Kristina Millare

Kristina Millare is a freelance journalist with a professional communications background in the humanitarian aid and development sector, news journalism, entertainment marketing, politics and government, business and entrepreneurship.

Articles by Kristina Millare

A view of the damage to Holy Family Church in Gaza City following an Israeli strike on the church in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on July 17, 2025. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said an Israeli strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church killed three and injured several people on July 17, including the parish priest, as well as causing damage to the building. Credit: OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images

Israel says Holy Family Church in Gaza was ‘mistakenly’ hit, ‘regrets’ damage

Jul 18, 2025 / 13:00 pm

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shared a post on X saying “fragments from a shell” hit the parish church, which has become a shelter for more than 500 people.

Pope Leo XIV on July 17, 2025, meets with a U.S. ecumenical group led by Cardinal Joseph Tobin and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, encouraging them to “return to the roots of our faith” in their pilgrimage to Italy and Turkey. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV meets with U.S. Orthodox-Catholic pilgrim group at Castel Gandolfo

Jul 17, 2025 / 12:31 pm

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday met with a U.S. ecumenical group led by Cardinal Joseph Tobin and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elpidophoros of America.

Pope Leo XIV: AI developers, users share responsibility to promote good of humanity

Jul 10, 2025 / 15:15 pm

In a message to the 2025 AI for Good Summit, Pope Leo XIV said both developers and users of AI are jointly responsible for ensuring innovations uphold human dignity.

Pope Leo XIV greets people as he arrives for a two-week stay in the summer papal estate in Castel Gandolfo, 25 miles southeast of Rome, on July 6, 2025. The newly elected pope revives a long-standing papal tradition paused under Francis, as Castel Gandolfo prepares to welcome a pope for the first time in over a decade. Credit: ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP via Getty Images

Pope Leo XIV arrives in Castel Gandolfo for summer vacation

Jul 6, 2025 / 13:45 pm

Crowds of people standing behind barriers greeted the Holy Father, taking photos and shouting “Viva Papa!” as he walked toward the papal palace.

Pope Leo XIV, speaking in English, expressed his “sincere condolences” to “families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters, who were at the summer camp, in the disaster caused by flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas in the United States” after praying the Angelus with pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on July 6, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV prays for victims, families of Texas flood disaster

Jul 6, 2025 / 10:30 am

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday prayed for the victims and families affected by the recent flood disaster in Texas.

Pope Leo XIV greets a young pilgrim in Rome during a meeting with group of teachers and young people from Denmark, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, Saturday, July 5, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV: Pilgrimages are ‘vital’ for a Christian’s life of faith

Jul 5, 2025 / 11:30 am

The Holy Father invited a large group of teachers and young people from Denmark, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales to the Vatican on Saturday.

Speaking to over 400 bishops from 38 countries on June 25, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV emphasized the importance of pastoral prudence, poverty, and synodality in the ministry of a bishop. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV appoints new president to lead Vatican’s child safeguarding commission

Jul 5, 2025 / 10:35 am

The prelate succeeds U.S.-born Cardinal Seán O’Malley, 81, the founding president of the safeguarding commission established by Pope Francis in 2014.

Bishop Mark Maigida Nzukwein of Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Wukari. Credit: Courtesy of Diocese of Wukari, Nigeria

Nigerian bishop: Displaced families in need of spiritual and material help

Jul 5, 2025 / 06:00 am

Since his 2022 appointment, Bishop Mark Maigida Nzukwein has seen the destruction of at least 325 Catholic places of worship by Islamic extremists.

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, speaks during a press conference about a new Vatican document on human dignity on April 8, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Cardinal Fernández says judges selected to hear Rupnik sexual abuse trial

Jul 3, 2025 / 13:02 pm

The cardinal told journalists that the judges chosen are “independent and external” to the dicastery but did not indicate when the Slovenian priest’s trial is set to take place.

