Bishop Georg Bätzing, the current president of the German national conference of Catholic prelates, called for a more inclusive church on Tuesday (Dec. 29), suggesting that the Catholic hierarchy could shift its positions on women’s ordination and homosexuality.
LDS church sued for alleged role in Boy Scouts sex abuse
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was hit with several lawsuits Monday (Dec. 28) for allegedly covering up decades of sexual abuse among Boy Scout troops in Arizona, marking the latest litigation before the state’s end-of-year deadline for…
The creche brings home the Christmas story for these ‘mega’ collectors
For the Rev. Carol Hull, it all started with a “beautiful” Nativity set, or creche, that her father brought home from a trip to Mexico when she was a child.
Sculpture honors 1st Black president of an American college
The first Black president of an American college is being honored with a sculpture installed in the Vermont city where he was born in 1826.
Each year 1,000 Pakistani girls forcibly converted to Islam
Neha loved the hymns that filled her church with music. But she lost the chance to sing them last year when, at the age of 14, she was forcibly converted from Christianity to Islam and married to a 45-year-old man…
Mormon church sued for alleged role in Boy Scouts sex abuse
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was hit with several lawsuits Monday for allegedly covering up decades of sexual abuse among Boy Scout troops in Arizona, marking the latest litigation before the state’s end-of-year deadline for adult victims…
Faithful Black descendants hope reparations after Florida massacre will be a model
As each new year approaches, Ebony Pickett looks back to the dark history of the massacre that began in the little-known majority-Black enclave in Rosewood, Florida, on Jan. 1, 1923.
How the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation got included in Congress’ $900 billion relief bill
Among the hodgepodge of legislative loose ends that made their way into the $900 billion spending bill passed by Congress on Monday night (Dec. 21) was a significant update to the 18-year-old Tibetan Policy Act, strengthening U.S. support for Tibetan…
Christmas Eve concert held in Paris’ fire-wrecked Notre Dame
Wearing hard hats and protective suits, members of the choir of Notre Dame Cathedral sang inside the medieval Paris landmark for the first time since last year’s devastating fire for a special Christmas Eve concert.