Like most Holy Land Christians, Hagop Karakashian’s ceramic shop in the Old City here has always relied heavily on the presence of Christian pilgrims, especially in December.

For many religious denominations in the United States, there were two shared preoccupations in 2020 beyond the usual matters of faith: How to cope with the coronavirus pandemic and how to respond to tumultuous political events.

On Dec. 21, 2020, Jupiter and Saturn will cross paths in the night’s sky and for a brief moment, they will appear to shine together as one body. While planetary conjunctions like this are not everyday events, they also are not particularly rare.

The National Prayer Breakfast will be a virtual event next year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

When Israel went into its second nationwide coronavirus lockdown in September, most of the country quickly complied. But in some ultra-Orthodox areas, synagogues were packed, mourners thronged funerals and COVID-19 cases continued to soar.

The incoming Biden administration will need to rebuild trust with the Christian community in Israel after years in which Palestinians have felt shunted aside by the U.S. Mideast policy, according to the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa.

School closings due to the COVID-19 pandemic are projected to increase learning poverty by 72 million children in low- to middle-income nations, according to a World Bank report published Dec. 2.

The Trump administration on Monday moved to loosen Obama-era restrictions on religious organizations that receive federal money to provide social services.