Pope Francis visits stranded refugees, brings 12 back to the Vatican
VATICAN CITY (RNS) - Pope Francis brought 12 Muslim refugees to the Vatican with him aboard the papal plane following a politically-charged..
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White House, faith leaders say ‘moral obligation’ to halt payday loans
WASHINGTON (RNS) - White House officials have joined faith leaders in endorsing an end to payday lending abuses that often charge triple-digit interest..
Los Angeles church makes art ‘everyday sacred’ and secular too
LOS ANGELES (RNS) - To walk into First Congregational Church of Los Angeles on a Sunday morning is to see all the trappings of..
Hope and frustration mark anniversary of Chibok kidnappings
(RNS) Two years after the abduction of nearly 300 Chibok schoolgirls by Boko Haram militants in northeast Nigeria, some parents are still hoping..
Highly religious people say they’re happier, too, survey finds
(RNS) Look around. Three in 10 people you see claim they are pretty satisfied with life, happy, healthy and moral, too. They’re the “highly..
Welby praised for “honesty” over paternity shocker
CANTERBURY, England (RNS) — British religious leaders are praising the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby for responding with “steadiness and honesty” to..
Papal document prescribes pragmatic view of family
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Calling for an overhaul in the way Catholics approach family issues, Pope Francis issued an apostolic exhortation that maintains core..
Gay Methodist pastor a step closer to church trial
KANSAS CITY (RNS) A United Methodist pastor who recently came out as gay may be a step closer to a church trial, just weeks before..
Episcopal church fires two top executives for workplace misconduct
(RNS) Episcopal Church presiding bishop Michael Curry has fired two top executives for failing “to live up to the church’s standards of personal conduct..
Pope Francis denounces modern-day ‘Judases’ behind terror attacks
VATICAN CITY (RNS) As the death toll from the Brussels terror attacks rose, Pope Francis began three days of solemn observances leading..
Men and women divide on religion
(RNS) Few men show up in U.S. churches, and women are markedly more likely to pray and to hold up religion as important...
Belgian religious groups condemn Brussels attacks
(RNS) Belgian Muslim and Catholic organizations are condemning the terrorist bombings in Brussels. A statement issued by the Belgian Muslim Executive (EMB)..
Exit poll religion questions confuse and mislead, critics say
(RNS) Evangelicals vote for Donald Trump. No, Ted Cruz. Wait. Aren’t some Christians voting for Hillary Clinton, a Methodist, and Bernie Sanders, a Jew?..
Pope Francis tries to clean up costly saint-making process
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis has approved new rules to tighten financial oversight of the canonization process after leaked documents revealed abuses..
African bishops to boycott meeting of Anglican council over Episcopal Church attendance
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) The Anglican Church in Kenya has become the latest province to announce it will boycott the Anglican Consultative Council meeting..
Pope Francis changes remarriage rules (For heads of state)
(RNS) There is intense anticipation in the Catholic Church — and no small amount of anxiety for traditionalists — over what Pope..
Vatican gives two thumbs up to Oscar winner ‘Spotlight’
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Just hours after the movie “Spotlight” picked up the best picture prize at the Academy Awards, the Vatican newspaper..
Southern Baptist foreign missionaries drop by nearly 1,000
(RNS) One out of five Southern Baptist missionaries overseas — or nearly 1,000 total — have volunteered to leave their posts to help..
Archaeologists dig up fabrics dating back to kings David and Solomon
JERUSALEM (RNS) Israeli archaeologists have discovered fragments of “remarkably preserved” 3,000-year-old fabrics, leather and seeds dating to the era of the biblical..
Charleston shooting survivor Jennifer Pinckney: ‘I want to carry on (Clementa’s) work’
DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) The first lady of Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church offered two enduring images: her late husband’s smiling face lying..
Episcopal church leader calls Anglican censure ‘fair’
WASHINGTON (RNS) Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry is describing the recent censure of his church over allowing clergy to perform same-sex marriages as..
Wheaton provost apologizes to Larycia Hawkins; she’s leaving
(RNS) Wheaton College professor Larycia Hawkins, who faced termination from her tenured post at the evangelical school for publicly saying Christians and..
Poet Wendell Berry bequeaths farming legacy to small Catholic college
ST. CATHARINE, Ky. (RNS) The tobacco farms, hay fields and rolling knobs of central Kentucky mark the landscape that inspires much of..
U.S. Jewish groups hail mixed-gender Western Wall space as victory for pluralism
JERUSALEM (RNS) American Jews are celebrating an Israeli government decision to greatly expand — and fund — a pluralistic egalitarian prayer section..
London bishop urges vicars to grow beards as way of reaching Muslims
CANTERBURY, England (RNS) A senior bishop in the Church of England has blessed the idea that its vicars, or parish priests, should..