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.
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For more than a decade, Hindu businessman Balwant Rathore and his Muslim partner Mohammad Harun have run their shop together. Then, without warning, they were told to vacate their shop. Blaming “Love Jihad”, a Hindu nationalist leader’s son ordered Muslims to leave the market.
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It’s been occupied twice by military forces; it’s been expanded to house Franciscan friars, and these days, it’s part museum, part sacred space. The Church of San Francisco’s building tells the history of its host city, La Paz. Founded in 1549, the church is best known by the name of the founder of the Franciscans, which was one of the first orders to arrive with the Spanish conquerors.
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La Basílica y Convento de San Francisco, fundados en el siglo XVI, son un símbolo fundamental de la identidad paceña. Reconstruida tras el colapso de su primera estructura, la actual iglesia barroca mestiza se erigió entre 1743 y 1800. A lo largo de la historia, el complejo fue ocupado por fuerzas independentistas y remodelado varias veces, siendo declarado monumento nacional en 1967.
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The shrine, once crowded day and night with devotees, now stands eerily deserted. For weeks, it has remained sealed as a crime scene after a mob attack left one of his followers dead. Since August 2024, more than 100 shrines have been attacked or vandalized, according to rights groups.
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In the last decade, more than a dozen coups have shaken West Africa and the Sahel. Amid this turmoil, religious leaders are emerging as stabilizers who are guiding dialogue and providing a moral compass in societies caught between soldiers and fractured civilian states.
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Two soccer teams — each comprised of eight Muslims and eight Christians — faced off as a mixed crowd cheered. Only months earlier, 52 people were killed in yet another religious massacre nearby. Some of the players on the field had lost relatives in that attack. Yet, they chose sports over revenge.
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When other boys his age were trading Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh trading cards, Eric Lavin was collecting saints’ relics. In seventh grade, Lavin began writing to other dioceses to request relics, and now, more than 16 years later, Lavin has grown one New Jersey church’s collection from 20 to more than 600 relics.
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When she began wearing the hijab, critics accused Wafaa Al-Khudari of abandoning her sect, but now she and other Syrian women are leading the charge to ease religious tensions in their communities. The country, which recently ousted a regime, regularly experiences violent conflicts among the political and religious sects.
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The World Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Conference, held in Egypt to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, brought together a wide range of Christian leaders over five days in search of renewed unity. Yet, as inspiring as the goal may have been, the path toward visible Christian unity remains fraught with challenges — theological, historical, cultural and even practical.
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Ablution, or wudu, is often performed before prayer and involves washing the hands, face, mouth, nostrils, arms, and feet in a certain sequence with running water. “I always travel across Africa with work. Many buildings and public spaces have no wudu facilities. This makes most Muslims uncomfortable,” said one frequent traveler.
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While Vance emphasized “partnership” with Israel and pushed back on the notion that the Jewish state had become a “protectorate” of the United States, the underlying tensions in this evolving post-Gaza war framework reveals that the alliance has entered a new phase.
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This landmark five-day gathering — convened under the theme “Where now for visible unity?” — marks a significant moment in the century-long journey of ecumenical dialogue.
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For thousands of devotees, the journey across the border is not just a trip; it is a reclamation of history, heritage and faith. As Prakash Purab approaches, the pilgrimage carries more than spiritual meaning. It represents the enduring resilience of a community whose beliefs and traditions transcend the walls of politics and conflict.
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African bishops’ reactions to the appointment of Sarah Mullally as the first woman Archbishop of Canterbury have been mixed. On the conservative side, leaders in Uganda, Nigeria, Rwanda and other nations have opposed the move. On Thursday, the bishops of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans announced they were cutting all ties with the Anglican Communion.
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Diwali — the annual Hindu fall “Festival of Lights” — is gaining mainstream popularity in places with large Indian and Southeast Asian immigrant populations — and businesses of all shapes and sizes are taking notice, modifying existing products or services or launching new ones to tap into the group’s sizable buying power.
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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.
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This year's floods in Pakistan damaged houses, disrupted livelihoods and displaced thousands of families. The National Disaster Management Authority reported that since June 26, over 1,000 people have died. In response, Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Sikhs were among the volunteers who worked together to establish medical relief camps and provide safe drinking water.
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The Constitutional Court in South Africa decided last month that husbands can adopt their wives’ surnames upon getting married, ruling that until now the law discriminated against men. While it is being celebrated as a progressive decision by some, the ruling has outraged many — with some religious and traditional leaders saying this is an assault on marriage.
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The defeat of socialism in the first round of Bolivia's presidential elections on Aug. 17 marked a turning point for the Catholic Church. Bolivia has been governed by the Movement Toward Socialism party, known as MAS in Spanish, since 2006 — a period only interrupted by the interim government of Jeanine Áñez between November 2019 and November 2020.
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