Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish

Aerial view of St. Peter’s Square filled with thousands of mourners including clergy and dignitaries gathered for Pope Francis’ funeral Mass under a clear blue sky on April 26, 2025, in Vatican City. | Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

Dec 30, 2025 / 15:56 pm (CNA).

During the year 2025, the participation of the faithful in audiences and liturgical celebrations at the Vatican reached a total of 3,176,620 people.

The Vatican released on Dec. 30 the attendance figures for liturgical celebrations in 2025, a year marked by the Jubilee of Hope, the death of Pope Francis, and the election in May of Pope Leo XIV.

Under the pontificate of Pope Francis, who died on April 21, a total attendance of 262,820 faithful was recorded. The largest crowds were at the Angelus, with 130,000 people, followed by the liturgical celebrations, which drew 62,000 faithful.

The general and jubilee audiences were attended by 60,500 people, while the total for special audiences was 10,320. The months with the highest attendance were January and February, especially for the Angelus and liturgical celebrations.

Pope Francis did not preside over any ceremonies or hold any meetings or audiences during the month of March due to his extended stay at Gemelli Hospital in Rome.

For Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate, which began on May 8, a total of 2,913,800 faithful attended various events. General and jubilee audiences had the greatest participation, drawing 1,069,000 people, followed by the Angelus, with 900,000 in attendance, and liturgical celebrations, which drew 796,500 faithful.

Special audiences brought together 148,300 people. The months with the highest attendance were September, October, and December, with October standing out for the large number of attendees at general audiences.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Father Sylvester Okechukwu of the Diocese of Kafanchan in Nigeria was found murdered on Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025. | Credit: Diocese of Kafanchan, Nigeria

Dec 30, 2025 / 15:01 pm (CNA).

A total of 17 missionaries were killed worldwide during 2025, the Jubilee Year of Hope. With these figures, the number of missionaries and pastoral workers who have lost their lives by violence since the year 2000 to the present day has risen to 626.

On Dec. 30, Fides News Agency published its annual report, which documents the murders of missionaries and all Catholic Christians involved in pastoral activity who have died by violence.

The report includes priests, nuns, seminarians, and laypeople who died because of their faith in contexts often marked by violence, extreme poverty, and injustice. In many cases, they were true witnesses to the Gospel who remained faithful to their mission until the end, freely offering their lives to Christ.

Africa is once again the hardest-hit continent, with 10 missionaries murdered: six priests, two seminarians, and two catechists. Four deaths were recorded in the Americas — two priests and two nuns — while in Asia, a priest and a layperson were killed. In Europe, the report includes the murder of one priest.

Killed for their faith in Africa

In Burkina Faso, catechists Mathias Zongo and Christian Tientga were murdered, attacked by a group of armed men who were traveling on a motorcycle near the town of Bondokuy.

In Nigeria, diocesan priest Sylvester Okechukwu, pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Tachira, was killed in the Kaura local government area. Also in Nigeria, 21-year-old seminarian Andrew Peter died at the hands of armed men who attacked both the rectory and the church.

Father Godfrey Chukwuma Oparaekwe, parish priest at St. Ambrose Church in Ubakala, was murdered in June while trying to mediate a family dispute. Also killed were Father Matthew Eya, who was shot on the night of Sept. 19, and the young seminarian Emmanuel Alabi, who died from injuries sustained during his abduction.

In Kenya, Father Allois Cheruiyot Bett was shot and killed after armed men opened fire and one of the bullets struck him in the neck, causing instant death. In Sierra Leone, Father Augustine Dauda Amadu was murdered in his home, and Father Luka Jomo, a parish priest, was killed by shrapnel from an artillery shell along with two young men.

The report also included Father Tobias Chukwujekwu Okonkwo, a priest and pharmacist who was murdered near Ihiala, Nigeria, on the night of Dec. 26, 2024, but whose murder was not included in the report of that year.

Haiti, Mexico, and the United States

In the Americas, in Haiti, Sisters Evanette Onezaire and Jeanne Voltaire, members of the Congregation of the Little Sisters of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, were murdered on March 31 in Mirebalais, in central Haiti, by members of armed gangs.

In Mexico, Father Bertoldo Pantaleón Estrada — whose disappearance had been reported on Oct. 4 in Cocula, in Guerrero state — was found dead on Oct. 6 between the towns of Zumpango and Mezcala.

