9+ hour, 49+ min ago (692+ words) A worker prepares a handmade Christmas bauble at GlitterLab in Czestochowa, Poland on Nov. 21, 2025. (Credit: Czarek Sokolowski/AP.) CZ'STOCHOWA, Poland " If you could design a bauble for your own Christmas tree, what would it be " a teddy bear dressed as a ballerina, a hummingbird, or a crimson phoenix? The workers at GlitterLab, a company producing Christmas decorations in southern Poland, vow to turn those fantasies into reality. Calling themselves "the magicians of glass," their clients have included Swarovski, the French chain Galeries Lafayette, and Harrods, the iconic London department store. "We have the ability to create shapes and designs that glass will not normally take," the company promises on its website. And the whole production process, "our closely guarded trade secret," is manual, making each product unique, it says. Despite its modest appearance, GlitterLab's workshop has been operating for more…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago (1065+ words) BARCELONA, Spain " And Rosal'a said, "Let there be Lux." Rosal'a, the global Spanish pop star'loved by millions'for fusing flamenco with Latin hip-hop and reggaeton, has amazed her fans with a radical shift. The singer and songwriter's'new album, "Lux("Light" in Latin), is unabashedly spiritual. Fifteen songs, sung in 13 different languages, including fragments in Latin, Arabic and Hebrew, are laden with a yearning for the divine. And it is receiving praise from on high. Xabier G'mez Garc'a, bishop of Sant Feliu de Llobregat which includes Rosal'a's hometown of Sant Esteve Sesrovires near Barcelona, was one of the first church leaders to laud her work in an open letter to his flock. Rosal'a's grandmother regularly attends mass in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, according to the diocese. "When I listened to "Lux' and Rosal'a speaking about her the context of her album and the…...

3+ week, 6+ day ago (966+ words) Colombian troops in Cucuta, Colombia, on Jan. 25, 2025. (Credit: Mario Caicedo/AP.) S'O PAULO, Brazil " Videos of police agents and Prosecutor's Office's investigators who were kidnapped months ago by a major Colombian guerrilla group, released last week by magazine Semana, not only gave hope to their families, but also put pressure on President Gustavo Petro for their release. Some tension was also directed to the South American country's Catholic Church, which was mentioned by one of the victims as one of the organizations that should hurry up and act for the prisoners' freedom. Jes's Pacheco and Rodrigo L'pez, two members of the Prosecutor's Technical Investigation Corps, were taken by guerrillas of the Eastern War Front of the National Liberation Army (ELN) on May 8, in Arauca department. Patrolman Yordin P'rez and sub-lieutenant Franki Hoyos, a criminal investigator, were taken by the same…...

2+ week, 1+ day ago (605+ words) Mexican flag in Mexico City in Mexico on Nov. 13, 2025. (Credit: Claudia Rosel/AP.) MEXICO CITY " The almighty eagle perched on a cactus while devouring a serpent on Mexico's flag hints at the myth behind the foundation'of the country's capital. It took some 175 years before they spotted the sacred omen and established the city of Tenochtitlan in 1325 where Mexico City stands today. How the eagle, the cactus and the serpent became an emblem and endured through the European conquest is the focus of a new exhibition. "A coat of arms, an emblem, a symbol of identity," runs through Dec. 15 at the Old City Hall in downtown Mexico City. The exhibit is among the government's activities marking the 700th anniversary of the founding of the Mexica capital. Built by order of Spanish conqueror Hern'n Cort's in 1522, its construction used stones from ancient Mexica…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago (435+ words) SANTA ANA, California " A bus carrying teens and young adults returning from a church camp in the Southern California mountains lost control and tipped onto its side Sunday night while on the way down a winding mountain road, sending 20 people to the hospital, authorities said. "It's just a freak accident," Ramirez said. The bus with 36 people aboard crashed at a curve on two-lane highway near Running Springs, about 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles, according to the San Bernardino County Fire Department. The winding route curves along cliffsides and through forest areas at an elevation of about 6,100 feet. California Highway Patrol responded to the accident at about 8:50 p.m. on Sunday. While going around the curve, the bus driver collided with the rock embankment on the right shoulder "for unknown reasons," causing the bus to overturn, CHP said in a statement. "A total…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago (729+ words) Richard Gamble, who said God spoke to him and gave him a vision for Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer in 2004, stands beside a model of the monument, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, at his office in Coleshill, England. (Credit: Yonat Shimron/Religion News Service via AP.) COLESHILL, United Kingdom " Richard Gamble's passion for Jesus has always been outsize. Twenty years ago, he had a vision from God to drag a 9-foot wooden cross for 77 miles during Holy Week leading up to Easter. After that grueling marathon in 2004, God gave him a bigger, bolder vision: Build a wall that tells a million stories of how God has answered prayer. Last week, Gamble, 56, broke ground on that vision " a 168-foot-tall architectural landmark that is expected to be one of the largest Christian monuments in England, if not the world. (Christ the Redeemer, the iconic statue…...

