Latest Roman Catholicism News

AP PHOTOS: Boston celebrates St. Patrick's Day; Biden holds White House brunch with Irish leader

Mar. 17, 2024 23:17 PM EDT

BOSTON (AP) — While some American cities celebrated St. Patrick's Day a day early this weekend, Boston, one of the most Irish cities in the country, held its parades and festivities on Sunday, or March 17. Crowds of green-clad revelers lined the streets for the South Boston St....

From 4-leaf clovers to some unexpected history, all you need to know about St. Patrick's Day

Mar. 16, 2024 00:11 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — If it's March, and it's green, it must be St. Patrick's Day. The day honoring the patron saint of Ireland is a global celebration of Irish heritage. And nowhere is that more so than in the United States, where parades take place in cities around the country and all...

A Catholic activist in Belarus is handed a 3-year sentence as a crackdown on dissent intensifies

Mar. 15, 2024 14:17 PM EDT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A Catholic activist in Belarus was handed a three-year prison sentence Friday on charges that Western diplomats have denounced as politically driven, the latest move in the authorities' sweeping crackdown on the country's civil society. Uladzislau Beladzed,...

Polish Catholics get a new leader as the church struggles to reckon with sexual abuse

Mar. 14, 2024 15:33 PM EDT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The leaders of Poland’s influential Catholic Church on Thursday chose moderate Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda to be their new principal, at a time when the church is still struggling to reckon with the abuse of minors by some Polish clergy, while the number of Poles going to...

Virgin of Charity unites all Cubans — Catholics, Santeria followers, exiled and back on the island

Mar. 13, 2024 10:55 AM EDT

EL COBRE, Cuba (AP) — Ramon Nieblas fixed his tearful eyes on the small golden statue, a beloved icon of Cuba’s patron saint. Whispering, he asked the Virgin of Charity of Cobre for a miracle: Please save his sick son. “I came to pray for his health,” said Nieblas, a Cuban...

Revered by Hemingway and visited by popes, why Cuba's small patron saint is such a huge symbol

Mar. 13, 2024 08:09 AM EDT

EL COBRE, Cuba (AP) — One religious icon unites Cubans: The Virgin of Charity of Cobre. Cuba's patron saint is venerated by observant Catholics and followers of Afro-Cuban Santeria traditions as well as Cubans in exile and back on the island. The wooden statue of the Virgin Mary...

Catholic news site Church Militant agrees to pay $500k in defamation case and is expected to close

Mar. 04, 2024 13:54 PM EST

A far-right, unofficial Catholic media website has agreed to pay $500,000 to a New Hampshire priest who sued for defamation over a 2019 article that it now disavows. The website also is planning to shut down soon, the priest's attorney says. The apology by Church Militant came after...

A Texas girl allegedly killed by a family friend is remembered as 'precious' during funeral service

Mar. 02, 2024 15:55 PM EST

An 11-year-old Texas girl who was allegedly killed by a family friend with a history of violence was remembered Saturday during a rosary service at St. Joseph Catholic Church. Audrii Cunningham was a “precious, gentle, kind, loving, smiling, animal lover,” said Rev. Paul Kahan...

Liev Schreiber dons a collar to play a Catholic priest in revival of 'Doubt' on Broadway

Feb. 29, 2024 12:49 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) — Liev Schreiber was in a reflective mood one recent Sunday when he got a call about possibly starring in the play “Doubt” on Broadway. “I had just come out of Mass with my in-laws, which is odd for a Jewish boy from the Lower East Side,” the actor and new dad...

At least 15 Catholic worshippers were killed in an attack during a service in northern Burkina Faso

Feb. 25, 2024 12:38 PM EST

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — At least 15 Catholic worshippers were killed in a Burkina Faso village on Sunday when gunmen attacked a community as they gathered for prayers in the country's conflict-hit northern region, church officials said. The violence in the village of Essakane was a...