The Register’s Top Stories of 2023

YEAR IN REVIEW

Clockwise from left: St. Charles Borromeo Church in Visalia, California, the Synod on Synodality underway and the Vatican
Clockwise from left: St. Charles Borromeo Church in Visalia, California, the Synod on Synodality underway and the Vatican (photo: Diocese of Fresno, Edward Pentin/National Catholic Register and Unsplash)

2023 saw the Register cover many stories on various subjects, from Church teaching on marriage to whether the faithful could eat meat on St. Patrick’s Day, to the removal of Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, and the dedication of the largest parish church in North America. 

Other topics of interest to Register readers included plans for Notre Dame Cathedral’s interior, how the faith is faring in the Netherlands, fascination over the fate of a relic (of a saint’s head) and how a Catholic-school student was affected by transgender policy; we also reported on the horrific Hamas attack on Israel and its aftermath.

In terms of Vatican news, personnel changes at the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith topped our most-read coverage, as did pronoucements from that dicastery; in addition, we covered attacks on Church teaching and all things Synod on Synodality.

Did you read the top stories from last year? Click the links below to peruse.

Thank you, as always, for reading what we report. Stay tuned for more solid coverage as 2024 gets underway.


The Register’s Top Nation Stories

1. Father James Martin’s ‘Irresponsible’ Take on Marriage: Catholic Priests Call for Clarity

2. The Meat of the Matter: St. Patrick’s Day and the Lenten Fast/More About the Meat of the Matter: More Than 70% of US Bishops Allowing Meat on St. Patrick’s Day

3. Bishop Strickland Can Say Mass in Tyler, Though He Says He Was Advised to Leave

4. St. Charles Borromeo Church ‘Creates an Environment Which Makes You Think of the Eucharist’

5. Who’s ‘Anti-Francis’? Bishop Paprocki and Others Point Out Cardinal McElroy’s Contradictions of the Holy Father

 

The Register’s Top World Stories

1. Notre Dame Cathedral’s New Interior Design Unveiled

2. The ‘Pastoral Council’ and the Collapse of the Catholic Faith in the Netherlands

3. Relic of St. Thomas More Faces Destruction Unless Anglican Church Opens Vault

4. Why Was a Canadian Student Expelled From Catholic School for Opposing Transgender Bathroom Policy?

5. Catholic Church Wrestles With Response to Hamas’ Atrocities

 

The Register’s Top Vatican Stories

1. Cardinal Müller Confirms Vatican Doctrinal Office Had File Warning About Archbishop Fernández

2. Cardinal McElroy’s Attack on Church Teachings on Sexuality Is a Pastoral Disaster

3. Cardinal Müller Says Synod on Synodality Is Being Used by Some to Prepare the Church to Accept False Teaching

4. Exclusive: Archbishop Fernández Warns Against Bishops Who Think They Can Judge ‘Doctrine of the Holy Father’

5. Synod on Synodality: Laywoman’s Speech Opposing Women’s Ordination Draws Big Ovation

‘Aerial View of Vatican City at Twilight’

2023: The Year in Review (Jan. 6)

This week on Register Radio, we look back at the top stories of 2023 with Register Editor in Chief Shannon Mullen. Then Senior Editor Jonathan Leidl joins host Jeanette DeMelo from Rome to discuss ‘Fiducia Supplicans’ and the impact it will have on Pope Francis’ legacy.

Palestinian Christians celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at Holy Family Church in Gaza City on March 31, amid the ongoing battles Israel and the Hamas militant group.

People Explain ‘Why I Go to Mass’

‘Why go to Mass on Sundays? It is not enough to answer that it is a precept of the Church. … We Christians need to participate in Sunday Mass because only with the grace of Jesus, with his living presence in us and among us, can we put into practice his commandment, and thus be his credible witnesses.’ —Pope Francis