2+ week, 1+ day ago (593+ words) Pope Francis dons a headdress during a visit with Indigenous peoples at Maskwaci, the former Ermineskin Residential School, Monday, July 25, 2022, in Maskwacis, Alberta. (Credit: Eric Gay/AP.) ROME " The Vatican on Saturday returned 62 artifacts to Indigenous peoples from Canada as part of the Catholic Church's reckoning with its role in helping suppress Indigenous culture in the Americas. Pope Leo XIV gave the artifacts, including an iconic Inuit kayak, and supporting documentation to a delegation of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops during an audience. According to a joint statement from the Vatican and Canadian church, the pieces were a gift and a "concrete sign of dialogue, respect and fraternity." The items were part of the Vatican Museum's ethnographic collection, known as the Anima Mundi museum. The collection has been a source of controversy for the Vatican amid the broader museum…...

1+ week, 2+ day ago (334+ words) People walk on the road near Kibumba, north of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, as they flee fighting in North Kivu, May 24, 2022. (Credit: Moses Sawasawa/AP.) GOMA, Congo " An Islamic State-backed rebel group killed 89 people during attacks on multiple villages in eastern Congo, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the country said Friday. In the village of Byambwe, around 37 miles west of the town of Lubero, the Allied Democratic Forceskilled at least 17 people in a hospital on Saturday, including 11 women receiving care in a maternity ward. "Violence committed against civilians, including in medical facilities, may constitute war crimes and serious violations of international humanitarian law," said Bruno Lemarquis, the acting head of the U.N. mission, known as MONUSCO. The attacks by the ADF took place in the Bapere and Baswaghga local administrative areas, in the Lubero territory in North Kivu province, between Nov....

3+ week, 23+ hour ago (1416+ words) The cover of La Amistad no se negocia, a new book by Argentine activist and friend of the late Pope Francis, Gustavo Vera. Image courtesy of author. A book recently released in Argentina shows two sides of Pope Francis equally unknown to the general public: those of an intimate friend and of a spiritual director. Authored by Gustavo Vera, a human rights activist and former city council member in Buenos Aires, La Amistad no se Negocia (Friendship is not Negotiable, 2025 Editorial Autores de Argentina) is based on letters Vera exchanged with Jorge Mario Bergoglio (first as an archbishop, then as pontiff) over 17 years of friendship. The book tells the story of the unusual relationship between a high-ranking member of the clergy and a left-wing activist, and demonstrates how Bergoglio, little by little, touched Vera's heart " not only with his wise…...

2+ week, 6+ day ago (864+ words) S'O PAULO " In the year of the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato si', in which he discussed themes like global warming and the protection of the common house, the Church is prepared for an impacting participation at the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (also known as Conference of the Parties or COP30). The event, which is being held this year in Bel'm, a city in the Amazonian State of Par, in Brazil, will receive 8 cardinals and 47 bishops, as well as thousands of priests, nuns and lay Catholics. The main conference (happening between Nov. 10-21) was preceded by the Climate Summit, which gathered heads of State between Nov. 6-7. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, read on Nov. 7, during the encounter of world leaders, Pope Leo XIV's message for the conference's attendants, in which he urged the governments to "courageously accelerate the…...