Latest Christianity News
Joining drag queens on TV show costs Indiana pastor his job
NEW YORK (AP) — The Rev. Craig Duke has been a Methodist minister for three decades, building a reputation as a staunch advocate of LGBTQ inclusion. His pastoral duties have now been terminated — the result of a bitter rift surfacing in his Indiana church after he sought to demonstrate...
Barred from priesthood, some Catholic women find other roles
ROME (AP) — Women aspiring to leadership in the Catholic church have long come to terms with the glass ceiling that exists in the male-dominated institution, but Pope Francis’ spate of female appointments in the Vatican hierarchy suggests that change, however modest, is underway. ...
Iowa to pay $1.9M to settle religious, speech rights cases
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A state panel agreed Monday to spend nearly $2 million to settle two federal lawsuits brought against the University of Iowa in 2017 after a religious group denied a gay student a leadership role. The Iowa State Appeal Board, made up of Treasurer Michael...
Swiss Catholic church orders study of past sexual abuse
GENEVA (AP) — The leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Switzerland have asked two academics to lead a study into the Swiss church's history of sexual exploitation since the mid-20th century, joining other churches in other countries in Europe and beyond to undergo such a reckoning. ...
US religious group says Haitian gang releases 3 hostages
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A religious group based in Ohio announced Monday that a violent gang in Haiti has released three more hostages, while another 12 remain abducted. The statement from Christian Aid Ministries said the people were released on Sunday in Haiti and are...
Cincinnati Archdiocese unveils restructuring plan
CINCINNATI (AP) — Cincinnati's archdiocese has unveiled a final restructuring plan to consolidate its churches and schools that serve nearly half a million Roman Catholics in 19 counties. Archbishop Dennis Schnurr on Sunday announced the program, known as Beacons of Light, in which...
Pope: New meeting with Russian Orthodox patriarch possible
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis said Monday there were plans for a possible second meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, after their historic 2016 encounter in Cuba became a landmark in mending relations severed by the 1,000-year-old schism that divided Christianity. ...
Pope says he removed Paris archbishop because of gossip
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis said Monday he accepted the resignation of the archbishop of Paris because the monsignor could no longer govern effectively thanks to the “gossip” about his relationship with a woman a decade ago. Francis was asked en route...
Pope returning home after trip focused on helping migrants
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Pope Francis ended his visit to Greece on Monday by encouraging its young people to follow their dreams and not be tempted by the consumerist “sirens” of today that promise easy pleasures. Francis briefly struggled to keep his balance on the...
TikTok of Mississippi baby playing with kitten goes viral
SUMRALL, Miss. (AP) — When Emily Hixon shot video of her daughter, Sojourner, playing with a kitten the family had rescued, she never dreamed it would go viral one day. Hixon, of Sumrall, said she heard the kitten mewing in a small shed by Sumrall High School, thinking...
