"This is such a blessing. This is truly a blessing," added Coffee. Sanchez-Guzman asserted that there's always need among the community amid pressure to buy Christmas gifts and other expenses.

If you’re looking for holiday gift ideas, here are some excellent new paperbacks on the Bible that would make great stocking stuffers.

The pope has contracted a cold and will skip his usual outdoor Sunday prayer, instead giving the blessing indoors just days ahead of his Christmas Eve and Day Masses, the Vatican said Saturday.

Luke is the main source of the Christmas story, while Matthew’s gospel emphasises the virgin birth. But some of best-known parts of the Christmas story aren’t in the Bible at all.

Christmas Eve will be observed Tuesday in churches across Topeka and northeast Kansas.