Father Arul Carasala, parish priest at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Seneca, a town in northeastern Kansas, was shot and killed by a man in his rectory on April 3.

Tortured and murdered for Christ in Asia

In Myanmar, 44-year-old diocesan priest Donald Martin Ye Naing Win lost his life because of his faith, becoming the first Burmese Catholic priest murdered in the civil conflict that is ravaging the country. His lifeless body, mutilated and disfigured with stab wounds, was found on Feb. 14 by some parishioners on the grounds of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, where he served as parish priest.

In the Philippines, Mark Christian Malaca, a 39-year-old teacher at St. Stephen Academy in the city of Laur, was shot and killed on Nov. 4 by unknown assailants in the town of San Juan, where he resided.

Priest murdered in Poland

In Europe, Fides News Agency reported the murder of Father Grzegorz Dymek, a 58-year-old priest who was found strangled in the rectory of his parish in Poland on Feb. 13. The priest had served in Our Lady of Fatima Parish since its founding in 1998.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Family Day celebrations at St. Austin's Msongari Parish. | Credit: St Austin's Msongari Communications

Dec 30, 2025 / 13:34 pm (CNA).

Parishioners of St. Austin’s Msongari Parish, Kenya’s oldest inland Catholic church in the Archdiocese of Nairobi, have been told to find belonging in small groups within the parish — such as small Christian communities, Catholic Women Association, Catholic Men Association, and other apostolic entities within the parish.

In his homily on Dec. 14 during St. Austin’s Msongari 2025 Family Day celebration, Bishop David Kamau Ng’ang’a said that faith is best experienced as a community and not as an individual. It is in a community anchored in faith that weak Christians find a “backup” in their struggles, he said.

“Faith must be lived within a community. When Jesus resurrected from the dead and appeared to the apostles, one of them was not there. And when he was told ‘We have seen the Lord,’ he did not believe,” Kamau said. “Thomas was not able to see the Lord because he was not in the community.”

He added: “The community helps you to experience the love of God,” and he appealed to those gathered to “join a group. You need a backup. Don’t stay alone. You may not survive.”

Members of the parish celebrated their 2025 Family Day under the theme “Anchored in Faith, Alive in Hope,” a celebration of 126 years of evangelization in the east African country.

In his homily, the bishop underlined the importance of strengthening the family at home, in Christian communities, and at the parish level. He challenged the parishioners to ask themselves if their own families are stable.

“How far are we building our own families back at home?” he asked, adding: “If you have no home where you come from, then you don’t have a home even here either.”

The bishop said there are two families that every Christian should take as models: the family of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

“Love is what unites these two families,” he said, adding: “There was love, dialogue, and understanding in the family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. That is why God entrusted his Son to that family.”

As part of the celebrations, St. Austin’s Msongari Parish also launched seven newly established small Christian communities. At the launch, Kamau challenged the parish to “do even better,” adding: “Without small Christian communities, it will be difficult to build the Church.”

Further underscoring the importance of the small communities, he said: “You come here only on Sundays. How about the other days? That is why we build small Christian communities where we live to come together and pray together.”

“We bring the life in our small Christian communities here in our Church. This is why small Christian communities are important,” he reiterated, adding that the aim should be to build the parish to become a home “such that even if you are rejected out there, where you are working, you feel welcome when you come here.”

The bishop also expressed his admiration of St. Austin’s Church, noting that the historic parish had planted seeds of faith across what later became the Archdiocese of Nairobi and the Machakos and Kitui dioceses.

He said: “I am always proud of St. Austin’s Parish and the Holy Ghost Fathers because the Holy Ghost Fathers brought faith to the Archdiocese of Nairobi. I am also talking about Machakos and Kitui. They too were started by Holy Ghost Fathers. The old missionaries are the ones who taught us, even in those days.”

In his address at the Family and Fun Day celebrations, Father Henry Omwoyo, the pastor of St. Austin’s Msongari Parish, said the event was more than “just a date on the calendar” for the parish whose story began in 1899, when three missionaries of the Holy Ghost Fathers — Emile Augustin Allgeyer, Alain Hémery, and Blanchard Dillenseger — traveled inland from the Kenyan coast.

