TAG · Religion & Society
An AP-NORC poll of 1,022 Jewish adults in the U.S. found deep divides within the community over Israel's military actions in Gaza, the role of Jewish identity, and representation in American politics. The survey, released July 18, 2026,…
2026-07-18 · 4 MIN READA 16th-century Catholic shrine on the Hooghly River in eastern India draws thousands of pilgrims annually, the majority of them Hindus and Muslims who say they are drawn by the figure of the Virgin Mary.
2026-07-17 · 3 MIN READThe Clearwater City Council voted 3-2 to transfer a downtown street to the Church of Scientology, clearing the way for a planned event hall. Residents opposed to the move are gathering signatures for a citywide referendum and a charter…
2026-07-07 · 3 MIN READThe San Francisco Catholic Archdiocese has agreed to pay $395 million to settle more than 500 lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by church officials, plaintiffs' attorneys said Monday. The agreement requires Archbishop Salvatore…
2026-06-29 · 3 MIN READThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is suing John Dehlin, an excommunicated sixth-generation member, to stop him from calling his podcast “Mormon Stories,” arguing that the branding mimics copyrighted church materials and…
2026-06-28 · 3 MIN READCatholic priest Anthony Odiong, convicted of sexually assaulting two women and sentenced to life in prison, had his temporary pastor role extended repeatedly by church leaders who were aware of misconduct complaints against him for more…
2026-06-15 · 4 MIN READA Catholic church in Luling, Louisiana, reversed its decision to include a recently convicted priest in its prayer intentions after the priest's victims objected, instead dedicating prayers to survivors of clergy abuse, according to the…
2026-06-06 · 3 MIN READAbout a dozen people attended an Ash Wednesday service at Boston's Old North Church in March. Two days later, a handful of worshippers gathered for a Shabbat service at Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island. Both congregations have been…
2026-06-05 · 3 MIN READJesuit High School of New Orleans has agreed to pay a seven-figure sum to settle a lawsuit alleging that two janitors molested a preteen boy on the school’s campus in the mid-1970s, according to The Guardian and court records. The…
2026-06-05 · 3 MIN READCardinal Robert McElroy, the Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C., on Wednesday removed a well-known priest from his role as an exorcist of the archdiocese after the priest publicly suggested that UFO sightings were the work of demons.
2026-06-03 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV issued a historic apology Monday for the Holy See's own role in legitimizing slavery, calling the Vatican's record a 'wound in Christian memory.' The apology, delivered in the pontiff's first encyclical, directly addressed…
2026-05-27 · 3 MIN READAt least four states have enacted laws this year making it a crime to disrupt religious services, a legislative response to a January protest inside a Minnesota church that drew federal charges and national outrage. Republican lawmakers in…
2026-05-27 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV said his election was both “a cross to bear and a blessing” as he celebrated his first Mass Friday, the day after cardinals elected him as the Catholic Church’s 267th pope. In the Sistine Chapel, he spoke off-the-cuff in…
2026-04-27 · 3 MIN READVatican City’s Pope Leo XIV made a public apology on Monday for the Holy See’s role in legitimizing slavery and for centuries in which it failed to condemn it, calling the Vatican record a “wound in Christian memory.” In his first…
2026-05-25 · 3 MIN READ
Religious leaders and lawmakers are pressing Congress to increase funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, or NSGP, asking for $1 billion to help secure houses of worship. In meetings on Capitol Hill, officials and advocates said…
2026-05-24 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV issued a historic apology on Monday for the Holy See’s role in authorizing and legitimizing slavery over centuries, marking the first time a pontiff has publicly acknowledged the Vatican’s direct institutional complicity in…
2026-05-24 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV will address artificial intelligence in his first encyclical, titled *Magnifica humanitas*—Latin for “magnificent humanity.” NPR reports the Vatican says the teaching will focus on “safeguarding the human person in the time of…
2026-05-24 · 3 MIN READLOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities said Tuesday that three men killed by two teen shooters at the Islamic Center of San Diego died while trying to delay the attackers as about 140 children were inside during the Monday attack. San Diego Police…
2026-05-20 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV will unveil his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), on May 25 with the Vatican’s top doctrine and development cardinals and Christopher Olah, co-founder of artificial intelligence company Anthropic,…
2026-05-20 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV will unveil his first encyclical focused on artificial intelligence on May 25, the Vatican announced. The document, *Magnifica Humanitas* (Magnificent Humanity), will address what the Vatican said is the care of human dignity…
