Latest Religion News
Pope Francis reprimands Vatican staff for gossiping in annual Christmas message
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis told Vatican bureaucrats on Saturday to stop speaking ill of one another, as he once again used his annual Christmas greetings to admonish the backstabbing and gossiping among his closest collaborators. A wheezing and congested sounding Francis, who just...
Florida requires teaching Black history. Some don't trust schools to do it justice
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Buried among Florida's manicured golf courses and sprawling suburbs are the artifacts of its slave-holding past: the long-lost cemeteries of enslaved people, the statutes of Confederate soldiers that still stand watch over town squares, the old plantations turned into...
After shooting, Wisconsin school and church lean into Christmas message for comfort
For Christians around the world, Christmas is the joyful celebration of the birth of Jesus. To affirm their beliefs — that God is present and hasn’t abandoned them — the faith community at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, is embracing its holiday traditions just days...
University of California campuses resolve discrimination complaints stemming from Gaza protests
The U.S. Department of Education said Friday it has reached an agreement with the University of California system resolving complaints from Jewish and Muslim students of discrimination and harassment during protests last spring over the war in Gaza. The department’s Office for...
Wisconsin police chief overseeing school shooting probe is named to Seattle job
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes was named as the chief of police in Seattle on Friday, five days after he was thrust into the national spotlight because of a shooting at a religious school in Wisconsin that killed a teacher and student. Barnes' departure comes...
Minneapolis softens law on obstructing abortion clinics in response to free-speech lawsuit
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis has softened an ordinance that prohibited the obstruction of entrances and driveways to abortion clinics after anti-abortion activists sued to challenge it on free-speech grounds. The City Council this month quietly amended the ordinance to exclude...
Trump to nominate the head of Catholic advocacy group as US ambassador to the Vatican
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Friday said he's nominating the president of the advocacy group CatholicVote to be the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. Brian Burch is the president and co-founder of CatholicVote. He and his wife, Sara, have nine children...
US civil rights probe faults Philadelphia school district over handling of antisemitism reports
The Philadelphia school district failed to show it protected Jewish students from harassment despite “repeated, extensive notice” that students, teachers and administrators were engaging in antisemitic behavior, the U.S. Department of Education has concluded after a federal civil rights...
For some, the pope's big Holy Year only aggravates housing crisis as overtourism pushes out Romans
When Pope Francis left the Vatican earlier this month for his traditional Christmastime outing downtown, he acknowledged what many Romans have been complaining about for months: That his big plans for a Holy Year had turned their city into a giant construction pit, with traffic-clogging roadworks...
Warring tribes in Pakistan’s northwest ordered to hand over weapons after weeks of deadly clashes
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Warring tribes in Pakistan’s northwest were ordered to hand over their weapons after weeks of deadly violence, authorities said Friday. Clashes in the Kurram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have killed at least 130 people in recent weeks,...
