Religion

Biden inauguration priest resigns California university post

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Jesuit priest who presided over an inaugural Mass for President Joe Biden has resigned his position as president of Santa Clara University in Northern California, college officials said, after an investigation found he engaged in inappropriate, alcohol-fueled conversations with graduate students.

Religion

US hits China and others for repressing religious freedom

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Wednesday took aim at China and a number of other countries for repressing religious freedom as it forges ahead with its aim of restoring human rights as a primary focus of American foreign policy...

Religion

2 Catholic bishops at odds over Biden receiving Communion

They share Roman Catholicism as a faith and California as their home base. Yet there’s a deep gulf between Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco and Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego in the high-stakes debate over whether politicians who support abortion rights should be denied Communion...

Religion

Vatican: Climate change efforts go forward even without US

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican stressed Thursday that the movement to combat climate change is unstoppable and worldwide, although it said it would welcome a U.S. return to the Paris...

Religion

The Latest: President Trump says police treated unfairly

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Religion

Famed Thai temple bars foreigners entry over COVID-19 fears

BANGKOK — One of Thailand’s major tourist attractions is barring entry to foreigners, professing fear that they could spread the coronavirus.

Religion

Easing restrictions in Indonesia’s capital triggers concerns

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Eva Rahmi Salama worries that authorities in Jakarta, Indonesia’s sprawling capital, are acting too soon to lift restrictions put in place two months ago to fight the...

Religion

Asia Today: India surge continues with nearly 10,000 cases

NEW DELHI — The number of coronavirus cases in India continued to rapidly increase Wednesday, with officials reporting nearly 10,000 new cases over the past 24 hours.

Religion

The Latest: George Floyd to be buried Tuesday in Houston

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Religion

Following Mattis: More in the GOP frown on Trump’s tone

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s inability to unify the nation at a time of grave unrest is testing his uneasy alliance with mainstream Republicans, some emboldened by Gen. James Mattis’...

Religion

Brooklyn bishop accused by second man of sex abuse

NEW YORK — The Roman Catholic bishop of Brooklyn, already under a church investigation for alleged sex abuse, has been accused by a second man of abuse in the 1970s, when the bishop was a...

Religion

Man gets 10-month sentence for threatening Muslim politician

A North Carolina man was sentenced Tuesday to 10 months in prison for anonymously threatening on social media to lynch a Muslim-American man who ran for a state Senate seat in Virginia, according...

Religion

The Latest: Police say 4 officers shot in St. Louis protests

The Latest on the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white police officer pressed a knee on his neck:

Religion

The Latest: South Korea reports 38 new cases of COVID-19

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more...

Religion

South Africa eases; liquor is sold, school openings delayed

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Many South Africans spent their Monday morning lining up outside liquor stores, as alcohol sales were allowed again after a two-month ban because of the coronavirus...

Religion

The Latest: One dead in Indianapolis shootings amid protests

The Latest on the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white police officer pressed a knee on his neck:

Religion

Papal ping-pong? Vatican opens summer camp amid virus

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is getting into the summer camp business, with ping pong tables taking over the Vatican auditorium, a giant pool in the Vatican Gardens and team sports on the...

Religion

New USAID adviser sparks furor over past anti-Islam comments

NEW YORK — Some Muslim American groups are calling for the dismissal of a newly appointed religious freedom adviser for the U.S. Agency for International Development, citing past online posts...

Religion

Asia Today: Indonesians return to mosques, at a distance

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Muslims in some parts of Indonesia attended Friday prayers as mosques closed by the coronavirus for weeks were allowed to start reopening in the world’s most populous...

Religion

The Latest: India surpasses 150,000 virus cases

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can...

Religion

Genetics expert Francis Collins wins major religion prize

Physician and geneticist Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health since 2009, has been awarded one of the world’s leading religion prizes for demonstrating how religious...

Religion

Pandemic will alter Communion rituals for many US Christians

NEW YORK — Holy Communion will have a different look when in-person worship services resume at the end of May in the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee: The wafers signifying the body...

Religion

Vatican ties virus rethink to pope’s environmental appeal

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is marking the 5th anniversary of Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical by calling for the world to map out a sustainable post-coronavirus future that considers...

Religion

Online English classes revive ties severed by war in Syria

BEIRUT — Who got married? Who had a baby? Have we lost anyone?

Religion

The Latest: S.Korea: Rules stay relaxed despite virus spike

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can...

Religion

Trump ‘not sure we even have a choice’ on reopening states

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was continuing his push to get states reopened as he praised another Republican governor for rolling back state coronavirus restrictions while welcoming...

Religion

Virginia defends coronavirus restrictions in church lawsuit

RICHMOND, Va. — An attempt by a Virginia church to prevent the state from barring gatherings of more than 10 people “would seriously undermine” the state's efforts to deter the spread of the...

Religion

Asia Today: Japan debuts robots at hotels for virus patients

BANGKOK — Robot staff debuted at a Tokyo hotel used for mildly sick coronavirus patients under a new plan to free up beds at hospitals overburdened with more severe cases.

Religion

Dalla Torre, grand master of Knights of Malta, dies at 75

ROME — Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, an Italian aristocrat who steered the ancient Knights of Malta religious order after an institutional crisis with the Vatican, has died....

Religion

Pope urges virus lockdown obedience amid church-state debate

ROME —

Religion

Religious freedom watchdog pitches adding India to blacklist

NEW YORK — The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is urging that the State Department add India to its list of nations with uniquely poor records on protecting freedom to...

Religion

Virus spread scales down Warsaw Ghetto commemoration events

WARSAW, Poland — Sirens wailed and Jewish prayers were said for the heroes of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising, but the annual memorial observances were scaled down Sunday and moved to the...

Religion

NOT REAL NEWS: More falsehoods around the novel coronavirus

A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press...

Religion

Muslims grapple with Ramadan rituals in coronavirus era

WINTER PARK, Fla. — Seattle resident Maggie Mohamed was looking forward to spending the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in her native Egypt.

Religion

Feds: Online drug dealer planned to bomb Nebraska pharmacy

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — A Maryland man who operated an online drug dealing website engaged in extensive plans to bomb and burn down a competing pharmacy in Nebraska, an FBI agent testified...

Religion

Pope: Easter gives hope in our ‘darkest hour,’ despite fear

VATICAN CITY — Easter offers a message of hope in people’s “darkest hour," Pope Francis said, as he celebrated a late-night vigil Mass Saturday in St. Peter’s Basilica, with the public barred...

Religion

Church software companies rush to accommodate surge in usage

(RNS) — As in-person worship services and religious gatherings have been shut down around much of the country, faith leaders have been left scrambling to shift all their worship services,...

Religion

Mosques, streets quiet as Indonesia’s capital tightens rules

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Mosques usually filled for Friday prayers and streets normally clogged with cars and motorcycles were empty as authorities in Indonesia’s capital enforced stricter...

Religion

Pope hails priests, health workers as ‘the saints next door’

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Holy Thursday hailed priests and medical staff who tend to the needs of COVID-19 patients as “the saints next door.”

Religion

Dreaded uptick worldwide of dead spiritual leaders

The Louisiana pastor who preached courage from his deathbed. The nun who always insisted that her order “get down to brass tacks,” and help people. The rabbi who made sure his students did not...

Religion

A sad Holy Week after virus death of 1st Catholic priest

NEW YORK — “Animo!”

Religion

The Latest: Bars, clubs in Seoul closed to halt virus spread

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can...