist: many citizens profess both religions. Only 2% are Christian.

“Let me heartily congratulate our Orthodox brethren on the Unity Council,” said Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. “At this historic moment, I want to extend the fraternal hand on behalf of our Church to the newly elected Primate and all the Orthodox brethren, saying that from now on we go together in history, to unity, to the truth. Because the future of the Church, the people and the Ukrainian free, independent, European state depends on how we today nurture unity and overcome what separates us.”

Audrey Azoulay, director-general of the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO), met with Pope Francis on December 17. Following the meeting, she said that the Pope “reaffirmed his support for UNESCO, and in particular shared our holistic vision of education, which accords a large place to humanities.”

“Last week the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, intended to be a framework of reference for all the international community, was approved in Marrakech, Morocco,” Pope Francis said following his December 16 Angelus address. “I therefore hope that, thanks to this instrument, the international community may work with responsibility, solidarity and compassion towards those who, for various reasons, have left their own country, and entrust this intention to your prayers.”

Robert Alter, 83, is professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at the University of California (Berkeley).

The northeastern Indian state of Assam (map) is 61% Hindu, 34% Muslim, and 4% Christian.

A landmark state grand jury report found that more than 300 Pennsylvania priests abused over 1,000 minors since the 1940s.

Bishop Michael Olson, 52, was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Fort Worth in 1994 and Bishop of Fort Worth in 2014.

The 24th UN Climate Change Conference (COP24) recently concluded in Katowice, Poland.

“The abusive Jesuits at Cardinal Bea House were part of the Oregon Province’s outsized problem with sexual misconduct,” according to the report. “The province had 92 Jesuits accused of sexual abuse, by far the most of any province in the country.”

With assistance from the FBI, Italian police arrested Mohsin Ibrahim Omar, 20, a Somali national linked to ISIS.

Stating that he bears no animosity toward his accuser, Msgr. Frederick Leising, a former president-rector of Christ the King Seminary, has been cleared of abuse allegations. Another rector of the seminary, Father Joseph Gatto, was recently placed on leave following allegations of misconduct with an adult.

In an Advent Letter to the faithful of the Detroit archdiocese, Archbishop Allen Vigneron admitted that he is “tempted to discouragement in the face of the ongoing abuse crisis,” and voiced his regret at the Vatican directive that stopped the US bishops from approving new policies to hold bishops accountable.

Archbishop John Nienstedt has told the Associated Press that he would welcome a further Vatican investigation into sexual-misconduct charges. The archbishop, who resigned in 2015, has been barred by his successor in the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese from celebrating Mass in public there. Archbishop Bernard Hebda said that the disciplinary action was in place until the charges against Archbishop Nienstedt are resolved.

The chief organizers of a February Vatican conference on sexual abuse have written to the presidents of the world’s episcopal conferences, asking them to meet with abuse victims, “to learn first-hand the suffering that they have endured.” The organizing committee, which includes Cardinals Blase Cupich and Oswald Gracias, also asked the bishops’ representatives to complete a questionnaire that was designed to help prepare for the meeting. The organizers stressed the need for “a comprehensive and communal response” to the problem.

In his message for the 52nd World Day of Peace, Pope Francis emphasizes the importance of political leadership in building a culture of peace.

A bishop in the Central African Republic saved dozens of people from a November massacre by urging them to flee a refugee camp, a missionary reports. Bishop Cyr-Nestor Yapaupa of Alindao warned refugees that they would not be safe at the cathedral and told them to seek refuge in the bush. The bishop himself stayed behind, survived a massacre that took more than 40 lives, and helped other survivors find new shelter.