Latest Religion News

Restorers complete work on the canopy covering St. Peter's main altar ahead of the 2025 Jubilee

Oct. 08, 2024 14:11 PM EDT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Restorers put the finishing touches Tuesday on the ornate canopy covering the main altar in St. Peter’s Basilica, which has been covered in scaffolding for months during the first renovation of Baroque architect and sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s masterpiece in more than...

Oklahoma amends request for Bibles that initially appeared to match only version backed by Trump

Oct. 08, 2024 11:36 AM EDT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma has amended its request for 55,000 Bibles to be placed in public schools that initially matched a version of the holy book endorsed by former President Donald Trump. The request was amended Monday and no longer requires the Bibles to include U.S....

Self-described Nazi becomes first in Australian state of Victoria to be convicted over Nazi salute

Oct. 07, 2024 22:13 PM EDT

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A self-described Nazi on Tuesday became the first person convicted in the Australian state of Victoria of performing an outlawed Nazi salute. Jacob Hersant, 25, gave the salute and praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in front of news media cameras outside...

Cissy Houston, a Grammy-winning gospel singer and Whitney Houston's mother, dies at 91

Oct. 07, 2024 19:56 PM EDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cissy Houston, a two-time Grammy-winning soul and gospel artist who sang with Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley and other stars and knew triumph and heartbreak as the mother of Whitney Houston, has died. She was 91. Cissy Houston died Monday morning in her New...

Pro-Palestinian protesters pitch encampment outside Jewish Democrat's Ohio home

Oct. 07, 2024 17:55 PM EDT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Masked pro-Palestinian demonstrators escalated their harassment of a Jewish congressman on the eve of Monday’s anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack, pitching an encampment outside Ohio Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman ’s Cincinnati residence. Landsman said Monday...

Defaced mural of Oct. 7 survivor another example of rising antisemitism in Italy

Oct. 07, 2024 14:07 PM EDT

MILAN (AP) — The vandalism Monday of a mural depicting a survivor of last year’s Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that killed some 1,200 people in Israel, is an example of rising antisemitism in Italy over the last year, according to the Antisemitism Observatory in Milan. Incidence of...

Lebanese worldwide fear for their homeland and loved ones as violence escalates

Oct. 07, 2024 13:08 PM EDT

It was a year ago when Jomana Siddiqui visited Lebanon, where her father was born — and is now buried. She planned to return there soon; this time, she thought, she would take her two teenage daughters. Instead, Siddiqui, who lives in California, now worries about relatives there....

A faith is on the edge of vanishing in Georgia after being exiled from Russia centuries ago

Oct. 07, 2024 10:42 AM EDT

GORELOVKA, Georgia (AP) — A 10-year-old boy proudly stands beside his father and listens to the monotone chanting of elderly women clad in embroidered headscarves and long colorful skirts. It is Ilya's first time attending a night prayer meeting in Gorelovka, a tiny village in the South Caucasus...

Israel intensifies bombardment of Gaza and southern Lebanon ahead of Oct. 7 anniversary

Oct. 06, 2024 20:45 PM EDT

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A new round of airstrikes hit Beirut suburbs late Sunday as Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon in a widening war with Iran-allied militant groups across the region. Palestinian officials said a strike on a mosque killed at...

Minnesota man arrested after allegedly threatening to 'shoot up' synagogue

Oct. 06, 2024 13:25 PM EDT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man was arrested after allegedly threatening to “shoot up” a Minneapolis synagogue, officials announced on Saturday. Staff at Temple Israel reported to the Minneapolis Police Department on Sept. 11 that they had received several phone calls from...