As we enter the new year, we asked Religion News Service’s reporters to give us a glimpse into the stories they’ll be following in 2020.

Pope Francis is pinning much of his hopes for a more peaceful world in the new year on women, saying violence against them is akin to profaning God and calling for them to be increasingly involved in making major decisions.

On the sixth day of Christmas, Baby Jesus vanished from his manger in a popular nativity scene at a Florida park — right under the noses of Mary, Joseph and bowing kings.

A soldier serving in Afghanistan with the Nevada Army Guard has been granted a religious accommodation to grow a beard in accordance with a Norse pagan faith that traces its origins to Scandinavia.

A shooting at a church in Texas and a stabbing at a rabbi’s home during a Hanukkah celebration in New York over the weekend have renewed calls for increased security and the right to be armed in places of worship.

From Goliath-size walls to clay seal impressions the size of a fingernail, archaeological discoveries announced in 2019 continued to add context to our understanding of the Bible.

A new lawsuit accuses a top-ranking Southern Baptist official in Arkansas of failing to report sex abuse allegations against a pastor last year.

Following the deadly shooting at a church in Texas Sunday, investigators are praising the heroic parishioners who stopped the gunman. Several people with guns jumped up to help protect the congregation.

Over the last decade, prominent people — household names and lesser-known leaders on social and moral issues — died after playing an outsized role in the realm of religion.