2026-05-18 · 3 MIN READA breakaway Catholic traditionalist group rejected the Vatican's offer of talks on February 19, signaling it plans to proceed with consecrating four bishops on July 1 despite papal threats of sanctions and schism. The Society of St. Pius…
2026-05-18 · 3 MIN READBelarusian President Alexander Lukashenko greeted U.S. evangelist Franklin Graham during a visit to hold what organizers call the largest evangelical gathering in Belarus’ history, including a festival in Minsk. Lukashenko asked Graham to…
2026-05-16 · 3 MIN READBelarus’s authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko on Friday greeted U.S. evangelist Franklin Graham, who arrived in the tightly controlled country for the largest evangelical Christian gathering in its history, and asked him to convey…
2026-05-16 · 3 MIN READFour skeletons draped in silk, gold, and precious stones have been on display at a Bavarian monastery for more than 300 years, surprising visitors and recalling an era when Catholic churches sought to inspire faith with relics of early…
2026-05-14 · 3 MIN READBad Staffelstein, Germany, is home to a Catholic monastery church display that includes four elaborately decorated skeletons brought from Rome centuries ago—relics known as “catacomb saints” or “Holy Bodies.” Visitors in Bavaria say the…
2026-05-14 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV marked his first anniversary as pontiff on Friday, reflecting on a year defined by his pastoral, unifying approach to the Catholic Church but punctuated by an unprecedented public feud with U.S. President Donald Trump over the…
2026-05-10 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV marked his first year as pope with a homily in Pompeii that called on God’s mercy to soften “fratricidal hatred,” while the Vatican continued to navigate verbal sparring with President Donald Trump. The anniversary weekend…
2026-05-10 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV said social justice and equality should take priority over sexual morality in preserving church unity, according to an Associated Press report, as the Vatican released a synod document featuring the testimonies of two gay…
2026-05-10 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV has spent his first year in the papacy focused on consolidating his approach and making targeted changes to carry forward decisions on governance, finances and Church priorities, the Associated Press reported. In the coming…
2026-05-09 · 3 MIN READMedian in-person worship attendance in U.S. congregations rose to 70 adults in 2025, the first increase in 25 years, according to a new survey by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. The findings, drawn from 7,453 congregations…
2026-05-08 · 3 MIN READFollowing the 2023 attack that killed worshippers at El-Ghriba Synagogue, international visitors returned this year to the annual Jewish pilgrimage on Tunisia’s Djerba island, with security tightly focused around the historic site. The…
2026-05-08 · 3 MIN READWorship attendance at churches and other houses of worship rose in 2025 for the first time in about two decades, according to a new report by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. The institute said its survey of leaders at 7,453…
2026-05-08 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV marked his first year in the Vatican by choosing a longer view than his predecessor, reshaping finances and appointments while preparing for major flashpoints over the Latin Mass and Germany’s “Synodal Path.” In a look ahead…
2026-05-07 · 3 MIN READThe Melkite Greek Catholic bishops of Lebanon said Monday that Israeli forces are demolishing civilian and religious buildings in south Lebanon, and that a convent in the village of Yaroun was bulldozed earlier this month, according to the…
2026-05-05 · 3 MIN READBEIRUT (AP) — Melkite Greek Catholic bishops in Lebanon on Monday urged the Lebanese government and the United Nations to protect the property of civilians and religious institutions after Israeli troops under its control demolished…
2026-05-05 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pontiff, encouraged wealthy American Catholics to continue funding papal charitable works during a Saturday audience in Rome, as the U.S.-based Papal Foundation announced a record $15 million in grants for…
2026-05-03 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV on Saturday encouraged some of the wealthiest U.S. Catholics to keep donating to support his charitable works, telling stewards of the Papal Foundation that the giving allows “countless people” to experience God’s “goodness…
2026-05-03 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV appointed Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, an El Salvador-born advocate for immigrants and a critic of the Trump administration’s deportation policies, as the new bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West…
2026-05-02 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV has appointed Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, an El Salvador-born advocate for immigrants, as bishop of the Wheeling-Charleston diocese in West Virginia. Menjivar-Ayala, 55, replaces Mark Brennan, who has led the diocese since 2019.