Bishop Daniel E. Garcia. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Austin

Pope Leo XIV appoints Texan bishop to shepherd the Diocese of Austin

Jul 2, 2025 / 13:49 pm

After leading the Diocese of Monterey since 2018, Bishop Daniel Garcia, 64, has returned to his home state of Texas to serve the Austin Diocese as its leader.

The Vatican Gardens at Castel Gandolfo in Italy. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Pope Leo XIV: Environment should not be a ‘bargaining chip’ to wield power, exploit poor

Jul 2, 2025 / 12:35 pm

Pope Leo XIV announced the theme “Seeds of Peace and Hope” for the 10th World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, set for Sept. 1.

Auxiliary Bishop Mark Rivituso of St. Louis blesses donations in a van used during the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage in July 2024. On July 1, 2025, Pope Leo XIV appointed Rivituso archbishop of Mobile, Alabama. Credit: Jonah McKeown/CNA

Pope Leo XIV appoints new archbishop to lead Archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama

Jul 1, 2025 / 13:47 pm

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Mark Rivituso, auxiliary of St. Louis, as metropolitan archbishop of Mobile, Alabama.

Pope Leo prays the Angelus at the Vatican on June 30, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Pope Leo XIV denounces use of hunger as ‘weapon of war’ in message to UN conference

Jun 30, 2025 / 12:24 pm

Pope Leo XIV deplored the use of hunger as a “weapon of war” in a message to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization conference in Rome.

Pope Leo XIV visits Vatican Radio’s transmission center on June 19, 2025, in Santa Maria di Galeria, Italy. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV visits Vatican Radio transmitters, proposed solar energy site

Jun 19, 2025 / 15:33 pm

During the June 19 site visit, the Holy Father blessed staff working in the central radio center on the Vatican’s Corpus Christi holiday.

Cardinal Raymond Burke gives the final blessing during the Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage Mass in Rome on Oct. 25, 2014. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Cardinal Burke appeals for restoration of Traditional Latin Mass

Jun 16, 2025 / 16:31 pm

Cardinal Raymond Burke said he has asked Pope Leo XIV to remove measures restricting the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass in dioceses.

Smoke billows from an explosion in southwest Tehran on June 16, 2025. Iran’s state broadcaster was briefly knocked off the air by an Israeli strike and explosions rang out across Tehran on June 16 after a barrage of Iranian missiles killed 11 people in Israel on the fourth day of an escalating air war. Credit: ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

Pope Leo XIV calls for responsibility, dialogue to end escalating Israel-Iran violence

Jun 16, 2025 / 13:19 pm

Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, echoed Pope Leo’s calls for peaceful solutions.

Pope Leo XIV waves to those gathered for Mass for the Jubilee of Sport on the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity on June 15, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Pope Leo XIV on Holy Trinity Sunday: God’s ‘dynamic’ love opens humanity to encounter

Jun 15, 2025 / 11:46 am

The solemnity coincided with the June 14–15 Jubilee of Sport, where Pope Leo XIV asked pilgrims who belong to sports teams and associations to glorify God.

Pope Leo XIV waves from the popemobile at the crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square for Mass on Pentecost Sunday on June 8, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Charismatic renewal leader confident Pope Leo XIV will affirm movement’s status in Church

Jun 12, 2025 / 15:47 pm

“I truly believe Pope Leo will be very supportive of the renewal and of other lay movements,” said Shayne Bennett of Holy Spirit Seminary in Brisbane, Australia.

Pope Leo XIV speaks at a Wednesday audience with the public on June 11, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Pope Leo XIV appoints new Chinese bishop for Archdiocese of Fuzhou

Jun 11, 2025 / 09:12 am

The Vatican credited the Sino-Vatican deal, signed in September 2019 and renewed for a third time in October 2024, for Lin Yuntuan’s June 5 appointment.

Father Marko Rupnik in an interview with EWTN in 2020. Credit: EWTN

Vatican News removes Rupnik art from website

Jun 9, 2025 / 11:08 am

The Vatican on Monday removed artwork by former Jesuit Father Marko Ivan Rupnik from its official websites.