“We celebrate 126 years of God’s faithfulness, love, and grace poured out upon our parish family,” Omwoyo said. “From humble beginnings in 1899, when the pioneer Spiritan missionaries held the first Mass under the expansive African sky, to today, we stand as a vibrant, living community, deeply rooted in faith and alive in hope.”

He noted that for over a century, the parish has been a beacon of faith and unity in inland Kenya and has come to include communities such as the Catholic International Community and the Communauté Catholique Francophone de Nairobi.

“For decades, this parish has offered a home, a spiritual haven where generations have encountered Christ through sacraments, catechesis, outreach, prayer, fellowship, and service,” he said.

The parish also announced the projected opening of its prayer garden, a project that commenced as part of the parish’s 125 years of faith celebration.

Described as “a sanctuary of peace, reflection, and prayer for all who seek God’s voice,” St. Austin’s prayer garden will be dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and is scheduled to officially open in May 2026 on the eve of Pentecost Sunday.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s African news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

Credit: Zolnierek/Shutterstock

Dec 30, 2025 / 10:45 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV warned about the danger that gambling poses to many families during a Dec. 29 audience with members of the National Association of Italian Municipalities.

At the beginning of his address, delivered in the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican, the Holy Father explained that “the incarnation of the Son of God brings us face to face with a child, whose gentle fragility is in stark contrast to the crushing power of King Herod.”

In this context, he emphasized that “the massacre of the innocents ordered by him not only represents a loss of a future for society but is also a manifestation of an inhuman power that does not know the beauty of love because it disregards the dignity of human life.”

On the contrary, the pope explained that the birth of the Lord “reveals the most authentic aspect of all power, which is above all responsibility and service,” and noted that all authority must “embody the virtues of humility, honesty, and communion.”

The pontiff thus alluded to the public commitment of the Italian association, reminding them of the importance of listening “as a social dynamic that activates these virtues,” specifically “to the needs of families and individuals, especially caring for the most vulnerable, for the good of all.”

Pope Leo XIV focused his attention on certain realities that require special attention, such as the difficulties faced by families and young people as well as the loneliness of the elderly and the “silent cry of the poor.”

In this regard, he emphasized that “our cities are not anonymous places but rather faces and stories that must be safeguarded like precious treasures.”

He also quoted Venerable Giorgio La Pira, known as “the holy mayor” of Florence, who maintained that his fundamental duty was to care for and alleviate anyone who was suffering. In this way, the pope stated that “social cohesion and civic harmony require, first and foremost, listening to the least among us and the poor.”

He then urged the members of the National Association of Italian Municipalities to “become models of dedication to the common good, fostering a social alliance for hope.”

Problem of gambling addiction

After lamenting that cities are experiencing forms of marginalization, violence, and loneliness “that demand to be addressed,” Pope Leo specifically warned against gambling, “which ruins many families.” Citing the latest report from Caritas Italy, he emphasized that this type of gambling addiction is a “serious problem of education, mental health, and social trust.”

“We cannot forget other forms of loneliness from which many people suffer: mental disorders, depression, cultural and spiritual poverty, and social abandonment. These are signs that indicate how much hope is needed. To bear witness to it effectively, politics is called to forge authentically human relationships among citizens, promoting social peace,” the pontiff said.

He also urged that administrative activity promote “the talents of individuals, giving cultural and spiritual depth to cities.”

At the end of his address, he asked the members of the association to have “the courage to offer hope to the people, planning together the best future for their lands, in the logic of integral human development.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Afternoon prayers for an ecumenical youth gathering organized by the Taize Community are taking place in the Accor Arena, which can accommodate more than 20,000 people. Credit: Vilacor, via Wikimedia Commons

Dec 30, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Thousands of young Catholics and other fellow Christians from various traditions are in Paris this week ushering out 2025 and ushering in 2026 as part of an ecumenical gathering organized by the Taizé Community.

The city of Paris and the entire Île-de-France region are the setting for the 48th European Meeting, a pilgrimage from Dec. 28, 2025, to Jan. 1, 2026, in which 15,000 young people ages 18–35 are participating, including 1,000 Ukrainians.

The event includes the participation of nearly 60 brothers out of the 80 who make up the Taizé Ecumenical Community, founded in 1940 with the mission of “being a sign of unity in the Church and in the human family.”

The program includes communal prayer in the large churches of Paris, various local initiatives, testimonies of hope, and workshops. The afternoon prayers take place in the Accor Arena, which can accommodate more than 20,000 people.

