Nearly all U.S. adults say it is important to have a president who lives a moral and ethical life, and almost half say it’s important for the president to have strong religious beliefs. Here’s a guide to this year’s presidential candidates, their religious affiliations and notable statements they’ve made about faith.
Read MoreAmong the parade of priests and nuns who stroll in and around Vatican City, there is a special breed of journalist who is tasked with explaining the pope and the Roman curia to the world. These people are known as Vatican watchers — a “Vaticanista” in Italian — and they've been around since the 1960s. Even in the digital age, these journalists have become essential to understanding the church.
Read More(ANALYSIS) When members of the Society of Jesus gather at Borgo Santo Spirito, their headquarters near the Vatican, they worship surrounded by the relics of Jesuit saints and works of sacred art. This includes the work of Father Marko Ivan Rupnik, who the Jesuits expelled last year after investigations into allegations he sexually and emotionally abused up to 30 women in religious orders. The Vatican had excommunicated the priest in 2020, but quickly withdrew that judgment.
Read MoreThe first Weekend Plug-in of 2024 looks ahead to the year’s expected big news. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(OPINION) Currently, there is a season of speculation about Pope Francis’ future and whether his newly chosen cardinals are his final bid to shape the conclave that will elect the next pope. Francis has hinted he might consider the idea of resigning, but Vaticanologists figure Francis will not do so as long as another former pope is alive.
Read MoreFollowing days of rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine, Pope Francis called on Christians around the world to fast and pray for peace this coming Ash Wednesday. Before ending his general audience at the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, the pontiff said believers should fight “the diabolical senselessness of violence” that has engulfed the Russian-Ukraine border.
Read More(OPINION) Whether Catholics who go against church doctrine should receive Holy Communion remained a hot topic as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops braced for its fall 2021 meetings this week (Nov. 15-18) in Baltimore. But the bishops know they have other problems that are affecting bottom-line issues in American parishes.
Read MorePope Francis told the media aboard his papal plane that he has never denied Holy Communion to anyone and that he once gave the Eucharist to a Jewish woman in a nursing home. In Catholic Church law, only confirmed Catholics in good standing may receive Communion. But the pope found the encounter to be a positive mishap.
Read MoreThe U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced its cooperation with the U.S. government to organize and process the tens of thousands of Afghan refugees entering the country as the U.S. withdraws troops and the Taliban assumes control over Afghanistan.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights religion headlines after the Taliban’s takeover of the government in Afghanistan. Plus, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(OPINION) "One could say that the two Masses have built two cities: the Mass of All Times has built a Christian city; the New Mass seeks to build a humanist and secular city."
Read More(REVIEW) A new PBS documentary on the life of Pope Francis that premiered on June 20 presents an hour long overview from his childhood to his papacy. It paints Francis as a reformer of the Catholic Church and a pope who cares greatly for other people.
Read MoreAhead of the world day of prayer for the Catholic Church in China on May 24, Pope Francis asked that the faithful pray the Holy Spirit would help Chinese Catholics “to be bearers of the happy message, witnesses of goodness and charity, and builders of justice and peace in their country.”
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in explores news coverage over whether President Biden, a Catholic, might be denied Communion because of his support for abortion rights. Plus, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(OPINION) Pope Francis’ Apostolic Visit to Iraq begins on March 5, 2021. This first-ever papal visit to Iraq aims to provide moral support to Christian minorities in Iraq and the region while facilitating the Vatican’s goal of building bridges with the Muslim world. The visit comes close to seven years after religious minorities in the region, including Christians and Yazidis, have been targeted for annihilation by Daesh.
Read MoreZen, who recently returned to Hong Kong from a trip to the Vatican, has no higher authority on Earth to appeal to in his fight to save his country’s church from infiltration by the Chinese Communist Party.
Read MoreIn his newly released encyclical, Fratelli tutti, Pope Francis addresses the whole world as his audience, attempting to answer how modern society can correct course towards a kinder and more loving world. The pope’s third encyclical has ruffled some Catholics for its condemnation of profit-driven economic models, the death penalty, immigration policy and more.
Read More(OPINION) Pope Francis, who has consistently drawn the ire of Catholic media on the doctrinal right, gave his view of what the religious press should look like in the United States.
Read MoreEgypt, Israel and Palestine are closing several holy sites after a fleet of Greek tourists who visited them have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. Meanwhile, faith groups around the world are rethinking traditions to curb the spread of the disease and protect their worshippers without straying from their religious laws.
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