Faith & Family
New House committee chair devising strategy to pass child online safety bill
Newly installed House Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie told The Washington Times he wants to pass legislation to protect children online this Congress after a bipartisan effort sputtered out last session.
Takeaways from NFL emails outlining Saints’ damage control for clergy sex abuse crisis
When New Orleans church leaders prepared to publish a list of predatory Catholic priests, they turned to a well-oiled public relations machine: the city's NFL franchise.
Pope lists tragedies of children in war and trafficking at a rights summit
Pope Francis convened a high-level summit Monday to demand that children be protected from war, forced labor, trafficking and exploitation, throwing his moral authority behind a global initiative to uphold children's fundamental rights despite the Catholic Church's own poor record in protecting them from sexual abuse.
Hindu ascetic rising from the river after a holy dip is emblematic of Maha Kumbh festival in India
The man appears in a silhouette after rising from the river. His dreadlocked hair is flicked backwards, sending a stream of water in a clockwise swirl. Others surround him, with some holding the saffron flag of Hinduism, all repeating a centuries-old ritual that Hindus believe cleanses them of their sins and releases them from the cycle of rebirth.
Jimmy Carter’s audiobook of Sunday school lessons wins posthumous Grammy
Former President Jimmy Carter has won a posthumous Grammy award.
‘Devils’ take to the streets as small Spanish village celebrates the Endiablada festival
Every year in early February, local residents in the small Spanish village of Almonacid del Marquesado celebrate the feast day of the Virgen of Candelaria, with "devils" and dancers taking to the streets in a vibrant display of faith and tradition.
Former Mormon church member loses bid to retrieve millions in tithes
A federal court has rejected a prominent ex-member's effort to claw back millions of dollars in tithes from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over its funding of commercial ventures.
Pope Francis stumbles while walking into Jubilee audience at the Vatican as his walking stick snaps
Pope Francis tripped while entering the Vatican auditorium for an audience Saturday after the handle of his walking stick snapped, but he avoided falling.
Anglican Catholic Church defrocks priest for Musk-style Nazi salute
The Anglican Catholic Church defrocked British priest Calvin Robinson after he made a gesture at the National Pro-Life Summit that critics likened to a Nazi salute.
Trump administration scraps Biden-era Title IX rule that added ‘gender identity’
The Department of Education has announced it will enforce Title IX protections based on biological sex, not gender identity, jettisoning the Biden administration's effort to extend the landmark civil rights law to men who identify as women.
In time for Candlemas, Mexicans seek to restore broken baby Jesus figurines
It might cost more to repair them than to buy new ones. But baby Jesus figurines have such sentimental value in families that every January an area in downtown Mexico City is full of people with the broken religious sculptures looking for a workshop for hands, legs, nose, eyes, eyelashes or fingers.
Biswa Ijtema event in Bangladesh, thousands of Muslims attend
Tens of thousands of people gathered on a riverbank near Bangladesh's capital on Friday to listen to sermons by Islamic scholars at the Biswa Ijtema, or global congregation of Muslim devotees.
Michigan priest has license revoked by church after mimicking Musk’s straight-arm gesture
A Michigan priest had his license revoked by the Anglican Catholic Church after he mimicked a straight-arm gesture performed by Elon Musk during a speech earlier this month that some have interpreted as a Nazi salute.
Couple challenging Vatican bank’s ban on workplace marriages invoke pope’s pro-family message
Pope Francis has long urged couples to marry and have babies rather than dogs. And he has long championed the rights of workers and held up labor itself as the foundation of human dignity.
Thousands of Albanians pay last respects to Orthodox Christian Archbishop Anastasios
Thousands of Albanians gathered in the capital on Thursday to pay their last respects to Archbishop Anastasios, who revived the country's Orthodox Christian Church after the fall of the country's communist party in 1990.
An Iraqi man who carried out Quran burnings in Sweden is killed in a shooting
An Iraqi man who carried out several Quran burnings in Sweden has been killed in a shooting near Stockholm, authorities said Thursday.
Richard Williamson, Catholic bishop whose denial of Holocaust embarrassed Pope Benedict XVI, dies
Richard Williamson, an ultra-traditionalist Catholic bishop whose denial of the Holocaust created a scandal in 2009 when Pope Benedict XVI rehabilitated him and other members of his breakaway society, has died. He was 84.
Families in India cremate loved ones killed in stampede at religious festival
Grieving families cremated their loved ones while others cared for their injured relatives in hospitals on Thursday, a day after a stampede killed at least 30 people and injured 60 others on a riverbank at the Maha Kumbh festival in northern India.
Pastor’s criminal conviction for helping the poor raises major question
Christians are called to be the proverbial "hands and feet of Jesus," feeding, clothing and assisting the less fortunate. Yet legal stalemates between faith-filled ministries and local governments -- quagmires over zoning laws and other preclusions that thwart Christians' efforts to serve the poor and homeless -- are rampant roadblocks to such efforts.
Nation’s report card: U.S. reading scores fall again, math shows little progress
American students have fallen further behind in reading skills since the pandemic and have made little progress in math on the standardized test known as the nation's report card.