Numerous families in Paris and the Île-de-France region have generously welcomed the young people into their homes while various parishes, schools, and sports centers have also made their facilities available.

For Brother Mathew Thorpe, current prior of the community, this event is a call “to break free from our algorithms and experience mutual listening, an opening of the heart to welcome others as they are,” he told the French newspaper La Croix.

He also noted that this year’s gathering includes a psychological support center located in the Notre-Dame de l’Arche d’Alliance (Our Lady Ark of the Covenant) church to provide assistance to young people who have been victims of abuse.

The Taizé brother emphasized that this encounter also offers “a space for young people to listen to Christ in the depths of their being” and expressed his hope that it would help them “go forward in their journey with Christ.”

“The important thing is that they receive something that inspires them to become pilgrims of peace and hope, wherever they are, in their local church, in their places of commitment, to help others eliminate the barriers that divide our society,” he said.

From Spain, 22-year-old Pedro del Río Granado arrived in Paris with other youth from the Archdiocese of Madrid. For this student, the Taizé European Meeting “is a very important experience” and an opportunity to begin the year with God.

Brother Alois, who succeeded Brother Roger, the founding prior of Taizé, said on behalf of the community that this experience “helps us understand the Gospel.”

“We Christians can show that there is something that unites us in Europe, something that keeps us together,” he emphasized.

A few days before the meeting began, Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople in a message addressed to young people reminded them that “the world needs your clear vision, your courage, and your capacity for hope.”

“It needs young peace builders, capable of resisting violence, exclusion, and contempt for others. It needs witnesses of a humble faith, understood not as power but as service,” he said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

U.S. House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota, talks about his faith with Eric Rosales on “EWTN News Nightly” on Dec. 29, 2025. | Credit: “EWTN News Nightly”/Screenshot

Dec 30, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Republican Rep. Tom Emmer, U.S. House majority whip, said his Catholic faith was formed by his parents’ example at a young age and he encouraged Americans to reflect more on God in a culture filled with many distractions.

Emmer, of Minnesota, spoke to “EWTN News Nightly” about the faith of his parents, including his father’s daily Mass attendance and his mother’s decision to gift her husband a rosary on their wedding day.

“The example that they set, is, I believe, why I am who I am,” Emmer said.

“I’m the son of Tom and Patsy Emmer who literally met in the sixth and seventh grade at Our Lady of Grace Catholic grade school in Edina, Minnesota,” he said. “[They] were married for 60-some years; they literally lived around the corner from each other, and they never moved more than about two or three miles from where they originally grew up.”

Emmer attended a Catholic elementary school and high school. He said he sang in the church choir, saying he “was a soprano” as a child but can no longer reach the high notes.

“When I try to do ‘and the rockets’ red glare,’ I can only say it. My voice doesn’t go there anymore,” Emmer said.

The congressman also opened up about his sister Bridget’s death from breast cancer, saying it made him question God’s will. Yet, he said a conversation with her before her death helped bolster his faith and to stop being angry with God.

Emmer said some older women told his sister that she was too young to have cancer and that he initially told her: “I kind of agree with them.” He said she responded by saying: “Would I love to live forever? Absolutely. But I’m not going to, and people who talk like that have not gotten every second out of every minute out of every hour of every day. I have lived a good life; if God comes and calls me today, so be it.”

Emmer emphasized the importance of reflecting on God’s goodness in a world that has become filled with distractions.

“Too many people, in this age of social media and all the other stuff — the world gets going so fast that they don’t take a minute to sit down and check out what the good Lord has created,” Emmer said.

Legislative activity

According to a 2025 report from the Pew Research Center, about 28% of Congress is Catholic. More than half of Catholic lawmakers in both the House and the Senate are Democrats.

Emmer, the third-ranking House Republican, has consistently opposed abortion access during his 11 years in Congress, receiving an A+ rating from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. He also has been critical of what he calls “radical gender ideology.”

His stances have not aligned with Church teaching regarding his support for in vitro fertilization (IVF). When he ran for governor of Minnesota in 2010, Emmer opposed same-sex civil marriage. He later shifted his position and voted in favor of a law enacted in 2022 to require states to recognize same-sex civil marriages performed out of state. The Catholic Church does not recognize same-sex civil unions as marriage according to its doctrine and sacramental theology.

