Named La’eeb — which FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, said is “an Arabic word meaning super-skilled player” — the World Cup mascot triggered plenty of confusion and scorn on social media. But the mascot was primarily an homage to Arab garments known as the “keffiyeh” and “thawb.”
Read MoreLithuania’s Hill of Crosses, where many visitors have left crosses to honor soldiers who died in uprisings against czarist Russia, has become a site to pray for Ukraine. The history of the Hill of Crosses is unclear. Folklore says the first cross was placed on the hill, formerly the home of a wooden castle, to remind others to pray for mercy and health of people. Soon, crosses began appearing to honor soldiers who died fighting against Russia, which disapproved and repeatedly demolished them.
Read MoreThe Mount Angel Abbey, a Benedictine brewery in Mount Angel, Oregon, welcomes visitors year-round to taste and believe that the Lord is good. They follow the tradition of Saint Benedict, the late fifth-century founder of the Benedictine order who created self-sufficient communities in which the monks could make their own food and drink.
Read MoreThe 2022 World Cup, which will be held in the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar, will test the majority-Muslim country in several ways — primarily when it comes to religious mores around public intoxication and homosexuality, both of which are illegal there.
Read More(TRAVEL) Among all the hustle, bustle and stress that comes with Christmas, we should also all be reminded that it is a time of prayer. While prayer can take up many forms, Catholics are returning to in-person Mass now that COVID-19 lockdowns have largely been done away with.
Read MorePalestinian protests in the West Bank and COVID-19 restrictions amid the rise of the omicron and delta variants are dampening Christmas tourism for the second year in Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem. Israel hopes that its domestic tourists will still turn out for the celebrations.
Read More(TRAVEL) Today, 150 miles east of Los Angeles in an otherwise undeveloped desert, the first Coptic monastery in the United States — and second in the world outside Egypt — offers the monastic tradition of Egypt to America.
Read More(TRAVEL) Bibles used to be ubiquitous in hotel rooms. But a 2017 survey by STR revealed that 79% of hotels had religious materials in their rooms, down from 95% of hotels in 2006. Indeed, as America becomes more secular and Wi-Fi more common, the need for a physical Bible inside your nightstand drawer has grown more obsolete.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Italy’s national airline — known for its near-impeccable safety record and sometimes-appalling customer service — will officially shut down on Oct. 15. The announcement, made this past summer, marks the end of an era for an airline founded in 1946 that became the pontiff’s official airline.
Read MoreAfter more than two decades struggling with a post-Soviet economic recession and destabilization brought on by war and anti-terrorist operations, Georgia’s Pankisi Valley is rebuilding its reputation and attracting tourists — enough to secure a coveted spot in the world’s most popular guidebook, “Lonely Planet,” in 2020.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The economies of countries dependent on tourism are clearly hurting, with visitor numbers plummeting as a result of the pandemic. The Thai government estimates $100 billion in losses to GDP but the actual loss cannot be captured in these numbers alone. Many cross-cultural exchange opportunities have been lost as well.
Read MoreSamia Omar Bwana, 36, had always dreamed of traveling the world, but as a Muslim woman she was looking for extra accommodations on holiday: halal food, hotels with women-only swimming pools and spas, and prayer facilities nearby. Traveling solo and with her female Muslims friends was difficult, so she started her own company, Halal Safaris Africa, to help religious women find travel arrangements that will uphold their ideals of modesty and sobriety.
Read MoreA new Holocaust Museum in Porto, Portugal tells the story of the more than 100,000 Jewish refugees who passed through Porto and Lisbon desperate to book passage from the neutral country to the United States during WWII to escape the Nazis.
Read MoreEvery year on Holy Saturday, the day before Pascha (Easter), Orthodox Christians believe that the Holy Fire appears inside the Tomb of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They believe this light, captured by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, is the confirmation of the Resurrection. For them, it’s a miracle, a manifestation of Holy Spirit.
Read MoreAs the pandemic subsides and travel becomes easier thanks to massive vaccination efforts, here are five churches you can visit this summer that were featured in major Hollywood flicks.
Read MoreA humble Congregationalist minister, with a Bible in one hand and a geologist’s pick in another, was at the center of discovering one of the richest troves of fossils in the world. He is Thomas Condon, the only clergyman with a national park visitor center named after him and a man who understood early on how religion and science could fit together.
Read MoreFranciscans in the Holy Land, a Catholic order that’s preserved Christian sites in Jerusalem since the Middle Ages, have celebrated Lent for years by following the path step by step that Jesus may have taken nearly 2,000 years ago on his 40-day fasting journey through the Judean Desert.
Read MoreA rock formation in rural Kenya attracts pilgrims from a variety of Christian sects that mix Catholic and Anglican practices with traditional African paganism. Some even receive angelic messages, they say.
Read More(TRAVEL) Aside from its rich history and architectural majesty, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception may very well be one of the most under-appreciated places to visit in Washington. In a city dominated by so many architectural wonders connected to politics, it’s easy to neglect that it also has a very large Catholic presence.
Read MorePope Pius XII’s role during World War II is still in dispute, but evidence from the Vatican archives opened this year shows the German pope played a key role in saving thousands of Jewish lives in Palestine during World War I.
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