2026-05-02 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV met in the Vatican on Monday with Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, the first female leader of the Church of England, and prayed with her as the two vowed to keep working to overcome differences “no matter how…
2026-04-30 · 3 MIN READMississippi’s largest synagogue, Beth Israel Congregation in northeast Jackson, opened to local media as it continued rebuilding after an arson attack in the early hours of Jan. 10. Leaders said their goal is to resume services by the…
2026-04-29 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV paid tribute to Pope Francis on Tuesday on the first anniversary of Francis’s death, recalling Francis’s preaching on God’s mercy and his gestures of solidarity with poor people. The American pope delivered the remarks aboard…
2026-04-21 · 3 MIN READThe Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a case from two Colorado Catholic preschools challenging their exclusion from the state's taxpayer-funded universal preschool program because they refuse to admit children from LGBTQ+ families.…
2026-04-20 · 4 MIN READPope Leo XIV prayed Sunday at a Catholic shrine in Angola that was a major hub of the African slave trade, but did not explicitly reference slavery during his visit to the Sanctuary of Mama Muxima. The American pope spoke of the 'sorrow…
2026-04-19 · 3 MIN READChinese authorities are escalating pressure on underground Catholic communities to join the state-controlled official church, according to Human Rights Watch. The rights group released a report Wednesday documenting a decade-long campaign…
2026-04-16 · 4 MIN READLeaders at the Church of God in Christ announced Monday that the Mason Temple in Memphis—the site of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final speech—will receive a $1.2 million federal grant to modernize the church.
2026-04-13 · 3 MIN READChurch of God in Christ leaders in Memphis said the Mason Temple, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his final speech, will receive a $1.2 million federal grant for renovations. The leaders said the money will modernize…
2026-04-12 · 3 MIN READA center in Maine is working to strengthen rural synagogues and Jewish communities across the United States. The Center for Small Town Jewish Life at Colby College runs programs for more than 60 communities in 22 states, aiming to support…
2026-04-10 · 3 MIN READEl papa León XIV cargó una cruz de madera a través de las 14 estaciones del vía crucis en el Coliseo de Roma el Viernes Santo, en su primer día en el puesto, una práctica que no se repetía en esas dimensiones “en décadas”, según la crónica…
2026-04-07 · 4 MIN READIsraeli police prevented Catholic leaders from entering Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate a private Palm Sunday Mass, the Associated Press reported on Sunday. The police said they approved a “limited prayer framework”…
2026-04-01 · 3 MIN READA Buddhist meditation hall at Tassajara Mountain Zen Center in central California burned down in an attic fire March 26, destroying the wooden structure and damaging the nearby library, officials said. The center’s leaders said no one was…
2026-04-01 · 3 MIN READIsrael’s police blocked Catholic Church leaders from entering Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate a private Palm Sunday Mass, prompting criticism from the United States and European leaders. The police said they approved…
2026-03-31 · 3 MIN READOKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Robert Morris, the founder of Texas’ Gateway Church who pleaded guilty last year to sexually abusing a child in the 1980s, was released early Tuesday after serving six months in an Oklahoma jail. Morris, 64, must…
2026-03-31 · 3 MIN READSpain’s Catholic bishops and the Spanish government signed paperwork Monday for a new state-involved system to compensate victims of clergy sexual abuse, including cases where offenders have died or crimes are too old to be prosecuted. The…
2026-03-31 · 4 MIN READPope Leo XIV has installed Bishop James Golka as Denver’s new archbishop, marking a leadership transition in a Catholic archdiocese known for conservative influence but also for internal tensions over culture-war issues. Golka was…
