Europe
On the same day the breakfast concluded, a local news outlet reported that two Armenian opposition podcasters had been placed in pre-trial detention. Vazgen Saghatelyan and Narek Samsonyan, co-hosts of the “Imnemnimi” podcast, had been arrested over comments made in a Nov. 10 episode about National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan.
(ANALYSIS) “News as we have hitherto known it has died and been laid to rest.” So wrote illustrious former BBC war correspondent Martin Bell, ending his autobiography, “War and the Death of News.” He was not writing the BBC’s obituary, but he could have been. No, he was arguing the BBC no longer knew the difference between fairness and neutrality.
(REVIEW) This makes film’s presentation feel extremely — for lack of a better word — basic. The movie, however, never figures out exactly which of these threads it wants to follow. Is it about the trials? The nature of evil and whether the Nazis were unique or not? Is it trying to educate viewers about Holocaust history, or say something new about it?
Italy’s Supreme Court ruled that an evangelical worship space, which is located in a former shop a short distance from the Vatican, does not qualify as a religious edifice due to its non-traditional appearance.
God and Google can bring people together in any language. A diverse group of Christians connected on a recent Sunday in Marseille, France.
(REVIEW) It can be easy to forget the role physical space plays for various faith and why talks of bringing about a “New Jerusalem” were not far-fetched. They started in places made of stone — and as Fergus Butler-Gallie points out, “Jerusalem is a somewhere, not a nowhere. Specifically, it is here.”
Beneath a church sanctuary, a basement is filled with skeletons of over 40,000 individuals arranged in horrifying ways — it is like a scene out of a scary movie, but it is entirely real. For Christians, memento mori — a Latin phrase meaning “remember you must die” — is inescapable.
(ANALYSIS) Halloween used to be different. Very different. Before Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger, before trick-or-treating and crowded costume parties, it was All Hallows’ Eve. It was a night when candles burned for the dead and prayers rose into the dark. Families across Europe gathered in solemn silence, marked more by reverence than by revelry.
(OPINION) In the wake of the historic schism that has fractured the worldwide Anglican Communion, lazy and ignorant narratives have already begun to emerge. The secular media and even some progressive Christian outlets would have you believe this is a simple story of progress versus bigotry — a misogynistic, homophobic and unenlightened conclave of Global South bishops mostly from the African continent breaking away because a woman was put in charge.
When fans of the soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv were assaulted in the streets of Amsterdam after a game last November, the violence drew comparisons to pogroms. It even prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dispatch rescue planes to evacuate Israeli citizens. Once again there are fears of a repeat outbreak of violence, this time over a match in Birmingham, England.
(ANALYSIS) The “Hear Us” exhibition added flashy decals to the columns, walls and floors of the iconic sanctuary, imitating the spray-paint art form common in alleys, road underpasses and urban neighborhoods. The images even offered up some bold challenges.
Church clocks have long been an iconic part of United Kingdom life, perched high on church towers, visible across the countryside. Over time, many have fallen into disuse or broken. Recently, three ancient clocks — in Montacute, Somerset and in Winchester, Hampshire — have been returned to full working order — and their restoration projects turned up some unexpected discoveries.
Ignoring pleas from animal rights advocates to denounce bullfighting and its close ties with Spanish Catholicism, Pope Leo XIV is aligning himself with Spain’s bishops, who remain hesitant to condemn the cruelty of the popular bloodsport. Animal rights groups see a red flag, arguing that the practice, which dates back centuries, is barbaric.
(ANALYSIS) European lawmakers have criticized Serbia’s use of force against anti-government protesters. But the Serbian Orthodox Church — representing 85 percent of the country’s population — has been largely urged the student protestors to “go back to their classes” and not protest.
In the early 2000s, women were more regular churchgoers than men, and according to researchers, it is unclear whether this new shift “is a story of women stepping back or men stepping up.”
(REVIEW) The information we have about the role of women in ancient Christianity is limited. Among the male disciples, only two prominent figures stand out: Mary and Mary Magdalene. Overall, women’s participation in church leadership has been restricted, and the appointment of women as priests and ecclesiastical leaders remains a controversial issue to this today.