Emmer has generally supported President Donald Trump’s deportation efforts. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved a “special message” in November opposing “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.”

Fifty-one senators asked the FDA to rescind its approval of a generic version of the abortion drug mifepristone on Oct. 9, 2025. | Credit: Yta23/Shutterstock

Dec 30, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Abortion policy at the federal and state levels has continued to shift in the United States three and a half years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.

At the federal level, President Donald Trump’s administration and congressional Republicans made strides to pull back funding for organizations that advocate for abortion access and to reinstate conscience protections. Yet the administration also approved a generic abortion pill and failed to further regulate chemical abortion drugs.

Some states adopted new restrictions on abortion, but others expanded policies to increase abortion access. In most states, changes to abortion policy were minimal, as many states already set their post-Dobbs abortion policies in the previous years.

Federal: Trump administration shifts

Abortion policy at the federal level shifted shortly after Trump took office, with the administration reinstating many policies from Trump’s first term that had been abandoned for four years under President Joe Biden’s administration.

Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy during his first week in office, which requires foreign organizations to certify they will not perform, promote, or actively advocate for abortion to receive U.S. government funding. In June, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rescinded Biden-era guidelines that had required emergency rooms to perform abortions when a pregnant woman had a life-threatening emergency (like severe bleeding, ectopic pregnancy, or risk of organ failure) to stabilize her condition — even in states where abortion is otherwise banned.

Other changes within federal departments and agencies included rescinding a Department of Defense policy that provided paid leave and travel expenses for abortion and a proposed rule change to end abortion at Veterans Affairs facilities.

The Department of Health and Human Services has also withheld Title X family planning funds from Planned Parenthood. Trump also signed a government spending bill that withheld Medicaid reimbursements from Planned Parenthood. Federal tax money was not spent directly on abortion before those changes, but abortion providers did receive funds for other purposes.

Nearly 70 Planned Parenthood abortion clinics shut down in 2025 amid funding cuts.

Those closures came as the administration advanced changes affecting abortion medication. Although the administration announced it would review the abortion pill, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new generic version of the drug mifepristone. Bloomberg Law reported the review has been delayed, although officials deny it.

The state-level results in 2025 have also been mixed, with a few states adding pro-life laws and others expanding access to abortion.

In Texas, where nearly all abortions are illegal, lawmakers passed a bill that allows families to sue companies that manufacture or distribute chemical abortion pills. This comes as state laws related to chemical abortions often conflict, with states like New York enforcing “shield laws” that order courts to not cooperate with out-of-state lawsuits or criminal charges against abortionists within their states.

Lawmakers in Wyoming passed a law overriding a veto from the governor that requires women to receive an ultrasound before they can obtain an abortion. However, the law was blocked by a court and is not in effect.

There were two pro-life legal wins for states in 2025 as well.

In November, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state’s near-total abortion ban after it was temporarily blocked by a lower court. Under the law, unborn life is protected at every stage in pregnancy in most cases, but it remains legal in the first six weeks in cases of rape and incest and for the duration of pregnancy when the mother is at risk of death or serious physical harm.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that a South Carolina policy to withhold Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood could stay in place. This ruling also opened the door for other states to adopt similar policies moving forward.

In at least 10 states, lawmakers enacted bills to provide more funding for pro-life pregnancy centers, which offer life-affirming alternatives to abortion for pregnant women.

Alternatively, a handful of states in 2025 expanded their shield laws, which prevent courts from complying with out-of-state criminal or civil cases against abortionists. This includes new laws in California, Vermont, Massachusetts, and New York. Several states expanded these laws by allowing pharmacies to provide chemical abortion pills without listing the name of the doctor who prescribed them to prevent out-of-state legal action.

About a dozen states expanded funding for abortion providers, such as California directing $140 million to Planned Parenthood to counteract federal defunding efforts. Maryland established a new program called the Public Health Abortion Grant Program, which offers abortion coverage through Affordable Care Act funds.

New laws in Colorado and Washington require emergency rooms to provide abortions when the procedure is deemed “necessary.” A law adopted in Illinois requires public college campuses to provide the abortion pill at their pharmacies.

Connecticut removed its parental notification policy regarding abortion, which means that minors are allowed to obtain abortions without the consent of their parents.

