Jewish teens enlisted to fight anti-Semitism in Germany

LUCKAU, Germany – Sophie Steiert opens a bag of kosher gummy bears and offers them to 20 other German teenagers seated around her in their high school classroom. “They’re really y...

Pope rules out death penalty in change to church teaching

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis has decreed that the death penalty is “inadmissible” under all circumstances and the Catholic Church should campaign to abolish it, a change in church teaching th...

Company unveils moving mosque to welcome Muslims in Japan

TOKYO – A large white and blue truck pulls up outside a stadium in central Japan and slowly expands into a place of worship. Welcome to the Mobile Mosque. As Japan prep...

Boys rescued from Thai cave ordained at Buddhist temple

MAE SAI, Thailand – The young soccer teammates and their coach who were rescued after being trapped in a cave in northern Thailand were ordained Wednesday at a Buddhist temple, a merit-makin...

U.S. nuns demand action to end ‘culture of silence’ on abuse

VATICAN CITY – The largest association of Roman Catholic nuns in the United States urged its members Monday to report any sexual abuse of religious sisters by clergy and demanded that church...

What’s behind the belief in weeping Virgin Mary statues?

In a Catholic parish in Hobbs, New Mexico, a statue of the Virgin Mary has been “weeping.” Onlookers have gathered out of curiosity, and also for prayer and healing. The liquid on...

St. Ignatius Church to hold special mass in Ignacio

A special mass will be held in honor of the patron saint St. Ignatius of Loyola at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at St. Ignatius Church, 14826 Highway 172, in Ignacio. The service will be hel...

Catholic Church has ‘major gap’ when accused sex abuser is high-ranking cleric, top U.S. cardinal says

The Catholic archbishop of Boston, one of the country’s most prominent Catholic clerics and Pope Francis’ chief adviser on child sex abuse, said Tuesday that while the church now has a stron...

China bans Tibetan students from religious activities

BEIJING – Children in traditionally Buddhist Tibet have been banned from taking part in religious activities over the summer holidays, an official Chinese Communist Party newspaper has repor...

Questioning real-world learning at ultra-Orthodox schools

NEW YORK – At the ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools Pesach Eisen attended in Brooklyn, most of the day was spent studying religious texts with classes taught in Yiddish. One class at the end of ...

Revelations of U.S. cardinal sex abuse will force pope’s hand

VATICAN CITY – Revelations that one of the most respected U.S. cardinals allegedly sexually abused both boys and adult seminarians have raised questions about who in the Catholic Church hier...

Churches use buildings to address affordable housing crisis

WASHINGTON – Helen McIlvaine gets excited when she sees a church. Driving around her hometown of Alexandria, Virginia, on a bright and sunny morning, McIlvaine slowed the car at w...