Oklahoma school board approves what would be the 1st taxpayer-funded religious school in US

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A state school board in Oklahoma voted Monday to approve what would be the first publicly funded religious school in the nation, despite a warning from the state's attorney general that the decision was unconstitutional. The Statewide Virtual Charter School...

State school board in Oklahoma approves what would be the first publicly funded religious school in the nation

Partisan stalemate keeps child sexual assault lawsuit window from advancing in Pennsylvania

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Child sexual abuse survivors pressed Pennsylvania lawmakers Monday to move ahead with opening a two-year window for them to file otherwise outdated lawsuits over their claims, but a partisan fight in the Legislature kept the proposal bottled up with no resolution in sight....

France's spectacular abbey Mont-Saint-Michel celebrates 1,000th birthday

PARIS (AP) — France’s beloved abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel has reached a ripe old age. It's been 1,000 years since the laying of its first stone. The millennial of the UNESCO World Heritage site and key Normandy tourism magnet is being celebrated until November with exhibits,...

Arson investigation underway after fire burns Los Angeles church for second time in 2 years

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An arson investigation was under way Sunday after fire damaged a nearly 100-year-old Los Angeles church for the second time in less than two years, authorities. Flames broke out shorty before 7 p.m. Saturday in the sanctuary of St. John’s United Methodist...

Former Archbishop of Santa Fe Michael Sheehan, who served from 1993 to 2015, dies at 83

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Retired Archbishop Michael Sheehan, who served the Archdiocese of Santa Fe for 22 years, has died. He was 83. Sheehan died Saturday, but a cause of death wasn’t disclosed, Leslie Radigan, a spokesperson for the archdiocese, said. The...

Russia's most famous icon handed over from museum to church despite protests

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian Orthodox believers celebrated Trinity Sunday with Russia's most famous icon transferred from a museum to Moscow's main cathedral despite the keepers' vociferous protests. The Trinity icon by Andrei Rublev, which was kept in Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery since the...

Vatican cardinal performs rite at desecrated altar in St. Peter's Basilica after naked protest

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The head of St. Peter’s Basilica performed a special rite Saturday after a man stripped naked and hopped on the main altar with the words “Save children of Ukraina” written on his back. Cardinal Mauro Gambetti performed the penitential rite following the...

Gadhafi's son goes on hunger strike in Lebanon to protest detention without trial

BEIRUT (AP) — A son of Libya’s late leader Moammar Gadhafi, who has been held in Lebanon for more than seven years, began a hunger strike Saturday to protest his detention without trial, his lawyer said. Hannibal Gadhafi has been held in Lebanon since 2015 after he was kidnapped...

Pope warns of risk of corruption in missionary fundraising after AP investigation

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis warned the Vatican’s missionary fundraisers on Saturday not to allow financial corruption to creep into their work, insisting that spirituality and spreading the Gospel must drive their operations, not mere entrepreneurship. Francis made the...