As of December, 13 states prohibit most abortions, four states ban abortions after six weeks’ gestation, two have bans after 12 weeks, and one has a ban after 18 weeks. The other 30 states and the District of Columbia permit abortion up to the 22nd week or later. Nine of those states allow elective abortion through nine months until the moment of birth.

The coffin of Pope Francis rests before the altar at the funeral Mass on St. Peter’s Square, April 26, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Dec 30, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

2025 began with Catholics around the world uniting in prayer for Pope Francis’ health as he entered the hospital on Feb. 14. He was admitted to Gemelli Hospital in Rome for a respiratory infection that progressed to bilateral pneumonia, requiring a prolonged hospitalization that lasted almost six weeks.

Soon after, on March 29, the pontiff was readmitted into the hospital with difficulty breathing. On April 21, the day after Easter, Pope Francis passed away at the age of 88 from a stroke, coma, and irreversible cardiovascular collapse, according to the death certificate published just over 12 hours after his death.

On April 26, more than 400,000 people filled St. Peter’s Square for the funeral of Pope Francis as the world said goodbye to the first Latin American pope who led the Catholic Church for 12 years. 

Then on May 7, 133 cardinal electors gathered from all corners of the globe in the Sistine Chapel for the start of the conclave to elect a new pope. After four ballots, Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected on May 8 as the 267th bishop of Rome and leader of the Catholic Church. He took the name Pope Leo XIV. A Chicago native, he became the first American pope in Church history.

Here are some of the most impactful images from the papal transition — beginning with Pope Francis’ last general audience before being admitted to the hospital, the start of the conclave, and the election of Pope Leo:

Micah Kim, 5, son of popular Catholic speaker Paul Kim, is anointed by a priest on Dec. 26, 2025. Credit: Courtesy of Paul Kim's Facebook page / null

Dec 29, 2025 / 17:51 pm (CNA).

Paul Kim, a highly popular Catholic youth and young adult speaker, continues to share updates on his 5-year-old son, Micah, who remains on life support following a sudden medical emergency just days before Christmas.

Entering his ninth day in the hospital, Micah’s condition has sparked an outpouring of prayers across the globe, with the family invoking the intercession of Venerable Fulton Sheen for a miracle amid grim medical prognoses.

The ordeal began when Micah was rushed to the hospital last week after experiencing severe internal bleeding and other complications. Kim, a devoted husband and father of six known for his engaging talks on faith and family at Catholic conferences, first alerted followers via social media on Dec. 22: “My son Micah is having a medical emergency right now and headed to the hospital in an ambulance.”

By Dec. 24, Micah underwent emergency chest surgery to address the bleeding, which successfully stabilized his heart function. Kim shared on social media that after the surgery, his son’s heart began beating independently and his vital signs remained steady.

Doctors gradually reduced life support, with Micah’s lungs showing slow improvement on a ventilator. However, a subsequent MRI revealed severe brain damage, leading physicians to conclude there is “no medical possibility” of recovery.

“Micah is fighting for his life,” Kim said in a Dec. 29 update on Instagram. “We’re waiting on the Lord, and we don’t give up trust.”

Micah received the sacrament of anointing of the sick on Dec. 23 at 3 p.m., “when divine mercy redeemed us all,” and Kim invited all Catholics to join with his family in praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet, humbly requesting a miracle “through the intercession of Archbishop Fulton Sheen.”

In addition to an outpouring of prayer for Micah, a GoFundMe campaign was begun to support the family amid mounting medical costs.

“Praying that all is stable and the parents are resting,” one supporter posted on social media platform X, echoing widespread sentiment.

As of Dec. 29, Micah’s kidney function remains a concern, but the family is holding fast to hope. “Please keep praying! God has the ultimate say. He is the Divine Physician,” Kim noted on Instagram.

Actor Jonathan Roumie, known for his role as Jesus in “The Chosen,” and Father Mike Schmitz, known for the “Bible in a Year” podcast, sit down for an in-depth interview. Credit: Ascension Presents

Dec 29, 2025 / 17:21 pm (CNA).

In a new sit-down interview with Father Mike Schmitz, who is best known for the “Bible in a Year” podcast and YouTube videos on Ascension Presents, actor Jonathan Roumie spoke in depth about his role portraying Jesus in the hit series “The Chosen.”

“Everything in my life has prepared me for this role,” Roumie told Schmitz in the 43-minute-long interview, which aired Dec. 28 on the Ascension Presents YouTube channel.

