Jan 3, 2026 / 07:05 am After U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Saturday, Pope Leo expressed deep concern over the situation. Global reactions to the developments are split. See CNA […]
Jan 5, 2026 / 12:34 pm Catholic bishops in Ethiopia have issued a far-reaching synodality message that speaks to the fear, suffering, and fragmentation gripping the Horn of Africa nation, repeatedly urging the people of […]
Credit: JCDH/Shutterstock.
Jan 5, 2026 / 13:06 pm (CNA).
With the signing of the law that recognizes that “the human being in gestation or the unborn child is a natural person,” Puerto Rico concluded 2025 with historic achievements in the defen… […]
Vatican City, Jan 5, 2026 / 10:20 am The parents of St. Carlo Acutis contributed to the development of a new official news application connected to the institutional website of the Vatican City State, www.vaticanstate.va, an […]
Vatican City, Jan 5, 2026 / 09:00 am More than 33.4 million pilgrims traveled to Rome to participate in the Jubilee of Hope, surpassing initial projections, the Vatican said Monday. Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of […]
Republicans presently control the White House and both chambers of Congress, but their majorities in both legislative chambers are narrow. | Credit: roibu/Shutterstock
Jan 5, 2026 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Key elections in November 2026 could reshape t… […]
Thousands of participants with paper crowns gather on Castle Square in Warsaw during the Three Kings Procession on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2025.Jan 5, 2026 / 05:00 am (CNA).
Nearly 2 million people will parade through streets Tuesday in one of Europe’s largest Catholic public celebrations, as the Three Kings Procession marks Epiphany across 941 cities and towns nationwide.
The annual event, known as Orszak Trzech Króli (Three Kings Procession), draws participants who dress as biblical characters, wear paper crowns, and sing Christmas carols while following figures representing the Magi to nativity scenes set up in public squares. EWTN Poland will broadcast the main Warsaw procession live in English for the first time, beginning at 11 a.m. local time.
Last year, an estimated 2 million people participated in the processions across 905 locations in Poland and abroad, according to Vatican News. This year’s event expands to 941 communities — 36 more than in 2025.
“We have prepared 600,000 crowns, 150,000 songbooks with Christmas carols, and 200,000 stickers,” said Piotr Giertych, president of the Three Kings Procession Foundation. In Warsaw alone, about 50,000 participants marched in 2025.
The first Three Kings street parade took place in Warsaw in 2009 as an extension of a nativity play performed by students from a local school. Since Epiphany became a national holiday in Poland in 2011, the processions have grown steadily, spreading to cities and towns across the country.
This year’s slogan, “Rejoice in Hope,” echoes the Church’s Jubilee Year theme, “Pilgrims of Hope,” which concludes Tuesday. The phrase comes from the 17th-century Polish Christmas carol “Mędrcy świata, monarchowie” (“Wise Men of the World, Monarchs”) by Stefan Bortkiewicz.
“We are referring to the Jubilee Year, which ends on Jan. 6 in the Catholic Church and was held under the motto ‘Pilgrims of Hope,'” said Anna Murawska, the event’s director. “Therefore, during the procession, we will hear a lot not only about maintaining hope in everyday life, but above all — trusting God, His mercy, and meeting Him in heaven.”
Polish President Karol Nawrocki and First Lady Marta Nawrocki sent a message to participants emphasizing the processions’ message of reconciliation.
“May the image of three monarchs who, despite adversity, pursued their goal — peace and reconciliation — inspire us all to build relationships based on mutual solidarity, understanding, and respect,” the presidential couple wrote.
The ceremonial procession draws on Poland’s native traditions of nativity plays and caroling, while also incorporating elements from similar Epiphany parades in Spain and Mexico. Warsaw’s procession begins at the Copernicus Monument and proceeds up Krakowskie Przedmieście to Castle Square, where participants sing carols together in the city center.
The National Shrine of St. John Neumann at St. Peter the Apostle Church in Philadelphia. | Credit: Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Jan 5, 2026 / 04:00 am (CNA).
Every Jan. 5 the Church celebrates the feast of St. John Neumann, … […]
Arthur Brooks gives a keynote address at SEEK 2026 on Jan. 4, 2026. | Credit: Madalaine Elhabbal/CNA
Jan 4, 2026 / 23:20 pm (CNA).
New York Times bestselling author and Harvard professor Arthur Brooks encouraged attendees at SEEK 2026 to resist the temptation as missionaries to “fight fire with fire.”
In his Jan. 4 keynote speech in Columbus, Ohio, Brooks said the world “is not just a cold world,” but “a world that attacks you.” In this context, he said, it can be challenging not to fight back.
However, he said, “your job isn’t to win arguments, it’s to win a soul.”
Brooks teaches at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Business and has written multiple books on finding happiness and meaning in life, including From Strength to Strength and Build the Life You Want, which he co-authored with Oprah Winfrey. He also writes a column in The Atlantic called “How to Build a Life.”
Some 26,000 attendees have gathered through Jan. 5 in Columbus, Denver and Fort Worth, Texas for the SEEK 2026 conference organized by FOCUS.
“The spirit of the missionary will take you into the heart of a culture war,” Brooks said. “And in that culture war, you won’t win with violence…as you can win with love.” Brooks recounted his experience giving a talk in Manchester, New Hampshire in 2014, for an audience he said was “a very ideologically oriented group.”
According to Brooks, he was the only speaker out of the 15 present who was not a presidential candidate. He said that during his address, he told his audience, “You’ve been hearing from political candidates who want your vote. And what they’re telling you is that you’re right and the people who disagree with you are stupid people and hate America, but I want you to remember something. Those people, they’re your neighbors, and they’re your family…It’s not that they hate America, it’s that they disagree with you.”
When acting as a missionary, he said, the goal is to persuade people. “If you want to persuade them, you can’t do that with hatred, because nobody has ever been insulted into agreement,” Brooks said.
Brooks concluded by telling about a retreat center that he and his wife, Esther, visit when they give marriage preparation. Inside the chapel of the retreat center, he said, there is a sign over the door to exit the chapel that reads, “You are now entering mission territory.”
“So as you leave this beautiful, beautiful gathering tomorrow, the signs on the door of your hotel or this conference facility, any place that you find yourself as you leave this city, and effectively for the last time tomorrow, is that you’re entering mission territory,” Brooks said. “Let’s set the world on fire together.”
Katie Tangeman, a sophomore at Northwest Missouri State University, said she came away from Brooks’ talk motivated to “just take a step back whenever I’m feeling frustrated or annoyed with somebody, or if they’re attacking me, to just see them as a beloved son or daughter of God and approach them with love instead of the contempt and hate that [Brooks] was talking about.”
“Because that’s not being a good Christian,” she added.
“I want to say the biggest thing I took away from Arthur Brooks’ talk tonight, his keynote speech, [is] that you can change the trajectory of how a conversation goes by battling it with kindness in a way,” said Andrew Stuart, an agricultural business major, also at Northwest Missouri State.
Washington Nationals starting pitcher Trevor Williams delivers against the Chicago Cubs at Nationals Park on May 2, 2023. | Credit: Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via Getty Images.
Jan 4, 2026 / 18:00 pm (CNA).
Catholic college athletes at… […]
© Catholic World Report