The LOOP
The Tuesday Loop - December 23, 2025
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT HALTS VA ABORTIONS
"The Department of Justice has reversed the Biden administration’s decision to allow Department of Veterans Affairs doctors to perform abortions on the taxpayers’ dime," The Daily Signal reports.
130 KIDNAPPED NIGERIAN STUDENTS RELEASED
Nigerian officials announced on Sunday that another 130 schoolchildren abducted last month by terrorists from a Catholic school in Nigeria have been released. The children are expected to reunite with their families on Dec. 23, in time for Christmas.
CUSTODIAN: SUSPECT CASED THE CAMPUS FOR WEEKS
"A longtime custodian at Brown University said he alerted a security guard after seeing a suspicious man walking around campus at least 10 times in the weeks leading up to the mass shooting on December 13," The Daily Wire reports.
22 STATES BACK CATHOLIC PRESCHOOLS AT SUPREME COURT
Twenty-two states along with numerous faith groups and legal organizations urged the U.S. Supreme Court to protect Colorado Catholic preschools from religious exclusion from the state's universal preschool funding program. The case was brought by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty after the schools were denied access to funding for low-income families.
GOVERNMENT OFFERS 'CHRISTMAS STIPEND' TO SELF-DEPORT
The Department of Homeland Security Secretary this week announced it is tripling a stipend offered to illegal aliens if they opt to self-deport. For those who choose to leave the United States before the new year, the federal government promises to provide $3,000 as well as a free plane ticket.
CARDINAL PIZZABALLA VISITS GAZA FOR CHRISTMAS
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, recently took his traditional Christmas visit to Gaza, which he spent encouraging the Christian community of Holy Family Parish, ministering to the sick and in need, and celebrating an early Christmas Mass.
DOJ APPEALS DISMISSAL OF COMEY, JAMES CASES
The Justice Department yesterday filed an appeal after the legal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James were dismissed.
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POPE TO GATHER WORLD'S CARDINALS NEXT MONTH
Pope Leo will convene his first Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals Jan. 7-8, assembling cardinals from around the world to strengthen unity within the Church. The consistory will focus on four key issues: reviewing Pope Francis’s 2013 apostolic exhortation on evangelization, studying the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium, examining the Synod and the concept of synodality, and discussing the liturgy.
JERUSALEM PATRIARCHS ISSUE CHRISTMAS PEACE APPEAL
The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem issued a Christmas message yesterday, calling Christians to practice steadfast faith, solidarity with those suffering, and renewed prayer for a “true and just peace” in the Holy Land, as violence continues despite a ceasefire that took effect Oct. 10.
HOMEMADE FOOD GIFTS
A homemade gift is personal, and a consumable gift won't add to people's pile of "stuff." So, try these homemade food ideas! They're allergen friendly so you can give them to anyone and everyone.
CATHOLIC 101
At a memorial service for homeless people who died on the streets in 2025, Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles gave an important reminder: "Love is the measure of the human heart and our love is judged by the mercy that we show to our neighbors, especially the weakest and most vulnerable.”
SAINT OF THE DAY
Today the Church celebrates St. Thorlak Thorhallsson, Iceland's patron saint and a fearless bishop who confronted corruption and upheld clerical celibacy. His feast endures as a national tradition for Icelanders who celebrate it as their final day of preparation before Christmas.
DAILY PSALM
"Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand." (Luke 21)
DAILY READINGS
Today's Mass readings.
HONORING OUR MOTHER
Honor Mary, the Mother of our Savior. Every year, firefighters in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna honor Mary by adorning her statue with flowers.