Looking back at his childhood, Roumie recalled a couple of moments and experiences that deeply impacted him and his own portrayal of Jesus. He said at 12 years old he reenacted Christ’s passion and crucifixion in his backyard after watching Robert Powell’s portrayal of Jesus in “Jesus of Nazareth.”

“I had 2-by-8 planks that I found and I hammered them together and I hammered the nails where the hands would go and I painted the blood and the same thing with the feet,” he recalled. “And then I grabbed like a bush, a piece of a branch of a bush, and made my own crown of thorns and I painted blood on it and everything and I processed around to the side of my garage.”

Roumie also opened up about his experience being bullied as a child and how it led him to offer up his past trauma to God as he was reenacting the Crucifixion during filming of Season 6 of “The Chosen,” which focuses on Jesus’ passion and crucifixion.

“I was bullied as a kid a lot and I had to kind of look at what Jesus went through as a righteous man and a peaceful man and meek and humble and see just the level of devastation and terrorized bullying that he received to the point of death,” he said.

“So for me, I think, and I’ll go back and look at all those experiences I had as a kid, which might have been part of the reason that led me to reenact the Passion, as something that I could relate to and I think all of that prepared me for this role.”

He added: “I understand it now a bit more, at least I think, in my own sort of human ignorance and pride… Of course I don’t know exactly what all of this is about but it feels authentic. Like, ‘Well, I went through that as a kid and my compassion increased and my empathy increased and now I’m playing the most compassionate, empathetic human being that was God in the universe for all time.’ So I can lend that experience in his suffering and in his empathy even in wanting to forgive his enemies, which I had to do.”

“I was beaten pretty bad. So, I had to offer up all of my past trauma to him as I was recreating it, knowing that that was part of my own personal sacrifice — was my own offering for him on behalf of what he suffered for humanity.”

The actor shared that before beginning the filming of Season 6, he asked God in prayer that “if it were his will to allow me a fraction of a fraction of what he went through.”

Before traveling to Matera, Italy — the location where the Crucifixion was filmed — Roumie injured his right shoulder after falling while filming a scene. An X-ray and MRI showed that he had separated a bit of his AC joint from the clavicle, causing sharp pain.

“It was the right shoulder, so the shoulder that was carrying the beam [of the cross] on and it was extremely painful,” Roumie said. “And that was just one of many things.”

Roumie added that while filming the Crucifixion “certain adjustments” also had to be made due to pain being felt by the metal and real nails being used during filming.

“He [God] gave me exactly what I asked for — just a glimpse, just a glimpse,” he said. “And I think the thing that I got was that I got to enter into it in a way that I had never entered into it before.”

Schmitz asked Roumie how his experience portraying Jesus’ passion and crucifixion has impacted the way he attends or prays at Mass. Roumie shared that in the past year he began to feel “convicted to give more reverence to Christ in the Eucharist.”

“I started receiving on my knees and on the tongue, which I hadn’t before,” he said, adding that it was slightly “disorienting at first.”

He recalled an experience at Mass where he kneeled to receive the Eucharist but the priest asked him to stand up. He hesitated but rose and continued on with the Mass. Afterward, he asked his spiritual director if that was permissible, to which he responded that a priest “shouldn’t do that but it happens.”

After this experience, Roumie shared that he “doubled down on it and now I’m prepared to just wait as long as I need to until somebody concedes because I’m not going anywhere.”

Returning to his time portraying Jesus in the series, Schmitz told Roumie that “the show is called ‘The Chosen’ in the sense that it’s also about those who were chosen, but you were chosen and there’s something in that that has changed you. You being chosen to not only portray Jesus, but to be his disciple, an imitator of him, as St. Paul says, and that’s changed you.”

“That’s something I’m trying to wrap my head around and identify with,” Roumie responded. “It wasn’t somebody else. He picked me. And I, of course, said yes, because I needed the work initially. I didn’t know what it was going to do to me internally.”

Once the final season of “The Chosen” airs, it will have been a span of 10 years that Roumie will have been portraying Jesus. He said that this experience is something that might take “the rest of my life to unpack.”

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“So, I have to give myself a little bit of grace, but it’s something that I think I will always live with. And in fact, I don’t know that I want to let it go because it keeps me connected to him, especially when the show ends.”