Religion News

8:36 AM on Saturday, February 21

Arab and Muslim countries are sharply condemning comments by the U.S. ambassador to Israel, who said in an interview that Israel had a right to much of the Middle East

8:18 AM on Saturday, February 21

Assisi is putting the bones of St. Francis on public display for the first time, and the town is bracing for a huge crush of pilgrims

5:30 AM on Saturday, February 21

A woman adopted as a toddler by an American war veteran, who he found in the 1970s in an Iranian orphanage and raised as a Christian, is being threatened with deportation to Iran, a country notoriously dangerous for Christians and on the brink of war with the United States

5:48 PM on Friday, February 20

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has cleared the way for a Louisiana law requiring displays of the Ten Commandments in public classrooms to take effect

8:33 AM on Friday, February 20

With the Winter Olympics drawing visitors to Milan, volunteers organized by the archdiocese’s youth ministry office are offering free visits to some of the city’s lesser-known churches

6:26 AM on Friday, February 20

Hundreds of Buddhist monks have rallied in the capital of Sri Lanka to protest alleged government disrespect of their religion and disregard for a long-standing tradition that they be consulted in matters of state

5:55 AM on Friday, February 20

Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia church has reached its maximum height with the placement of a cross on its central Tower of Jesus Christ

5:01 AM on Friday, February 20

Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered under heavy Israeli restrictions at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for the first Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, including some who were allowed to enter from the occupied West Bank

11:34 PM on Thursday, February 19

A bitter feud in Zambia has left former President Edgar Lungu’s body unburied in a South African funeral home for more than eight months

12:48 PM on Thursday, February 19

Kosovo’s religious diversity came to light this week as the Balkan nation’s Christian and Muslim communities both embarked on a traditional period of fasting and spiritual reflection

9:54 AM on Thursday, February 19

A breakaway Catholic traditionalist group has rejected the Vatican’s offer of talks

9:38 AM on Thursday, February 19

6:44 AM on Thursday, February 19

5:21 AM on Thursday, February 19

The Vatican has announced that Pope Leo XIV will travel up and down the Italian peninsula over the next few months

5:10 AM on Thursday, February 19

The Lenten period for penance started this week with Ash Wednesday and Catholic priests are happily bracing for long lines outside the confessional

4:41 AM on Thursday, February 19

The Palestinian Health Ministry and a witness say that Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank shot and killed a Palestinian American in an attack on a village

11:17 PM on Wednesday, February 18

The same travertine quarries near Rome that built St. Peter’s Basilica and the Colosseum are still being dug out today, providing the distinctive pock-marked rock to build a new generation of churches, temples and mosques worldwide

5:54 PM on Wednesday, February 18

3:35 PM on Wednesday, February 18

Ramadan has begun in Gaza under a fragile ceasefire deal, but many say the joyous spirit of the month has disappeared

2:20 PM on Tuesday, February 17