(ANALYSIS) The announcement that Bishop Sarah Mullally will become the next Archbishop of Canterbury marks an extraordinary milestone in the Church of England’s long and complex history — but also sets the stage for a challenging chapter ahead. Her appointment is as symbolic as it is strategic. It comes at a moment when the church is navigating both internal turmoil and a shifting role in British public life.
(ANALYSIS) The deadly attack at a synagogue in northern England on Yom Kippur — the holiest and most solemn day of the Jewish calendar — has cast a long shadow over the safety and security of Jewish communities in Britain and beyond. The 10/7 attacks and their aftermath have exacerbated an already volatile environment.
(REVIEW) “Triumph of the Heart” is a rare movie that leans into the parts of the Christian walk we often like to talk about but not experience. In doing so, it shows us the beauty of standing up against evil. If one can take the constant drumbeat of pain and look past some of its repetitiveness and hagiographical weaknesses, one will be rewarded by having one’s heart drawn closer to God.
It’s not just modern, but historic art also plays a role in this rebirth. In 2024, Winchester Cathedral collaborated with the National Gallery on a groundbreaking immersive exhibition centered around a 16th century masterpiece by Flemish artist Jan Gossaert. It marked the first time the National Gallery undertook a touring digital facsimile exhibition. Churches, however, have long been involved in art.
After 40-plus years on the Godbeat, let me offer this observation: It’s extremely difficult to write about ancient, complex, often mysterious religious beliefs and doctrines in language that is both accurate and easily understandable in the mainstream media.
(ANALYSIS) Leo Tolstoy spent half a century avoiding arguably the most essential truth of them all: Everything comes to an end. If that’s true, which it is, what’s the point? He’d conquered every peak the world could name. “War and Peace” made him immortal. “Anna Karenina” made him rich. Critics worshipped him in tongues he didn’t even speak. Russian aristocrats name-dropped him like Scripture.
(ANALYSIS) One thing I consider part of my job as a columnist is pointing you to opinions that are better-expressed and more revelatory that what I’d normally produce on my own. That’s the case here.
(ANALYSIS) History was made on Sunday in St. Peter’s Square. Pope Leo XIV declared Carlo Acutis — the 15-year-old tech prodigy known as “God’s Influencer” — the first Millennial saint. Before 80,000 pilgrims, many of them young families and digital natives, this wasn’t just a canonization. It was a prophetic moment for the Catholic Church as it grapples with its place in the 21st century.
A new study by the Pew Research Center released Thursday reveals that many religiously unaffiliated adults — often referred to as “nones” — still hold beliefs commonly associated with religion, such as belief in life after death, a spiritual realm or even God. The study surveyed adults in 22 countries with large populations of religiously unaffiliated individuals.
Churches of Christ in Albania sponsor their own basketball league, Rebound. The Tirana team is about half Roma. They named themselves “Wings of Eagles” after Isaiah 40:31. Fushë Krujë also has a team, though some of its members joined before learning to dribble. They dubbed themselves “The Sons of Thunder,” the nicknames of apostles James and John in Mark 3:17.
The church was lifted onto a custom-built trailer and transported over two days as part of a larger project to relocate the Arctic city of Kiruna to safer ground due to the expansion of the world's largest underground iron ore mine. The recent move attracted some 10,000 people — many of whom had traveled to Kiruna to see the 113-year-old wooden church move to its new location.
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse are helping Christians persecuted for their faith in the United Kingdom through a legal defense fund of more than $1.2 million.
The Vistula, Poland’s longest river, snakes 650 miles north from the Tatras Mountains past Krakow and Warsaw to the Gulf of Gdańsk, where it empties into the Baltic Sea. Upstream from the capital, the river flows past Góra Kalwaria, a place the country’s Catholics revere as Nowa Jerozolima (or “New Jerusalem”).
Research carried out by the Bat Conservation Trust has revealed that over 8,000 churches provide bats with a home. They are messy houseguests, and churchgoers must coexist with them. At the same time, a U.K. law prohibits removing or disturbing the winged creatures that have scared people for centuries.