2026-03-29 · 4 MIN READPope Leo XIV will travel Nov. 28 to Nicaea in present-day Turkey to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, a foundational moment that helped shape the Nicene Creed, which many Christians still recite. The anniversary also…
2026-03-24 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV declared Father Edward Joseph Flanagan of Boys Town “venerable” Monday, a Vatican step that advances the Nebraska priest toward beatification. The pope’s decree follows a review by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of…
2026-03-24 · 3 MIN READSynagogues and other houses of worship in Maine are pressing for state funding to help pay for security upgrades as federal nonprofit grants and a growing climate of religious tensions leave some organizations waiting longer than they can…
2026-03-19 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV on Monday met with Vatican child-protection officials and with investigative journalist Gareth Gore, whose book “Opus” alleges abuses within Opus Dei. In remarks to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, the…
2026-03-15 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV moved into a newly renovated papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace on Saturday, the Vatican said. The move places him in a residence famously eschewed by Pope Francis and required a major renovation to update utilities and…
2026-03-15 · 3 MIN READROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV met Monday with Gareth Gore, an investigative journalist who has criticized Opus Dei, and told the Vatican’s child protection commission that the church should pay attention to abuse involving “vulnerable” adults.…
2026-03-15 · 3 MIN READThe armed man who rammed his vehicle into Temple Israel, a large Reform synagogue in West Bloomfield Township near Detroit, was identified as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a 41-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen born in Lebanon, federal officials…
2026-03-13 · 3 MIN READA man who rammed his vehicle into Temple Israel, one of the largest Reform synagogues in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield, Michigan, was identified as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, according to federal officials. He was fatally shot by…
2026-03-13 · 3 MIN READFour Muslim parents and three private schools filed federal lawsuits seeking to stop Texas officials from excluding Islamic private schools from the state’s private school voucher program, arguing the state is discriminating on the basis…
2026-03-13 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV accepted the resignation of Bishop Emanuel Shaleta, a Chaldean Catholic leader in the San Diego area, who faces criminal charges accusing him of embezzling $270,000 from his parish. The Vatican said it accepted Shaleta’s…
2026-03-13 · 3 MIN READMuslim parents and private schools filed lawsuits against Texas officials Wednesday, alleging religious discrimination in the state's new private school voucher program that excludes Islamic institutions. The legal actions argue the…
2026-03-13 · 3 MIN READPope Leo XIV named Archbishop Luis Marín de San Martín to lead the Vatican’s charity office, the Holy See’s almsgiving work, the Associated Press reported Thursday. Marín, a fellow Augustinian and a Spanish church official, replaces Polish…
2026-03-11 · 3 MIN READIraqi Cardinal Louis Sako, head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, retired on Tuesday, setting the stage for new leadership as war and attacks ripple across the region.
2026-03-09 · 3 MIN READA report released this week by Rhode Island’s attorney general detailing decades of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Providence is giving survivors a sense of vindication while renewing demands for accountability and…
2026-03-05 · 3 MIN READConservative Anglican leaders meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, have disbanded their existing governing body and replaced it with a new council that grants full voting rights to bishops, clergy, and lay members alike, formalizing a deepening…
2026-03-05 · 4 MIN READPROVIDENCE, R.I. — A multiyear investigation by Rhode Island's attorney general found that at least 75 Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Providence sexually abused more than 300 children since 1950, with church leaders shielding accused…
2026-03-04 · 6 MIN READ
